Scheduling content can be a huge time-saver and stress-reliever, giving social media managers and their teams back their time to focus on their many other hats. By creating a calendar of social media posts, you’ll see a complete picture of your upcoming social media presence, helping you craft the image you need and ensuring that you’re optimizing your content toward what your audience wants to see.

You can schedule content on your own, but there is also a litany of programs and platforms designed to help you build out your social media calendar and even publish right through those tools. Let’s dive into how you can schedule content through social media networks and what to use to build your calendar.

How to Schedule Social Media Content

Different social media apps have various ways to schedule content. First, let’s start with Instagram. It’s vital to note that if you want to schedule content on Instagram, you first need to have a professional account. You can schedule up to 25 posts at a time, and you can plan for them up to 75 days in advance.

First, open up the Instagram app and tap the plus sign at the bottom to create your post.

Then, add a filter or tap the “Edit” button to use more advanced editing techniques, like changing up the contrast or brightness. Tap the checkmark to go back to the page with the filters, and then hit “Next” to move on to the next step.

Shot of the caption page, with a box around “Advanced settings”

From there, you can add a caption or other elements of your post, like location tags. Then, hit the “Advanced settings” button.

On the next page, tap “Schedule.”

Select the date and time you’d like your post to go live. Then, hit “Done.”

Hit the back button. Then, tap “Schedule” to put your content into the posting queue.

It’s worth noting that not all content is available for scheduling on Instagram. Currently, Instagram does not support posting content with product tagging, collaborations, fundraisers, and sponsored promotions. You also cannot cross-post to Facebook if you’re scheduling your content in advance.

If you were to schedule a post on Facebook, you would also need a professional account. You’ll access your “Planner,” which functions as a social media calendar, through your Meta Business Suite. TikTok also requires you to have a Creator or Business Account to use their Video Scheduler tool.

Twitter’s scheduling options are more accessible as anyone can use them. When you compose a tweet, there’s a symbol at the bottom with a calendar and clock. Click that button to schedule a date and time for your tweet to go live.

Why Should You Schedule Social Media Content?

Scheduling content in advance can be a major boon to your business. According to our research, companies should be posting two to four times per week on Instagram, at least twice a week on TikTok, at least three times per week on Facebook, and at least three times per week on Twitter.

If we were to tally up all these recommended posting rates, we would find that you should create at least 10 of your own posts on these social media platforms. However, receiving higher engagement also means engaging yourself. In addition to simply posting, you must monitor your posts, participate in conversations around your brand, and spend time on social doing market research, all of which takes time. When you schedule your posts in advance, you free up time, allowing you to focus on other tasks crucial to social media management.

When many social media managers schedule their content, they create a social media calendar, which allows them to visualize their social presence before posting their content. This calendar helps them stay organized and enables them to see what posts are running and when. Seeing when content is going to be shared ensures that you won’t miss crucial posting opportunities. For instance, if you know that one day is a holiday that ties into your business, you can plan out content for that holiday in advance rather than forgetting about the day and missing the opportunity to post.

Social media planning saves you from the stress of having to rush to create content, as well. A calendar lets you see how many times you’re posting throughout the week so you don’t fall behind your goals. If you didn’t plan out the week or even month in advance, you might end up scrambling to reach your target, resulting in posts that are not optimized for your audience or even missing crucial components, like the right hashtags or location tags.

How to Optimize Your Social Media Content Scheduling

1. Run a social media audit.

Before you build out your social media calendar, ensure that the content you’re creating is what your audience wants to see. After all, there’s no sense in planning posts that won’t engage your fans. Analyze your overall online presence with a social media audit. This audit will dive into different facets of your social media channels, from your best or worst posts to the hashtags that work best in your market.

Social media analytics tools like Rival IQ can help you accomplish these audits. It’s also worth running audits on some of your top competitors, which can enable you to learn from their strategies and gain a better understanding of what’s working in your market.

For instance, if Drunk Elephant were to run a social media audit through Rival IQ, they might learn that their best-performing content is Reels. Although they are currently posting photos almost as often as they are Reels, they might consider incorporating more Reels into their social media calendar and focusing less on still images.

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2. Develop a consistent posting schedule.

Our research demonstrated that there is an ideal number of times to post per week, as discussed above. However, we’ve also found that the best number of posts per week varies by many factors, including your industry and your audience.

Rival IQ provides helpful insights into how often you’re posting and can show you how often your competitors are posting to give you an idea of the average posting schedule in your industry. According to Drunk Elephant’s analytics, when compared to other top competitors in the skincare industry, the company’s posting frequency is above average.

However, Rival IQ’s graph of posting frequency does suggest that Drunk Elephant may want to post more on Twitter to keep up with their competition.

While we don’t have a hard and fast rule as to how often to post on social media, we always suggest establishing a consistent schedule, which is something your social media calendar can help with.

3. Schedule content for your optimal posting times.

When is the best time to share your content? When you schedule your posts, you want to make sure that you’re sharing them during times when your audience is likely to see them. According to our research, there are optimal times to post for every industry and every platform.

For instance, a fashion brand on Instagram performs best on weekends, though posting late at night on weekdays can also be beneficial. However, we found something very different for the home decor industry, which did best in terms of engagement rate when they posted in the early morning on weekdays.

Rival IQ can help you find your business’s personal best time to post. In the case of Drunk Elephant, their ideal time to post is around noon PDT, although their competitors are seeing better traction in the early morning.

4. Look out for time-sensitive posting opportunities.

According to our Social Media Industry Benchmark Report for 2024, nearly every industry received some of their highest engagement rates of the year when they posted using holiday hashtags. We’re not just talking about major holidays like Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July.

Over on Twitter, the top six hashtags for the alcohol industry by engagement rate were all holidays and included less well-known ones like World Emoji Day and Beer Can Appreciation Day. These holidays enable you to target your audience with related content.

The latter holiday, in particular, ties in perfectly with the alcohol industry. When you stay on top of what’s happening throughout the month when you plan out your content calendar, you ensure you don’t miss these high-engagement opportunities.

5. Think of your calendar as a living document.

One thing to keep in mind about your social media calendar is that it’s essential not to develop a “set it and forget it” mentality. We’re big proponents of testing and reinvesting in what works. Even if you run a social media audit before you put together your calendar, you still want to stay on top of what you’re posting, ensuring that you’re ahead of trends and staying competitive in your market. You can always adjust your calendar.

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6 Tools to Help You Create Your Social Media Calendar

1. Hootsuite

Hootsuite’s suite of tools includes the Hootsuite Planner, which allows you to create, schedule, and publish posts right through their easy-to-use dashboard. Not only can you build out your social media calendar on Hootsuite Planner, but you can also use Hootsuite to help you optimize your content.

This social media marketing toolkit offers actionable insights, like your best time to post. Hootsuite can even prompt you with new content ideas and find you the best hashtags to use for your posts. Hootsuite is an excellent tool if you have a large social media team, as you can initiate an approval process, ensuring that all stakeholders have eyes on your social media calendar before posts start going live.

2. Sprout Social

Sprout Social is another all-in-one social media marketing tool that includes a social media content calendar tool. With Sprout Social’s toolkit, you can queue up posts in advance and optimize them with the help of the platform’s data-driven insights, such as the best time to post and the type of content that resonates best with your fans.

You can create workflows where multiple stakeholders can collaborate on the calendar, offering advice, notes, and approval. From there, you can measure the effectiveness of each campaign to optimize your next month’s calendar.

3. Buffer

Buffer offers a suite of social media marketing tools that lets you publish posts, engage with your audience, and analyze your success. You can create a queue of content right through the platform, saving you time and stress. Buffer’s AI Assistant helps you optimize your posts by generating content ideas, repurposing and rewriting old posts, and tailoring content for each social network.

Buffer is also built for collaboration. Create an approval process for stakeholders, give and receive feedback on your posts, and make the perfect calendar together.

4. Later

Later lets you create, edit, publish, and analyze posts all in one place. While you can schedule content for a variety of social media platforms, including TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Twitter, Later works particularly well for Instagram, as it offers the Visual Planner tool. The Visual Planner enables you to preview how your feed will look with your upcoming posts to ensure your Instagram page always looks the way you want it to.

Later also offers recommendations on the best time to post on Instagram and TikTok, helping you connect with your audience at the right time. Later’s mobile application also makes it easy to edit and add new posts to your schedule on the go.

5. Canva Pro

You might know Canva best as a content creation tool, but did you know that Canva Pro can help you schedule your social media posts? By upgrading to Canva Pro, you unlock a suite of tools that enable you to quickly create posts tailored to different social networks, schedule your posts with the Content Planner, and receive access to premium templates and millions of graphics to give your content a boost.

While Canva Pro is available for individuals, you can also add additional profiles and manage your social media marketing team’s access to the full suite of tools.

6. Planable

Planable is a social media collaboration and management tool. In one place, you can create new content, have it reviewed by stakeholders, schedule it into a calendar, and publish your posts to a variety of social media platforms. You can even choose not to use a calendar if you’d rather look at your schedule in another way, including feed view, grid view, and list view.

However, Planable goes beyond social media. It’s designed to replace all of your marketing calendars. Through the platform, you can schedule events, newsletters, blog posts, and more. When you see your calendar, you’ll have a complete picture of your month’s marketing efforts, helping you to tie everything together in one cohesive marketing strategy.

Wrapping Up Your New Schedule

Scheduling your social media content in advance saves you time and stress. It lets you focus on the many other parts of your job, including allowing you to spend more time focusing on the analytics that can enable you to better target your audience. While you can schedule content through many different social networks on your own, there are also tools that can help you complete a full calendar of posts and publish right through their platforms.

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By monitoring your competitors, you can optimize your own marketing efforts. You’ll learn about where your rivals are thriving and where they’re just barely surviving so you can fine-tune your marketing strategy to better compete. You’ll turn their challenges into your success and jump off their achievements to go even further for your own marketing.

Competitor monitoring contains many different facets, so let’s dive into what makes for a good competitor monitoring tool and your best options on the market today.

What to Look for in a Competitor Monitoring Tool

A good competitor monitoring tool will provide you with a looking glass into your rival’s marketing strategy. However, not every competitor monitoring tool works the same way. Some tools are all-encompassing, giving you a broader overview of everything your competitor does.

Meanwhile, other tools dive into a particular part of your rival’s strategy, like their SEO or social media campaigns. You might choose a tool based on whether you want to know as much as you can about what your competitor is doing or gain a more detailed look at one particular part of their marketing strategy.

There are a few things every good competitor monitoring tool needs, like social listening and competitive benchmarking. Social listening allows you to listen into what your competitors are doing in the online world and what people are saying about them. Competitive benchmarking pulls together information from competitors throughout your industry, giving you an in-depth look beyond just one company’s marketing efforts rather than just looking at one particular rival.

If you’re going to invest in a competitor monitoring tool, you want to ensure that you’ll be able to use it properly, so the tool should have an easy-to-navigate interface. If you have multiple stakeholders, you might also consider a tool with downloadable or shareable reporting features.

Some of the best competitor monitoring tools on the market utilize such features and more to give you that peek behind the curtain of your competitors, like these top tools for 2024.

The Best Competitor Monitoring Tools Overall

1. Rival IQ

At Rival IQ, we’re all about making your competition work for you. Rival IQ provides users with detailed social media analytics and synthesizes them into easy-to-understand reports. In addition to tracking your own social media performance, you can compare your campaigns to those of another brand in your industry. You can also set alerts to keep on top of what your rivals do and what people say about them.

Benefits: Rival IQ’s competitive benchmarking features allow you to receive a detailed look into your industry beyond just one company’s performance. With our real-time analytics, you’ll have an up-to-the-minute report that provides the fullest possible picture of your industry.

Challenges: Rival IQ’s social listening feature Instant Search covers data sources like YouTube, Twitter, blog posts, and more, but we don’t currently track keywords on Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok. You can, however, use the Instagram Discover tool to check out your rival’s Instagram mentions.

2. Brand24

Brand24 is a social listening tool that lets you listen to both your and your competitors’ mentions and understand the impact of those mentions. You receive real-time insights into brands tracked across 25 million online sources. From there, you can generate reports that help you stay on top of your industry’s trends.

Benefits: Users say Brand24 has a user-friendly interface and is easy to adjust, allowing you to focus on specific keywords and sources and filter out unwanted ones.

Challenges: Some report that historical data is limited, and the platform does not track all forms of media, such as Instagram Reels or Stories.

3. Semrush

Semrush is often considered one of the best SEO tools on the market, but its many features go further than SEO, especially if you’re looking to monitor your competitors. Semrush lets you find keywords your competitors are overlooking, receive insights and ideas on how to grow your market share, and track and analyze your competitors’ websites and marketing campaigns, from their social media posts to their PPC efforts.

Benefits: Semrush prides itself on being a one-stop shop for your competitor monitoring needs. While many competitor monitoring tools dive into one section of marketing, like your competitors’ SEO performance, Semrush creates a place to monitor every facet of your rivals’ marketing. Users also report that Semrush’s customer support is a significant selling point.

Challenges: Some users say data can be outdated or inaccurate, tools may be too advanced for beginners, and the cost can be challenging for small businesses.

4. BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo is a social listening tool that allows you to track both your and your competitors’ mentions and receive alerts for topics, brands, and keywords, providing you with an up-to-date picture of your competitor’s marketing strategy. The tool helps you tap into trends in your industry, connect with journalists and influencers who may be interested in you, and generate topic ideas that your competitors may not be privy to yet.

Benefits: BuzzSumo lets you track your social media mentions and keep an eye on keywords throughout the online world, but it also works to paint a picture of your competitors’ SEO performance through backlink profiles.

Challenges: BuzzSumo has limited Instagram functionality, making it challenging to track content through the social media application. Users also report the platform’s interface is outdated and challenging to use.

5. Wide Narrow

Wide Narrow, which was acquired by InfoDesk in 2023, collects information about your competitors and industry to provide you with data-driven insights that can improve your business. Through the use of innovative AI solutions, you can quickly gather your competitive analysis, turn that data into valuable ideas and strategies, and share your insights with key stakeholders.

Benefits: Users say Wide Narrow makes collaboration amongst team members and stakeholders easier and saves teams time collecting and monitoring content.

Challenges: Some say Wide Narrow has a steep learning curve for new users.

6. Quid

Using powerful AI, Quid’s suite of tools lets you not only look into your market but also look into the future. These tools help you keep an eye on your competitors and your overall market, giving you data-driven insights to help you optimize your online presence to better compete with your rivals. Beyond simply giving you data, Quid breaks it down for you, showing you how to implement the information for your best online performance.

Benefits: Users say that Quid’s reports are easy to understand and highly detailed. They also say that the interface is simple to navigate, even for beginners.

Challenges: Some users say Quid’s sentiment scoring can sometimes be a bit off.

The Best Competitor Monitoring Tools for SEO

7. Site Explorer

Developed by Ahrefs, Site Explorer helps you paint a picture of your competitors’ website successes and challenges, from their backlink profiles to their organic and paid search traffic. The tool also lets you look up specific keywords to see where your competitors rank for them and how you can make yourself higher up on search engines. While you can use current data, you can also track your competitors’ performances throughout time with historical data.

Benefits: Users report that Site Explorer is easy to use and remarkably detailed when it comes to backlink profiles and keyword research.

Challenges: Some users say that data can be inaccurate, especially when it comes to paid search information.

8. iSpionage

As the name implies, iSpionage lets you “spy” on your competitors, specifically their SEO, PPC, and general conversion strategies. You’ll receive in-depth looks at your competitors’ paid search and SEO effectiveness, as well as insights into how your competitors drive conversions.

Benefits: Users particularly like iSpionage’s effectiveness ratings, which help them better understand their data sets. They also like the platform’s keyword suggester, which makes finding the right keywords to compete with others in your industry easier.

Challenges: Some users say the data that iSpionage provides is limited, and not all competitors’ information is available. They also say paid search information isn’t always reliable. The interface is also somewhat outdated.

9. Moz Pro

For SEO competitor monitoring, Moz Pro offers you a toolkit that lets you find link opportunities, identify keywords your competitors are missing out on, audit your and your rivals’ websites, and see where you rank on search engines. This product can be a boon to your content marketing efforts and give you a boost when it comes to SEO.

Benefits: Moz Pro’s SEO metrics go further than those of many other competitor monitoring tools. Users also say the platform is easy to navigate.

Challenges: Moz Pro is solely focused on SEO, so it’s not an ideal competitor monitoring solution if you’re looking to address other areas of your marketing. Some users say using Moz Pro can result in information overloading, making it time-consuming to go through the platform’s competitor data.

10. SpyFu

SpyFu focuses on giving your SEO and PPC a boost by offering competitor analysis that dives into domain ranking, backlinks, keywords, and everything encompassing your competition’s SEO and PPC strategies. Learn from your rivals and find gaps in their strategy to enhance your own marketing efforts.

Benefits: Users say SpyFu is particularly helpful when you want an inside look at your competition’s Google Ad campaigns, including receiving insights into how your rival improved their ads over time.

Challenges: Some users report that the interface can be confusing to use, especially for beginners. Others say the pricing is somewhat high, considering it doesn’t cover many facets of competitor monitoring.

The Best Competitor Monitoring Tools for Social Media

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11. Mention

As a social listening and monitoring tool, Mention lets you keep your ear out for conversations around you and your competitors from more than one billion sources around the web. Analyze important data, uncover trends, and optimize your social media posts right through the platform.

Benefits: Users report liking how accessible Mention makes their data, sending them easy-to-understand reports on the keywords they’re monitoring.

Challenges: Users say that it’s easy to miss important mentions if you’re not looking at the right keywords. Some users also wish more historical data was accessible through the platform.

12. Sprout Social

Sprout Social is lauded as an all-in-one social media management solution that can assist you with everything from publishing and optimizing your social media content to finding and managing relationships with influencers. The tool also helps you become more competitive in your industry by monitoring your competition’s social, including in-depth metrics like audience growth and post volume, as well as providing users with a social listening suite to hear how your competitors are being talked about. Sprout Social also offers competitive benchmarking to give you a complete overview of your market and identify topics and trends your competitors may be missing.

Benefits: Users report that Sprout Social’s interface is highly intuitive and that its actionable insights are beneficial to help companies optimize their content.

Challenges: Some say that Sprout Social’s analytics are not as in-depth as other competitor monitoring tools, and the price may be too high for small or new businesses.

13. Brandwatch

Brandwatch is a social media marketing tool that lets you manage your social media accounts and influencer marketing all in one place. With its consumer intelligence features, you can monitor online conversations relevant to your market, build out custom reports, and use Brandwatch’s AI to identify trends to optimize your content.

Benefits: Particularly with the help of Brandwatch’s AI, users report that Brandwatch makes it easy to understand the data it collects and goes further to turn that data into useful insights that make companies’ social accounts more competitive in their market.

Challenges: Some say that Brandwatch’s sentiment analysis isn’t in-depth enough, while others wish the dashboards were more customizable.

The Best Competitor Monitoring Tools for Email

14. MailCharts

MailCharts is a competitor email marketing and SMS monitoring tool that provides you with insights into your industry that help you optimize your email and SMS strategies. Through trend reporting and competitive benchmarketing, you’ll discover new inspiration to better plan your email and SMS campaigns.

Benefits: MailCharts also provides a place to plan out your own campaigns, with industry insights available to help guide you to better connect with your audience. While MailCharts already has groups for competitive benchmarking, you can also build your own groups, which will help you organize benchmarks for any industry.

Challenges: Users say that not every competitor is available to track through MailCharts. Some also argue that the price is high for only email and SMS information.

15. Owletter

Owletter is a competitive analysis tool designed to allow you to stay on top of your competitors’ email marketing campaigns. Rather than you yourself having to subscribe to all of your rivals’ emails, Owletter collects those emails for you. Then, the platform goes further to synthesize the information and send you alerts for important data, enabling you to keep track of what’s happening in the world of email in your industry.

Benefits: Owletter does a great job diving deep into competitor monitoring for email, providing you with in-depth info about your competitors’ email habits. This platform can be a perfect timesaver and inbox-saver, especially if you previously subscribed to several of your competitors’ newsletters.

Challenges: Because Owletter is solely focused on email, it’s not an ideal option for competitor monitoring if you want more data on your competitors beyond email.

Wrapping Up Competitor Monitoring

When it comes to how you think about competition, reframe your mindset from looking at your rivals as your enemies to thinking about them as another source to help you optimize your own marketing presence. With the help of competitor monitoring tools, you can learn from your competitors, using their successes to fuel your own and finding gaps they’ve left in your market to connect with your target audience in new ways.

The post The 15 Best Competitor Monitoring Tools to Use in 2024 appeared first on Rival IQ.

Are Instagram carousels worth adding to your social media strategy? Let’s get into the benefits of Instagram carousels and how you can make one yourself.

Why Should You Use Instagram Carousels?

Year after year, our Social Media Industry Benchmark Report shows us just how impactful posting carousels can be. Our 2024 report found that carousels were the type of post with the highest engagement rates for both the alcohol and higher education industries. However, carousels were still one of the most engaged-with types of posts for multiple other industries, trailing only slightly behind Reels.

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One of the most successful higher education institutes in terms of engagement rate for 2023 was Drexel University, which published 53 carousels throughout the year. While their photo posts only received an average engagement rate of 1.84%, their carousels scored 3.19%, outperforming photo posts by about 1.7x. Their top carousel by engagement rate of the year garnered 7.76%, about 4x the average engagement rate of photo posts.

Hootsuite’s research is in line with our findings, as they found that carousels earn more than 3x the average engagement of a static photo post on Instagram. Their study also indicated that carousels outperform Reels in terms of both engagement and reach, though our benchmark report discovered that’s not always the case for every industry.

Our Instagram Stories Benchmark Report also discovered similar findings regarding carousels’ ability to boost engagement. According to our research, carousels received the most significant jump in post engagement per impression of any Instagram post type between 2022 and 2023.

We always recommend experimenting with different content types and testing and reinvesting in what works best. While our industry benchmark report indicates that Reels shouldn’t be ignored in 2024, our findings suggest that neither should carousels.

How to Make an Instagram Carousel

Before you create an Instagram carousel, first make sure that all of your slides would be the same size. Instagram carousel images and videos can be square, landscape, or portrait, but all slides in the carousel should follow the same format and be the same size.

When you’re ready to put together your carousel, head to Instagram and press the plus sign icon at the bottom to add a new post.

On the next screen, you’ll see a square on top of a square on the right-hand side. Press that to be able to choose multiple photos and videos for your post. In your gallery at the bottom of the screen, you’ll see that there’s a circle over each image. When you select an image, the circle will turn blue, and a number will pop up in it. That number tells you where in the carousel this image will appear.

When you’re done selecting your pictures and videos, hit next to go to the following screen, which is where you can add filters to your carousel. When you’re finished editing your carousel, hit next again.

On this screen, you can add your caption, tag people and places, and adjust share settings. When you’re all set to post, press the share button on the top right.

When you’ve finished your carousel, your post should look like the one below. On the top right of the post, you’ll see something like “1/8,” which tells you that there are eight slides in the carousel, and you’re currently seeing the first one. You should be able to swipe left and right to scroll through the images.

What’s a Seamless Instagram Carousel?

With Instagram carousels, you want to encourage your audience to scroll through the entire post. One of the best ways to boost your chances of your audience scrolling through is by creating a seamless Instagram carousel. These types of carousels are called seamless because they transition smoothly from one slide to the next. To make these types of carousels, you want to essentially create one big image that will be broken up into multiple slides.

You can make these larger images with many types of graphic design software, but Canva is a great place to start if you’re new to graphic design or looking for a platform that can help you build what you need to make.

First, go to Canva.com and then hit the “Create a design” button on the top corner on the right. From there, select “Custom size” and input your dimensions. To figure out the dimensions, you’ll multiply the width of one image by the number of slides you want. If you want a square carousel with six slides, for instance, you’ll multiply 1080 pixels by six to get 6480 pixels. Since it’s square, the height will also be 1080 pixels.

Next, turn on rulers and guides by clicking File in the top left corner, hovering over “View settings,” and then clicking “Show rulers and guides.”

Click on the ruler on the left until a purple line appears. Then, drag that line to 1080 pixels. Repeat every 1080 pixels until you have the number of slides you want, this case being six. From there, you’ll design your post, keeping in mind that you want your post to essentially tell a story from left to right.

Go to the top right and download your post by hitting Share and then download. Then, input your post into an image-splitting service like ImageSplitter. You’ll want to keep it at one column, but change the row number to the number of slides you want on your carousel. From there, you’ll download the files and then upload the images to a post on Instagram the same way that’s listed above.

How to Measure Your Instagram Carousel’s Engagement

Now that you’ve posted your carousel, it’s time to see how it stacks up against your other posts. Since carousels are simply another type of Instagram post, you can see their analytics on your Instagram analytics page the same as you would any other type of Instagram post. But what if you wanted to see how all your carousels were doing at once?

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Rival IQ can help you out, as our platform allows you to filter for specific types of posts when looking at your Instagram analytics. First, go to your Social Posts in your Social Analytics.

Then, under Post Type, select Carousel.

From there, you’ll see an overview of how your carousel posts are performing. To see more information about specific posts, select View More under Top Landscape Posts.

Wrapping Up Instagram Carousels

Carousels can be a helpful part of your social media strategy. Our research indicates that your Instagram account should utilize multiple forms of content, going beyond the static photo posts that once were the social media platform’s bread and butter. Carousels can now garner higher engagement rates than photo posts and may even outperform Reels for some industries.

When you introduce carousels to your Instagram account, testing your success can help you retool your strategy as you move into 2024.

The post What Is an Instagram Carousel? How to Create One and Why You Should appeared first on Rival IQ.

Our 2024 Social Media Industry Benchmark Report found that the overall average engagement rate on Facebook was 0.06%, which is on par with our findings for our latest study. This stagnancy might make you think that Facebook isn’t growing, but that’s not entirely true. According to Statista, the number of Facebook users in the U.S. is expected to continue to increase between 2024 and 2028 by a whopping 12.6 million users.

Over the next few years, you’ll have a wealth of new users to target, which can help you boost your engagement rates. However, to reach those new Facebook users, you’ll likely need to bring your Facebook strategy into 2024. Let’s talk about today’s best tactics to increase your Facebook engagement.

8 Tactics to Boost Facebook Engagement

1. Test and reinvest

This list is filled with new ways to engage your target audience, but it’s essential to understand that your audience is unique to you. What engages them is specific to them. While these tactics can be a great place to start when you want to improve your Facebook strategy, the best way to optimize that blueprint is to test and reinvest.

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Social media analytics tools are built around the concept of finding what works for you. Testing new ideas requires you to analyze your results and see if those ideas are worth continuing to put in place. Otherwise, you’re just constantly trying something new, even if a previous tactic was working well. When you make social media marketing choices based on the analytics in tools like Rival IQ, you’ll be more likely to see whether or not your engagement is heading in the right direction.

Rival IQ also gives you the additional benefit of allowing you to learn from your competitors. Our dashboard lets you see how you stack up in your industry, helping you keep tabs on your competitors.

You can see where you land in terms of your engagement rate, such as in this chart that takes a look at top brands in skincare, or even dive deeper into the specific strategies your rivals have implemented. You can also glean helpful insights into your own accounts, like your best time to post.

2. Keep your audience updated

People use Facebook for a variety of reasons, but one of the most popular draws to the app is keeping up to date on news. According to DataPortal’s research, staying on top of news is the third most prominent reason people turn to Facebook, only beaten out by talking to friends and family and sharing their own posts.

One of our top healthy food brands on Facebook, Beyond Meat, found success by following a formula of using Facebook to address product and company news. The plant-based meat alternative’s Facebook feed is filled with informative content, from new releases to partnerships to discussions of their nutritional value and positive environmental impact.

One of the brand’s top Facebook posts of 2023 by engagement rate was an announcement that its Beyond Popcorn Chicken is now available at Sam’s Club and its Beyond Steak is in select Costco locations. The post is relatively simple, with an image of Beyond Popcorn Chicken inside a Sam’s Club freezer. The Facebook post also offered a link to help people locate where to find retailers with Beyond Meat products.

The post earned an engagement rate of 1.31%, about 44x the average engagement rate for the food and beverage industry in 2024. The success of the post goes to show how Facebook users want to see content that is informative and allows them to stay on top of what’s happening with their favorite brands.

3. Provide value

Keeping your audience up to date on company news is one way to provide value to your followers, but there are more options for creating content that’s helpful to your fans. Offering content that provides value is beneficial to your content strategy for multiple reasons.

For one thing, posts that offer high-quality information may be more likely to be saved, which can mean that your followers save and return to the post multiple times. The more times they view the content, the more chances you’ll have to receive engagement on it.

Take, for instance, one tactic by Rare Beauty. The Selena Gomez-founded makeup company topped our list of the best beauty brands on Facebook. Among the brand’s top posts of 2023 by engagement rate were what Rare Beauty dubbed #RareRoutines. These types of posts showcased the founder and a makeup look, with the caption spelling out what products were used to achieve the design.

This type of content not only provides value for people who want to replicate the look but they also offer the brand a platform to promote their products. If someone were to want the exact same look as Gomez, they would need several of Rare Beauty’s makeup products. One of the brand’s top #RareRoutines of 2023 earned an engagement rate of 1.9%, 95x the average engagement rate of the health and beauty industry on Facebook in 2024.

4. Create engaging visuals

In both 2023 and 2024’s Social Media Industry Benchmark Reports, sports teams reigned as the industry with the highest engagement rates on Facebook. So, how have they held the title year after year? One tactic many sports teams have leaned on is the use of engaging visuals.

When Facebook first took over the social media scene, it was a space for photo sharing. You could keep friends up to date on your life by showcasing snapshots of it. As time has gone on, Facebook’s face has changed quite a bit, but photo sharing remains a great way to boost your engagement.

According to our Social Media Industry Benchmark Report, photos were far and away the posts with the highest average engagement rate for sports teams, garnering over 0.25%. In comparison, status updates alone only received just under 0.14% as an average engagement rate. One team that demonstrated the success of photo posts was the NHL team the New Jersey Devils.

The Devils posted 916 photos throughout 2023, but they didn’t just post still images. Many of their photos were covered in graphics that supplied vital information for fans, such as final game scores, players’ stats, and how many games won by the Devils in a series.

One of the top images in terms of engagement rate in 2023 was a photo dedicated to Akira Schmid. The post shared that he’d had his first playoff shutout, which means that the goalie blocked every shot on goal. The post earned an engagement rate of 2.85%, 9.5x the average engagement rate of the sports industry on Facebook.

5. Focus on quality over quantity

In our Social Media Industry Benchmark Report, we found that industries that posted the most didn’t necessarily have the best engagement rates. The industry that posted the most, media, posted an average of 73.5 times per week. However, the media also tied for the third-lowest average engagement rate at 0.04%.

Sports teams posted the second most often and scored the highest engagement rate. Meanwhile, influencers posted just 4.2 times per week, one of the lowest posting frequencies, and still managed to secure the second-highest average engagement rate.

While we recommend keeping a consistent posting schedule, how often you should post can vary by your audience and industry. SKKN BY KIM and Kylie Cosmetics landed as third and eighth, respectively, on our list of the best beauty brands on Facebook. However, they had vastly different posting schedules. Between January 1, 2023, and December 31, 2023, SKKN BY KIM posted 340 times, or about 6.5 posts per week. Meanwhile, Kylie Cosmetics posted 560 times, or about 11 posts per week.

SKKN BY KIM’s engagement rate during 2023 averaged 0.63%, but Kylie Cosmetics averaged 0.019%, meaning that SKKN BY KIM outperformed the latter brand by over 33x. Both brands followed the recommended advice of keeping a regular posting schedule, but it’s clear that more factors are at play when it comes to gaining higher engagement than just post quantity.

6. Try out boosting

According to HubSpot’s research, Facebook remains the platform with the highest return on investment (ROI), tied for first with Instagram. It’s no wonder why the software company also found that Facebook continues to be the most popular platform used by marketers. It’s also no wonder why we’re seeing that more and more companies are giving boosting a try.

Boosted posts are essentially ads that are created from existing posts on your Facebook Page, and they can be a great way to dip your toes into advertising on Facebook. Winter sportswear brand Atomic saw great success when they tried out boosting, as evident by the fact that they wound up topping our list of the best outdoor brands on Facebook.

Five of the company’s top 10 Facebook posts for 2023 were boosted, including the brand’s top post of the year by engagement rate. The post, which celebrated Atomic partner Mikaela Shiffrin’s new record of the most World Cup wins of any skier in history, scored an engagement rate of 14.3%, about 358x the average engagement rate of the retail industry in 2024.

7. Use community-driven UGC

There are many benefits to using user-generated content (UGC) on social media. For starters, it’s a time-saver and a money-saver. Shooting content in-house can take a great deal of time. If you need to rent a studio or equipment, you could be looking at a high monetary investment, too. As we recommend keeping a consistent posting schedule, you’ll need to have a high amount of content on hand to ensure you’re keeping to the number of photos or videos you want to post per week.

UGC saves you time and money, but it can also help you gain trust with your followers. UGC has been shown to feel more authentic to your audience, which may help you drive sales more than in-house content. However, marketing platform TINT’s State of Community Powered Marketing Report for 2024 dove deeper into that idea, finding that audiences are more likely to leave UGC or engage with UGC if they feel like they’re part of a community.

The study found that 82% of people explore new products through communities and that brands with dedicated communities are more likely to drive ROI and be viewed more positively. Diamond Pet Foods, which won as our best pet brand on Facebook, has been focusing on building their community for quite some time.

Many of the brand’s top posts by engagement rate for 2023 were UGC collected from the company’s Fan Family Program. The Fan Family Program asks fans to send in photos and videos for a chance to be featured on Diamond’s social media channels. These photos, like this one of two snuggly sleeping dogs, make up a large portion of the brand’s social media. This photo earned Diamond an engagement rate of 37.5%, about 938x the average engagement rate for the retail industry on Facebook in 2024.

For another way to start building a community of your fans, try out a Facebook Group. Facebook reported that more than 1.8 billion people use Facebook Groups, with NYU’s The Governance Lab finding that people reported feeling a strong sense of community in these groups despite the lack of physical proximity.

8. Optimize your post for search

Picture a search engine. Your mind likely immediately wanders to Google’s iconic search bar, but these days, a search engine can exist in many places, including on social media. TINT’s 2023 State of Social & User-Generated Content Report found that nearly 76% of social media users have used social platforms’ search functions to find new products or ideas.

As we move into the new year, it’s vital for companies to optimize their content for search, starting with search-optimized keywords. Consider, for example, how baking brand King Arthur Baking writes their captions.

The brand utilizes keywords like “gluten-free” or “no sugar added” to describe their recipe posts, making their content more easily discoverable through Facebook’s search function. If someone were to look up gluten-free or no-sugar recipes, they’d be directed to King Arthur Baking’s posts.

One of the brand’s top posts by engagement rate for 2023 was a recipe for a peanut butter cake, and the caption specifically used the words “peanut butter cake recipe.” If someone were to look up those words, the search function would have an easy time redirecting them to this post. Perhaps that’s why the post earned an engagement rate of 0.36%, 12x the average engagement rate of the food and beverage industry on Facebook in 2024.

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Wrapping Up Facebook Engagement Strategies

Facebook has stood the test of time, and it’s only expected to grow in the next few years. With new users comes the opportunity for more engagement, but it may be time to switch up your strategy.

Search-optimized keywords, a good posting schedule, and boosted posts can help you reach more people, while news, value-driven posts, and UGC can help you keep their attention. When you’re not sure where to go, try testing and analyzing what’s worth reinvesting in.

Looking for more engagement help? Check out our guides to increasing engagement on Instagram and Twitter.

The post 8 Simple Ways to Increase Facebook Engagement appeared first on Rival IQ.

Perhaps it’s that shared camaraderie that made the sports industry our top industry in terms of engagement rate on Facebook and Twitter and the second-best-performing industry on Instagram and TikTok, according to our Social Media Industry Benchmark Report for 2023. The sports industry knows just how to excite their audience, with the top teams on social media using unique tactics to garner high engagement.

However, these tactics don’t just benefit the sports sector. These takeaways can go to work to earn engagement even if you’re not out here shooting hoops or scoring goals. Check out these top trends for ideas on how to boost your own engagement.

7 Trends From the Best Sports Teams on Social Media

1. Celebrate your stars

Soccer team (or football team if you’re not from the U.S.) Inter Miami had a thrilling 2023, something that was mirrored in their social media success. Of all the sports teams studied to determine the list of the top sports teams on social media, Inter Miami had the highest engagement rate on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

So, what led to their social media supremacy? One could argue that one man played an integral role. In early June of 2023, Lionel Messi announced that he’d joined Inter Miami. Messi is one of the best players in soccer today and is credited as being one of the greatest of all time. By the time the award-winning player joined Inter Miami, he’d already been playing for nearly two decades professionally.

Securing a superstar like Messi is a big deal, and Inter Miami knows it, which is why many of their posts throughout 2023 talked about Messi joining the club. One of the team’s top posts by engagement rate on Facebook in 2023 was a video announcing Messi coming to Inter Miami, which earned an engagement rate of 106%, about 440x the average engagement rate of the sports industry on Facebook, according to our Social Media Industry Benchmark Report.

One look through the comment section confirms why talking about Messi boosted Inter Miami’s engagement rate for the year. With a career like Messi’s, he has his own fanbase, which he brought with him when he came to Inter Miami. These types of posts cater to that audience, encouraging them to become not just Messi fans but also Inter Miami fans. As one fan succinctly put it in the comments, “Wherever the [Greatest of All Time] goes, we follow. Inter Miami, here we come!”

2. Grow your audience with multiple languages

With Inter Miami having such great success in 2023 and establishing themselves as industry leaders, they had quite a few takeaways that made them one of the top sports teams on social media, such as their multi-lingual content. Using multiple languages in your social media can help you reach a larger audience, but it’s vital to choose languages that make sense with your followers.

Inter Miami often uses both English and Spanish in their posts, sometimes even in the same post, which helps them cater to their international audience. Spanish is only the fourth most spoken language in the world, according to Rosetta Stone. However, soccer is incredibly popular in places with Spanish speakers, even if it’s not called soccer there.

According to Nielson, three of the top 10 countries that are most interested in soccer speak Spanish as a primary language. The team is also based in Florida, where about 19% of the population speaks Spanish, according to World Population Review. Through writing content in both English and Spanish, Inter Miami is connecting with the audience in their own backyard, as well as international followers who are soccer fans.

Inter Miami’s top Facebook post by engagement rate in 2023 announced Messi’s first goal with Inter Miami, celebrating in both English and Spanish. The post earned an engagement rate of 221%, about 917x the average engagement rate of the sports industry on Facebook in 2023.

3. Find content off the field

One might think that the biggest things to happen to the NFL team Kansas City Chiefs in 2023 were winning the Super Bowl and the incredibly successful season that followed, but arguably, what helped them receive far more press was the relationship between tight end Travis Kelce and singer Taylor Swift. The budding romance was on everyone’s lips throughout the year, as the songstress was a frequent fixture at games.

MediaRadar tracked Swift’s appearances at the Chiefs games to find that their relationship was driving more advertising spending and higher game viewership, particularly among female viewers. With those sorts of numbers, it makes sense why the Chiefs’ social media might promote Swift, but there’s something to be said about the concern that Swift’s popularity might overshadow the team.

Instead, the team’s social media accounts embraced creativity by not directly addressing their relationship and finding a clever way to mention Swift without directly talking about her. One post, which was one of the team’s most popular by engagement rate, simply featured a photo of Kelce captioned with a reference to Swift’s music. The post earned an engagement rate of 18.8%, about 12.6x the average engagement rate for the sports industry on Instagram in 2023.

This tactic allowed the Chiefs to capitalize on what was going on off the field without turning the attention away from the team and the overall league. It also allowed the Chiefs to tease the audience a bit, to hint at Kelce and Swift’s relationship without actually having to weigh in on it.

4. Demonstrate your values

There’s a great deal of debate over whether or not companies should weigh in on important issues. While some say that taking a stance will be divisive and alienate audiences, that sort of thinking may be outdated, according to Sprout Social’s research. The social media management company found that younger generations, in particular, want to support companies that talk about their values and stand for something. If you want to connect with younger audiences, taking a stand on a meaningful topic can help you get their attention.

Consider the year that WNBA team Phoenix Mercury had. In 2022, center Brittney Griner was detained in Russia, which became a highly controversial topic. Some believed that she had broken the law and deserved to be detained, and many others thought that she’d received too severe a punishment and deserved to be home in her own country. At the end of 2022, Griner was able to leave the Russian prison and return to the U.S., where she received a great deal of pushback. The Phoenix Mercury also received some flack as they kept their audience updated with the latest developments on when Griner would come back to play.

The 2023 WNBA basketball season was the first in which Griner was able to play after her release. The decision to allow her to play was again marred by controversy, but the Mercury didn’t hesitate to tell audiences their feelings on the matter. The Mercury’s top tweet by engagement rate reaffirmed that they’d stand behind their player as they celebrated her return to the court.

The tweet earned an engagement rate of 18.6%, about 238x the average engagement rate for the sports industry on Twitter. While some of the comments are from naysayers, many more are from people excited to see her playing basketball once more.

5. Spark joy with your content

What types of feelings are you eliciting from your audience? According to a study by Nielson, one of the top reasons people turn to TikTok is to “lift their spirits.” Content that sparks joy can help you up your engagement on this video-sharing platform.

Another interesting piece of the study showed that 88% of TikTok users say that they discover new content they enjoy while using the app, and 52% went even further to say they discover new products or brands thanks to the app. If you’re creating content that blends in with what people want to see on TikTok, like joy-building content, you may find that using the platform results in growing your audience and, potentially, ticket sales.

The NHL team New Jersey Devils utilized this tactic effectively in 2023, creating content that amuses their target audience and encourages engagement, securing their spot as one of the top American sports teams on social media. Rather than directly promoting the Devils, the hockey team found success by posting comedic content that showed off their brand voice and the personalities of the players in their day-to-day lives.

Several of the team’s top posts by engagement rate on TikTok talked about what they dubbed Toothgate after center Jack Hughes’s tooth went missing. One of the top posts by engagement rate by view memorialized the tooth, with photos of Hughes before the tooth went missing set to a sad song. The post earned an engagement rate by view of 17.4%, 1.77x the average engagement rate by view of the top sports teams on TikTok.

6. Keep the camera on

According to the Nielson study, another of the top reasons people use TikTok is because they view the content on the app as being authentic, which is in line with how TikTok’s biggest demographic looks at content today. According to Statista, people aged 18 to 24, who would be considered Gen Z, make up 36.2% of TikTok’s audience.

According to a study by Ernst & Young, authenticity is key when targeting Gen Z. The study found that 92% of Gen Zers said that authenticity is more important than any other personal value. Being true to oneself is something that Gen Z holds dear, and they’re more likely to want to connect with brands that are showing off their authentic selves.

One way to stay authentic on the app is to keep the camera going. Candid moments can help your account look more realistic and relatable. This tactic is in line with the idea that posting behind-the-scenes content can help you garner engagement, something that Rival IQ has seen in numerous studies, like our look at the top beauty brands on social media.

One of the top TikToks of the year for soccer team Leeds United came about from a candid moment. Rather than showing something that the players did on the field, the TikTok showed something happening just off the field by the team’s manager, Daniel Farke.

Caught on film was a moment in which the manager showed incredible ball control, something that made the crowd go wild, a sentiment that was mirrored in the comments of the TikTok video. The video earned an engagement rate by view of 10.3%, which is on par with the average engagement rate by view of the top sports teams on TikTok.

7. Utilize Reels

Despite the fact that static photos were the type of content posted most often by the sports industry, according to our Social Media Industry Benchmark Report for 2023, Reels received far more engagement on Instagram. On average, photos received an engagement rate of just under 1.425%. Meanwhile, Reels scored nearly 1.9%, which is about 1.28x the average engagement rate of the sports industry on Instagram.

One team that truly embraced Reels in 2023 was the NFL team Philadelphia Eagles. The team posted 642 Reels, compared to 402 photos and 394 Carousels. The NFL franchise’s top two posts by engagement rate for 2023 were both Reels, with both earning an engagement rate of more than 50%.

However, it’s worth noting that of the team’s top 10 posts by engagement rate in 2023, five were Carousels, three were Reels, and two were photos. This diverse collection of content goes to show that, while it’s valuable to utilize Reels, it’s vital to make them just one part of your content strategy. Trying out multiple forms of content helps you test and reinvest in what’s working, which allows you to optimize your social media strategy better.

Methodology

To find the top sports teams on social media, we first looked at the largest sports teams in the world and the ones with the biggest online followings. We then compared their average engagement rates from January 1, 2023, to December 31, 2023, to the average engagement rates of the sports industry, according to our Social Media Industry Benchmark Report for 2023.

Beyond their engagement rates, we also took a look at their posting history. Only sports teams that posted more than once a week could be chosen as top sports teams on social media.

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Wrapping Up the Top Sports Teams on Social Media

Throughout 2023, sports teams utilized many different trends and takeaways to boost their online engagement. Over on TikTok, teams found success by focusing on bringing joy and authenticity to the forefront. Meanwhile, on Instagram, teams saw that diversifying content and giving Reels a try gave them an engagement boost.

However, some trends are spreading all throughout the top social media platforms. Celebrating your stars, standing for something you believe in, and finding ways to make your content more inclusive can all help you grow your following and encourage more conversation and connection over your posts.

The post 7 Takeaways From the Top Sports Teams on Social Media appeared first on Rival IQ.

Sustainability isn’t just a trendy buzzword. For many people, it’s a practice that they focus on in their everyday lives, and they want to support companies that feel the same. According to a study from McKinsey and NielsenIQ that looked at retail sales growth between 2018 and 2022, products that made environmental, social, and governance (ESG) claims outperformed those without such claims.

It’s not enough to just stand for sustainability. You have to promote it and show how you stand for it, as the top sustainable brands on social media demonstrate, especially if you want to reach younger generations. Sprout Social’s research found that younger generations want to support brands that align with their values. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2019, more than half of all Americans are millennials or younger, which suggests the importance of tailoring your marketing toward these generations.

The best sustainable brands on social media aren’t just talking the talk. They’re talking about how they walk the walk, meaning that they utilize social media to get their message out and show how they’re an ally to sustainable causes.

However, these brands use many different tactics beyond their sustainable messaging to garner attention and engagement online. Many of these trends aren’t just valuable to the sustainable sector. Let’s get into some takeaways from the best sustainable brands that you can use in your own social media marketing.

7 Trends From the Best Sustainable Brands on Social Media

1. Find ways to talk about your values

Sprout Social’s research found that 73% of Gen Z consumers think it’s important for brands to raise awareness and take a stand on sensitive issues like sustainability. These findings tie into the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR), or the idea that companies must be socially accountable toward themselves, stakeholders, and the general public.

Younger generations, in particular, believe that brands should understand and address their CSR, and they’re more likely to purchase from a brand that is socially accountable. A 2023 study determined that focusing on their CSR had an overall positive impact on companies’ financial performance.

A social media platform is exactly that: a platform. It’s a place where you can stand up and talk about something, a tactic that outdoor clothing company Patagonia uses throughout their social channels. The brand’s top tweet of 2023 by engagement rate was a call to action, in which Patagonia asked its followers to urge the Biden administration to put an end to the Willow project.

According to the National Resource Defense Council, the Willow project is a proposal for oil drilling on the single-largest tract of public land in the U.S. Located in Alaska, this area is a crucial nesting ground for migratory birds and home to millions of caribou. Drilling on this land, which is already suffering from coastal erosion, thawing permafrost, and melting sea ice, will only exacerbate the problem and continue to set back the fight against climate change. Each year, the project would release pollution that’s equivalent to the amount produced by two million gas-powered cars.

This cause ties into Patagonia’s values as a company that’s focused on protecting the environment, and the brand’s followers seem to like that Patagonia stands up online for causes that matter to them. The tweet calling for an end to the Willow project earned an engagement rate of 0.78%, 52x the average engagement rate for retail brands on Twitter in 2023, according to our 2023 Social Media Industry Benchmark Report.

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2. Find ways to talk about how you back up your values

Beyond talking about what you stand for, the best sustainable brands on social media also talk about how they’re backing up their promises. Some companies talk about sustainability, but when you dive into their production processes, you’ll discover that their practices are pretty far from what they’re saying they believe in.

This tactic is called “greenwashing.” Essentially, it’s when a company says they are environmentally friendly without actually backing up their claim or even engaging in practices that directly go against that claim. According to research by the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network, 42% of “green” claims are exaggerated, deceptive, or downright false.

Greenwashing depletes consumer trust and can ultimately hurt your bottom line, which is why it’s essential to be open about your sustainable practices. Transparency can help build trust with your buyers and show them that you’re engaging in processes that fit the values you claim to stand for, like the shoe brand Thousand Fell did on their TikTok account throughout 2023.

One of the brand’s top TikToks of the year spelled out the practices the company has in place to prevent their shoes from ever ending up in a landfill. The TikTok earned an engagement rate by view of 11.4%, 1.7x the average engagement rate by view of the top sustainable brands on TikTok.

3. Create easy-to-understand giveaways

Throughout Rival IQ’s research, we’ve found that giveaways can be a great engagement rate boost. Shoe company Allbirds utilized giveaways throughout 2023 on their social media channels to score high engagement and new followers.

We’ve found that not all giveaways are created equal. Those with unclear instructions on how to enter, too many steps to enter, and unclear prizes can deter engagement, resulting in a post that doesn’t perform as well as you might have hoped. However, Allbirds’s giveaway posts were direct and didn’t place too many barriers to entry.

The brand’s top two posts by engagement rate on Instagram for 2023 were both giveaways. The top post gave away the brand’s newest shoe, the Wool Runner 2, with a pair for the winner and one friend. The second-best-performing post followed a similar format, with the winner getting a pair of their original Wool Runner shoe for themselves and a friend in honor of the Wool Runner’s seven-year anniversary.

Both posts used the same entry methods, asking followers to like the post, follow Allbirds, and tag a friend. The top post also allowed for more entries by asking followers to comment multiple times to tag more friends and share what brings you comfort, as well as allowing for further entries if followers share that post to their Instagram story and tag the brand. The rules are clearly spelled out and found in the caption, where they’re easy to find.

These posts also both earned an engagement rate of over 1.05%, with the next highest post only coming in at 0.89%. In the case of the top post, it garnered a 1.84% engagement rate, about 1.5x the average engagement rate of the retail industry on Instagram in 2023.

4. Up your SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) means optimizing your content to make it more easily discoverable. In many cases, people think of Google and other similar search engines when they think of SEO. However, many social media platforms have their own search function, which allows people to find related posts on the application.

According to TINT’s State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023 report, 76% of social media users search for new brands and products on social media, especially on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. On these platforms, in particular, it’s essential to use search-optimized keywords to help your posts get discovered by those looking for related content.

This tactic is something that women’s clothing brand Ninety Percent used throughout 2023. On Instagram and Facebook, the company used trending hashtags like #SustainableFashion, making their content more easily found if one were to search for posts and accounts related to sustainable clothing.

One of the brand’s top posts by engagement rate on Facebook promoted the company’s autumn and winter collection and used hashtags like #ResponsibleFashion and #Monochrome. The post garnered an engagement rate of 0.30%, 2.5x the average engagement rate of the retail industry on Facebook in 2023.

5. Lean into your brand voice

Your brand voice is an essential part of your brand identity. Are you more irreverent or serious? Poetic or direct? Your brand voice is how you speak throughout your copy and content, and that voice should extend to your social media.

A unique brand voice can differentiate you from your competitors. Though there are many sustainable clothing brands, Reformation leans toward a brand voice that differs from that of other competitors. While many brands in this space take on a more serious voice, as many of the topics they discuss are serious, Reformation isn’t afraid to get a little silly. This silliness is something that its fans have come to expect, and they appear to be more likely to engage when this light-hearted attitude comes out.

Consider, for instance, Reformation’s top tweet by engagement rate of 2023. The tweet was in response to a fan writing, “The Reformation email copywriter hasn’t written anything really insane or nonsensical in a while. I hope she’s okay.” In response, Reformation’s Twitter account simply posted a picture from one of their recent emails saying, “Like regular clothes, only more chic. Not unlike Parisian bed bugs.”

The tweet pokes fun at Paris’s recent bed bug problem. For some brands, this post would be inappropriate or unprofessional, but for Reformation, it fits right in with their “nonsensical” brand voice. The tweet earned an engagement rate of 3.18%, 212x the average engagement rate of the retail industry on Twitter in 2023.

6. Partner with the right influencers

Though the influencer marketing landscape has changed dramatically over the past several years, it’s not going anywhere. Choosing the right influencers can help you develop greater trust with consumers. According to findings by Matter Communications, 69% of people trust influencers, friends, and family over information coming directly from a brand.

However, who you work with is also crucial. The agency also found that trust varies depending on who the influencer is. While 61% of people said they trust “relatable personalities,” only 11% said they trust “celebrity influencers.” When putting together your influencer marketing plans for 2024, the top thing to remember is that authenticity is key, which is why you want to partner with someone authentic to your brand’s image.

If you’re working in sustainable fashion, for instance, you might want to work with someone who holds similar values, which they share on their social media. You can also consider working with someone who fits in with your brand voice. If your brand is fun-loving and focuses on being relatable, you might want to work with someone who fits that sort of attitude.

Sustainable clothing brand Everlane used this tactic to secure one of their top TikToks of 2023. The video is of influencer @ellasandramuse, who showcases her fun and relatable personality throughout her videos. Her style also fits right in with the type of clothing Everlane makes. The result of the partnership was an engagement rate by view of 14.1%, 2.12x the average engagement rate by view of the top sustainable brands on TikTok.

7. Keep up to date on trends

Trends age quickly on social media, especially when it comes to TikTok. If you’re not up-to-date on online trends and post something tied to a trend from even just a few weeks ago, you can make your account look dated. Instead of capitalizing on the trend, you may actually deter engagement.

When you learn about a trend you want to follow, it’s essential to move quickly and create fresh content around the idea. Sustainable clothing brand Quince used this guideline to find success on TikTok throughout 2023.

One of Quince’s top TikTok videos of the year utilized the “coastal cowgirl” trend. Coastal cowgirl was an aesthetic that was popular in spring and summer of 2023, and it was a blend of western and beach styles. On the fashion industry front, videos went viral of people in cowboy boots and breezy dresses or jeans and airy button-downs. Meanwhile, in the home decor space, people were showing off how they had turned their homes into a mix of a beach house and a rustic home in the country.

Quince took advantage of this trend by making a video about how their sustainable products can work with the coastal cowboy aesthetic. They posted it in July, which allowed them to take advantage of the peak of the trend. The video gained an engagement rate by view of 8.3%, about 1.25x the average engagement rate by view of the top sustainable brands on TikTok.

Methodology

To determine the top sustainable brands on social media, we compiled a list of some of the most prominent sustainable brands on the market. We then compared their engagement rates against the average engagement rates of the retail industry on each social media platform, according to our Social Media Industry Benchmark Report for 2023.

In addition to beating this engagement rate, brands must have also posted at least once per week on the social media platform to be chosen as a top sustainable brand.

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Wrapping Up the Top Sustainable Brands on Social Media

When we look at the best sustainable brands on social media, there’s a lot we can learn from them. For one thing, they’re not just talking about being sustainable. They’re showing what they do to stand for their values.

While they’re using tried-and-true tactics like giveaways and honing their brand voice, they’re also acknowledging the changing landscape of social media by optimizing their content for search engines, following trends, and partnering with relatable influencers.

Looking to learn more about ways to attract engagement on social media? Check out some of the takeaways from the top outdoor brands on social media.

The post 7 Takeaways From the Top Sustainable Brands on Social Media appeared first on Rival IQ.

According to the BCD Travel Research and Intelligence team’s 2024 outlook report, that continued recovery may slow in 2024. However, the demand for hotel rooms is still higher than the supply, which is good news for hotel brands, who can expect steady occupancy throughout the year. Hotel brands are already finding new ways to attract guests in 2024, including on their social media.

According to our Social Media Benchmark Report for 2023, the travel industry was one of the top professions to watch on social media, especially on TikTok and Facebook. Hotel brands in particular have been getting creative with new tactics to gain engagement online. Here’s a look at how the top hotel brands on social media are convincing followers to pack their bags and book a room.

The Top 4 Hotel Brands on Social Media

Best Hotel Brand on Facebook: Hard Rock Hotels

What Makes Them Stand Out: Optimizing content for search

One thing we love about Hard Rock Hotels is that their social media presence seems to be looking toward the future. According to TINT’s State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023 Report, nearly 76% of people surveyed said that they used social media to search for products, brands, or experiences. That number is only expected to increase as we head into 2024.

Social media platforms have their own search functions, where the social network will recommend relevant posts based on search terms, hashtags, and keywords that the user types into the search bar. The three social networks that people use the most often to search for new things? Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, which is why it’s so crucial to make sure your content is search-optimized on these networks.

This tactic is prevalent throughout Hard Rock Hotels’ Facebook posts, where the hotel brand uses keywords that will help them get discovered by people searching for travel inspiration. Consider if someone were to look up “pet-friendly hotels.” They’ll be more likely to stumble across Hard Rock Hotels’ content, such as this post that talks about their Unleashed program that allows dogs to stay with their owners. The post even uses “pet-friendly hotel” in the link to their website.

The use of such descriptive keywords can help them get ahead of their competition, who may not yet be optimizing their content for Facebook’s search engine. This post, which was one of the brand’s top posts by engagement rate between December 1, 2022, and November 30, 2023, earned a 3.43% engagement rate, about 39x the average engagement rate of the travel industry on Facebook.

Best Hotel Brand on Instagram: Hilton

What Makes Them Stand Out: Highlighting unique experiences

With so many other hotel brands out there, Hilton has found a way to stand out online by focusing on the experiences you can only get with them. From hotel rooms inspired by Barbie to an “Aladdin”-influenced suite that comes with tickets to the Broadway production of the beloved story, many of Hilton’s Instagram posts with the highest engagement rate in 2023 focused on what made staying at a Hilton hotel different.

The brand’s top post by engagement rate focused on the partnership between Hilton and “Aladdin the Musical” that allowed for this special suite and deal. The post gained an engagement rate of 2.63%, about 5.66x the average engagement rate for the travel industry on Instagram. Beyond simply talking about the unique suite, it also promoted the complimentary tickets, which were a major selling point of the deal.

According to Instagram’s internal data, 70% of users turn to the platform before making a purchase, which is why it’s beneficial to utilize your Instagram posts to talk about what makes buying from you special. By highlighting a one-of-a-kind offer or discount, like the deal of getting complimentary Broadway tickets, Hilton focused on an important selling point for staying at their Hilton New York Times Square location and encouraged potential customers along in their journey toward booking a room at the hotel.

Best Hotel Brand on Twitter: Accor Hotels

What Makes Them Stand Out: Hosting giveaways

Throughout many of Rival IQ’s studies and reports, we’ve found that hosting giveaways is one of the best ways to boost engagement on Twitter. Giveaways come in many different forms, but they often encourage engagement through comments, likes, or retweets. They can even boost your following if having someone follow you is part of the rules of your giveaway.

Accor Hotels found success through giveaways during this time period, with the hotel brand’s top tweet by engagement rate for the year being a giveaway of two courtside seats for the NBA Paris Game at the Accor Arena. The tweet earned an engagement rate of 24%, nearly 800x the average engagement rate on Twitter for the travel industry.

It’s worth noting that the brand published more tweets with contests and giveaways throughout the year. Another giveaway, this time for two tickets to the French Open and a night’s stay at one of their hotels, came in as the tweet with the second-highest engagement rate for the year.

However, the brand also proved that not all giveaways and contests are created equal. Another giveaway simply said in the caption that users would help “create our greeting card and try to win an amazing trip.” The rules for entry were in the comments instead of the caption, and what precisely the trip would be was unspecified. The result was much lower engagement than the other giveaway posts, which goes to show why it’s essential to be specific in what your prize is and make it easy to follow the rules for entry. This takeaway is vital for finding giveaway success on Twitter.

Best Hotel Brand on TikTok: Club Med

What Makes Them Stand Out: Creating content worth saving

Club Med demonstrated some excellent tactics for securing engagement on TikTok, starting with their ability to create content worth saving and returning to watch. One way to greatly increase views and engagement on TikTok is by creating videos with inspirational and informative content. By creating such content, viewers will be more likely to come back, upping your view count and your potential for engagement. Many of Club Med’s TikToks are travel inspiration or recipe posts.

These types of posts give valuable information that people want to save and come back to watch again. Some of the brand’s top TikToks by engagement rate even go so far as to suggest viewers “save for travel inspiration” in the caption. Many of these top videos also ask people to share their own travel tips in the comments, encouraging more engagement that provides valuable information.

One of the brand’s top posts of the year, which shared travel tips for Bali, used this format. The video earned an engagement rate by view of 3.54%, which is 2.67x the average engagement rate by view of the top hotel brands in this article.

Trends from the Hotel Industry on Social Media

Many of the top hotel brands on social media showcased strategies that could be utilized far beyond the travel industry. Let’s dive into some of the top takeaways from hotel brands on social networks and how they can help other companies looking to make some waves online.

Go for Quick Cuts

Club Med used many excellent tactics to get engagement online. Another way they stood out as the top hotel brand on TikTok was their usage of quick cuts instead of extended scenes.

As you watch through Club Med’s top TikToks by engagement rate, you’ll find that many videos are made up of still images or short scenes, like this post that’s a compilation of short clips of experiences you could have at Club Med Kani in the Maldives. The post earned an engagement rate by view of 1.37%, which is on par with the average engagement rate by view of the hotel brands listed in this article.

Club Med’s success with this tactic makes sense when you consider Facebook Blueprints Insights’ data about which videos tend to get the most engagement on social media. According to their research, the most engaging videos have scenes averaging 2.8 seconds long.

Try Out Boosting

One trend we’ve noticed throughout our reports on the best brands on social media is that many are giving boosting a try, especially on Facebook. According to Hubspot’s research, Facebook remains the social media platform with the highest return on investment (ROI), which makes it a perfect place to put more of your boosting budget.

Sandals Resorts saw a great deal of success with boosting on Facebook. Rival IQ found that all of the brand’s top 10 Facebook posts by engagement rate during this time period were all likely boosted. The brand’s top post by engagement rate, which focused on their new Jamaican location, garnered a 1.23% engagement rate, about 14x the average engagement rate of the travel industry on Facebook.

Make Meaningful Partnerships

When Hyatt partnered with Jalin Hyatt, he was a college football star who was on the rise. Though their matching names were fun, Hyatt was much more strategic in choosing him than just deciding on the partnership because of his name. The hotel got in on the ground floor of something big, as Jalin Hyatt is now a wide receiver for the New York Giants.

Posts about Jalin and Hyatt’s partnership took off. Hyatt’s top post by engagement rate on Instagram was about the collaboration, while the top four tweets by engagement rate focused on Jalin, as well. The tweet with the highest engagement rate went further to talk about just what went into the partnership.

Instead of simply looking for a celebrity endorsement, Hyatt also gained goodwill from fans by providing the families of Jalin’s entire college football team with Hyatt gift cards to give them a place to stay during the team’s major games. This tactic demonstrates that you don’t necessarily need the most famous celebrity for a good partnership. You just need to be strategic about who you choose and what you make a part of the collaboration. This tweet earned a 1.16% engagement rate, about 36x the average engagement rate for the travel industry on Twitter.

Methodology

To determine the best hotel brands on social media, we first compiled a list of the most prominent hotel brands worldwide. We then compared their engagement rates between December 1, 2022, and November 30, 2023, against the average engagement rates of the travel industries on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, according to our Social Media Industry Benchmark Report. To move on to the next round, each brand also needed to post an average of at least once a week. From there, the brand with the highest engagement rate was chosen as the winner.

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Wrapping Up the Best Hotel Brands on Social Media

With the hotel industry expected to continue to climb, the best hotel brands on social media are trying out new techniques to gain attention and, hopefully, guests. They’re using tried and true tactics, like giveaways, but they’re also looking toward the future with new ways to earn engagement, like optimizing their content for social media search engines.

From making videos out of short clips to trying out boosting, these takeaways don’t just work for hotel brands. These ideas can help jumpstart your own social media strategy.

Want to learn more about who is shaking up the hotel industry and how you can use some of each brand’s brightest ideas? Check out our live social media benchmarks for hotels.

The post The Top 4 Hotel Brands on Social Media and What Makes Them Stand Out appeared first on Rival IQ.

As of 2023, 66% of U.S. households have a pet, according to a Forbes Advisor survey. It’s no wonder why the pet industry has become such an interesting, fast-growing business to be in.

With the growth of this industry comes new marketing tactics to target the different audiences who love pets, such as social media marketing. Although the survey found that millennials were the age group most likely to have a pet, Gen Xers and Baby Boomers weren’t far behind. Meanwhile, 16% of Gen Zers currently have a pet, but the number seems to be increasing as they get older, buy houses, and gain higher incomes.

Social media marketing can help pet brands target all of these generations, though different tactics and platforms will need to be used, a fact that some pet brands are already embracing. Let’s check out the pet brands that have their audiences barking for more online.

The Top 4 Pet Brands on Social Media

The Best Pet Brand on Facebook: Diamond Pet Foods

What They Do Best: Acquiring UGC

Once you have a user-generated content (UGC) strategy down pat like Diamond Pet Foods, you’ll find that you’ll hardly need to make your own content for social at all. Using UGC is a cost-saving measure, as you save on having to hire your own photographers and plan photoshoots.

Diamond Pet Foods uses an ambassador program called their Fan Family Program and contests that ask fans to send in their own Diamond Pet Foods-related content to build a portfolio filled with photos and videos that can be repurposed on their social media accounts. All of the brand’s top 10 posts by engagement rate between December 1, 2022, and November 30, 2023, were UGC, like this post of a cat named Mowgli.

This post served several purposes. In addition to reusing UGC, the photo was also captioned asking for images of other people’s pets in the comments. By asking for return photos, Diamond Pet Foods gained access to even more UGC and boosted the likelihood of conversation in their comments, upping their engagement rate. The post scored an engagement rate of 41.5%, which is 345x the average engagement rate for the retail industry on Facebook, according to our Social Media Industry Benchmark Report for 2023.

The Best Pet Brand on Instagram: BARK

What They Do Best: Utilizing Reels

BARK, an online shop for all things dogs that’s likely best known for their BarkBox monthly subscription service, found that the key to a great year on Instagram is maximizing their Reels usage. Nine of BARK’s top 10 posts in terms of engagement rate during this time period were Reels. When it comes to the retail industry, the posts with the highest engagement were Reels in 2023.

However, BARK also found success by following a formula similar to that of competitor Diamond Pet Foods. Nine of BARK’s top 10 posts were also UGC. BARK added additional value to their reused Reels by adding captions that explained what was happening in the video or provided directions to access more information on BARK’s website.

Consider, for instance, BARK’s top post by engagement rate during this time period, which was a repurposed TikTok video of a dog rushing to look out the window when he hears something. The caption explained why the dog could listen to what humans couldn’t and why an Australian Shepherd like the one in the video is especially great at hearing even the slightest sound. The Reel earned an engagement rate of 1,990%, 1,600x the average engagement rate for the retail industry in Instagram.

The Best Pet Brand on Twitter: Blue Buffalo

What They Do Best: Encouraging conversation

Over on Twitter, Blue Buffalo reigns supreme with a strategy that takes some time but clearly paid off for the brand in 2023, as they used conversational content and consistent replies to keep the conversation going. Many of Blue Buffalo’s tweets for the year were memes or photos, but the key was what they wrote in or about the image. Blue Buffalo’s Twitter account used their tweets to ask for responses in the form of pet photos.

This simple strategy fits right in with the findings of a Mars Petcare survey, which found that 65% of pet owners post about their pets at least twice per week. Blue Buffalo essentially gave them an outlet to post. With another survey by OnePoll finding that owners take about 400 photos of their animals per year, those pet parents have a wealth of pictures to choose from. It makes sense why asking for pet photos would be an effective way to gain responses online.

Blue Buffalo’s top post by engagement rate was a photo asking people to retweet if their Twitter account is run by a cat and share pictures of the cat behind it all. The tweet garnered an engagement rate of 90.9%, which is 6,060x the average engagement rate for the retail industry on Twitter.

What also seems to have helped Blue Buffalo is the fact that the social media manager took the time to respond to many of the photos in the replies. Although asking for photos initiated the conversation, the engagement rate continued to increase as the social media manager kept the discussions going.

The Best Pet Brand on TikTok: Spot & Tango

What They Do Best: Entertaining over advertising

Pet food delivery service Spot & Tango partnered with popular content creator Tyler Regan to help them secure the title of the best pet brand on TikTok. Regan is best known for his funny videos about strange yet relatable interactions. Although he does videos about interactions between neighbors or customers and workers, he did several videos throughout the year for Spot & Tango showing an interaction between someone looking to get a dog and someone else trying to steer them in the right direction for their needs.

For instance, Spot & Tango’s top TikTok by engagement rate during this time period was about someone looking to apply to adopt a boxer. In the video, Regan can be seen playing both the potential adoptee and the shelter worker. The result is a funny video that’s all too relatable for boxer owners, as Regan details a boxer’s propensity for being energetic, twerking, and stealing all the room on the bed. The TikTok gained an engagement rate of 1,660%, over 110,000x the average engagement rate for the retail industry on TikTok.

Regan also did a litany of other videos for Spot & Tango, including ones detailing all the dogs different celebrities have, comedy-laced explainer videos about different breeds, and a series of videos centered around a weekly joke about dogs. The videos are highly engaging and fun, and they noticeably lack direct references to Spot & Tango

So, why is it such a good strategy if Spot & Tango isn’t making direct advertisements? It’s all about creating a TikTok strategy that actually fits what people want to see on TikTok. According to a survey from The New Consumer, the top two reasons people spend time on TikTok are “mindless entertainment” and “comic relief.”

Although you might learn a thing or two about dogs from Regan’s videos, these TikToks are more about having fun and making people laugh than they are about anything else. Regan’s videos, as funny as they are, will pull people to Spot & Tango’s TikTok page to find more comedy.

There, they’ll also find links to Spot & Tango’s website, where they can learn more about the company’s products and services. The comedic TikToks work as more indirect advertising instead of using the videos as direct ads.

Trends Across the Top Brands in the Pet Industry

We’ve talked a lot about who’s doing social media particularly well in the pet space, but there’s a lot more we can learn from the pet industry that we can apply to our own social media channels. Let’s dive into some of the top trends in the pet space and learn how they can help boost your engagement when you take them into your own social media marketing playbook.

Bring It Into the Real World

If you’re looking to gain content and a positive reputation, consider working to create some engagement in real life beyond the engagement you get on your social media posts. When you hold real-life events, you’re gaining notoriety offline. However, these events are also a gold mine when it comes to getting content that you can repurpose online, too.

One of the top posts by engagement rate from pet food brand Stella & Chewy’s across any platform was a TikTok showing off what happened at the brand’s event on Santa Monica Pier. The event was a silent fireworks show, which allowed dogs to get in on Fourth of July fun without the fear that usually comes from loud, booming fireworks.

The post earned an engagement rate of 251%, over 16,000x the average engagement rate for the retail industry on TikTok. However, content from the fireworks show appears several more times throughout the brand’s top posts.

Doing Good for Good Content

According to Sprout Social’s research, younger generations, like Gen Zers, tend to prefer brands that align with their values. Corporate social responsibility is a big reason why this generation follows who they follow. Gen Zers want to see the brands they like stand for something, which is why you should incorporate content into your social media strategies that show what your company does to do good.

Consider pet food brand Freshpet. One of the brand’s top posts by engagement rate across any social media platform was a TikTok showing the company giving a makeover to 12 adoptable dogs from St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center in Madison, New Jersey. This makeover and photoshoot gave the company great content, and the post functioned to show that Freshpet is working to have a positive effect on animal welfare. In the caption, the TikTok gave ways to adopt the pets the brand was showcasing.

The post earned an engagement rate of 61.5%, 4,100x the average engagement rate for the retail industry on TikTok. Even better, the comments were filled with people asking to adopt the animals, which goes to show how one social media post has the power to make a difference.

Go Behind-the-Scenes

Our Social Media Industry Benchmark Report for 2023 found that several industries did well with content that went behind the scenes. It seems like behind-the-scenes content is here to stay, and it’s continuing to get traction, especially on Instagram and TikTok. Pet food delivery company The Farmer’s Dog deserves a shoutout for taking their Super Bowl commercial spot and turning it into tons of behind-the-scenes content.

Many of the brand’s top posts by engagement rate across any social media platform during 2023 were photos and videos that introduced social media users to the star players in the commercial, namely the dogs. Over on TikTok, one such post shared the story of Blue and how he came to star in the ad. The post earned an engagement rate of 19.4%, nearly 1,300x the average engagement rate for retail brands on TikTok.

Methodology

To find the best pet brands on social media, we first compiled a list of some of the biggest pet companies out there that posted at least once per week throughout the period of December 1, 2022, and November 30, 2023.

Those that met that quota had their engagement rates compared to the average engagement rates in the retail industry, according to our Social Media Industry Benchmark Report for 2023. For a brand to rank as the winning pet brand for a specific social media platform, the brand must have the highest engagement rate in their category, provided that they also posted once per week throughout the year.

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Wrapping Up a Year of Pet Brands on Social Media

A look at the top pet brands on social media goes to show that they’ve really become experts in getting online engagement. From repurposing UGC to finding ways to encourage interactions on social, these brands are showcasing impressive tactics that helped them beat the competition.

However, these tactics don’t just work for the pet world. Trends like making value-based, event-based, or behind-the-scenes content may work for pet professions, but they can be adapted to all sorts of industries.

The post The Top 4 Pet Brands on Social Media appeared first on Rival IQ.

According to our 2023 Social Media Benchmark Report, engagement rates are holding steady on Twitter despite posting frequency being down 20%. With the right Twitter strategy, you can still get high engagement and more followers on the social network.

That’s where Twitter analytics tools come in. We’re big believers in the benefits of testing and reinvesting. In order to make that reinvestment, you need to know what’s working. A Twitter analytics tool can help you crunch the numbers to allow you to build a strategy of what’s getting engagement and forgo what isn’t. Let’s get into what you want out of a Twitter analytics tool and where to find the best ones on the market.

What to Look for in a Twitter Analytics Tool

A good Twitter analytics tool will let you dive into the most important Twitter metrics, like impressions, engagement rate, and hashtag performance. However, it’s not enough to simply have access to these metrics. Twitter analytics software should also display this information in an easy-to-understand way. If you can’t navigate the platform and easily access these metrics, the software won’t help you understand what you need to change or reinvest in.

Analytics is also just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to building your Twitter strategy. You may also want to invest in a platform that includes social listening. Such a tool will monitor who’s talking about you, what they’re talking about, and how they feel about your brand. These social listening metrics can help you get a more complete picture of your Twitter presence.

The Top 10 Best Twitter Analytics Tools

1. Twitter Analytics

How it works: Twitter Analytics is Twitter’s native analytics tool. This page will give you a summary of your Twitter performance over the past 28 days, where you can see your impression count, follower count, engagement rate, and breakdowns of your best-performing tweets from the past month.

Pros: If you’re just starting out with paying attention to your analytics on Twitter, Twitter Analytics can be an excellent place to start, as it’s a free option.

Cons: The data received through Twitter Analytics is limited, both in terms of the time you can look back on and the number of metrics you can see. Moreover, Twitter Analytics is currently undergoing some changes, so the data you see here may not be what you see on Twitter Analytics forever.

2. Rival IQ

How it works: Rival IQ provides an in-depth dive into your Twitter analytics, providing you with an easy-to-navigate dashboard that shows you metrics for every tweet. Yes, we know we’re recommending our own tool, but we have a good reason. With us, you also get actionable insights, such as when the best time to post is and what hashtags may benefit your Twitter strategy. With Rival IQ’s competitive benchmarking tools, you’ll get information on your biggest competitors to help you learn from what’s working for them and get ahead of other brands in your industry.

Pros: Investing in Rival IQ’s social media analytics tool also means getting access to social listening features, including one designed specifically for Twitter, that can help you discover who is talking about you, what they’re saying, and the overall sentiment toward your brand.

Cons: Some users suggest that Rival IQ’s reporting could be more customizable.

3. Emplifi

How it works: Emplifi Unified Analytics pulls your Twitter analytics into one place and gives you insights into how to use the data to update your Twitter strategy. Emplifi prides itself on being able to take complex data and turn it into something easier to understand. You’ll also be able to pull analytics on your competitors to help you learn from them as well.

Pros: Emplifi gives you access to publishing and community management features, allowing you to do all your Twitter work through the platform.

Cons: Some users say that Emplifi sometimes misses information from Twitter and that Twitter analytics are not thorough. Unlocking additional features, like social listening, requires upgrading to a larger package.

4. Keyhole

How it works: Keyhole is a social media analytics and social listening tool that helps you understand your Twitter presence and optimize it with the help of in-depth reporting. Monitor what people are saying about your brand, get real-time data on your ongoing campaigns, keep an eye on competitors, discover your best new influencer, and conduct market research on social media trends all in one place.

Pros: Users say that Keyhole is particularly great for tracking hashtag performance. The platform is also said to be highly easy to navigate.

Cons: Some users suggest that Keyhole’s data isn’t always accurate, making it essential to use additional tools to keep an eye on your Twitter performance.

5. Twitonomy

How it works: Twitonomy is a social media analytics tool solely dedicated to Twitter. Track and get insights into Twitter accounts through customizable reports. Keep an eye on keywords and hashtags to join in the online conversation in the most effective way.

Pros: Twitonomy is ideal for helping you optimize your follower and following lists, allowing you to connect with your ideal customers and cut out time spent on those who will likely not convert into buyers.

Cons: Twitonomy sometimes pulls old tweets into new reports, giving you inaccurate and outdated information.

6. Hootsuite

How it works: Hootsuite is an all-in-one tool that lets you publish content, track its performance, and listen in on the online conversation around your content and brand overall. Hootsuite also takes all that data and helps turn it into actionable insights, such as your best time to post and your best hashtags. You can also keep an eye on your competition through the software’s easy-to-use dashboards.

Pros: Hootsuite works as a one-stop shop for your Twitter needs. Through the application, you can create content, manage your community, and build customizable reports tailored toward the KPIs you want to see.

Cons: Hootsuite only lets you track a limited number of competitors. According to users, the platform sometimes struggles to communicate with Twitter.

7. TweetBinder

How it works: TweetBinder is primarily a hashtag and keyword analytics tool for Twitter. From a keyword or hashtag, the platform can get in-depth information, including tweet volume and sentiment.

Pros: TweetBinder offers both free and paid versions. If you’re a small business just starting out, the free version will likely be sufficient, allowing you to put your budget elsewhere. The Twitter analytics tool also lets you focus on either real-time data or historical reports. With a paid version, you can run unlimited reports.

Cons: TweetBinder pricing depends on how many mentions you want to track per month. Whether you’re a larger corporation that typically gets a lot of mentions or a smaller brand that just happens to go viral, you’re looking at quite a significant increase in cost from businesses that get fewer mentions.

8. Fedica

How it works: Formerly known as Tweepsmap, Fedica is a scheduling, management, and analytics tool. Dive deep into your engagement, helping you learn about your followers and what they want to see. With Fedica’s community analysis and social listening tools, you can connect with those who fit your target audience with ease.

Pros: Fedica does market research for you by offering information on live trending topics to help you optimize your content for the current online conversation. Fedica’s AI-driven analytics is segmented to ensure that you get an in-depth look into different facets of your audience, helping you build a better picture of each of your buyer personas.

Cons: Some users say Fedica isn’t intuitive, and it can take some time for one to learn how to use it.

9. Trendsmap

How it works: Trendsmap dives into historical data on Twitter to help you uncover trends across time. Search for specific keywords, see how trends evolved, and get eye-catching visualizations of metrics around these topics.

Pros: Trendsmap lets you get an in-depth view of specific trends on Twitter, allowing you to learn more about how conversation topics have shifted over time.

Cons: While this Twitter analytics tool used to show you more current data, historical data is all that Trendsmap can access anymore due to Twitter’s backend changes. Data now cuts off at July 2023.

10. Agorapulse

How it works: Agorapulse is an all-in-one tool that helps you create content, monitor your mentions, talk to your community, publish posts, and get reports that allow you to see what’s working and what isn’t in your Twitter strategy. With Agorapulse’s reporting, you’ll get a complete picture of everything from your engagement rates to your return on investment.

Pros: Agorapulse’s reporting gives you valuable insights and also provides you with all the documentation you need to show your stakeholders what you’re working on. Users also say the interface is very user-friendly.

Cons: Some users say Agorapulse’s reporting features lag behind the capabilities of some of the platform’s competitors. This software is also one of the more expensive Twitter analytics tools, which might make it not feasible for smaller businesses.

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Wrapping Up Twitter Analytics

When you invest in a good Twitter analytics tool, you’re really making an investment in optimizing your Twitter strategy. With the right tool, you can see what’s working with your strategy and remove the things that aren’t. From helping you reach your target audience to allowing you to listen in on what the word is about your business, a Twitter analytics tool can make a world of difference in your Twitter presence.

Looking for tools that’ll help you optimize your social media strategy beyond Twitter? Check out our list of the best social media analytics tools for all major social networks.

The post The Top 10 Twitter Analytics Tools appeared first on Rival IQ.

New Englanders truly love their Dunkin’. Meanwhile, on the West Coast, the love for Philz Coffee and Peet’s Coffee is just as strong, depending on where on the coast you are.

When it comes to coffee drinkers, the love of their favorite brands is powerful, and that love comes out in the form of social media follows, likes, comments, and shares. Who among us doesn’t eagerly await their favorite coffee chain’s announcement of their fall flavors as summer comes to an end, keeping a careful eye on their social media pages for the big news?

We love seeing our favorite coffee brands online, whether it’s because of their new offerings, behind-the-scenes content with master baristas, or something else entirely. Coffee brands just seem to know how to talk to their customers, but some coffee companies definitely speak that language more clearly than others. Let’s get into some of the best-performing coffee brands on social media and how they’re standing out online.

The Four Best Coffee Brands on Social Media

Best Overall: Philz Coffee

What Makes Them Stand Out: Understanding each social media platform

Philz Coffee had one of the best performances when it came to the rankings of the best coffee brands on social media. Philz came in second on both Facebook and Instagram, third on Twitter, and first on TikTok. What was most impressive was that Philz demonstrated a profound understanding of what gets engagement on each of these four social networks.

Over on TikTok, where the brand scored the highest marks, Philz focused on behind-the-scenes content. According to our Social Media Industry Benchmark Report, the food and beverage industry, in particular, saw great success with content hashtagged #BehindTheScenes, demonstrating that people want to see how their favorite foods and drinks get made and get a glimpse behind the curtain.

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However, our previous report on the top 100 beauty brands on social media found that food and beverage isn’t the only industry benefiting from behind-the-scenes content. This report found that TikTok loves these types of videos, regardless of the industry putting the video out.

It’s no wonder why Philz’s TikTok with the highest engagement rate between September 1, 2022, and August 31, 2023, was a video showing a barista making one of their most popular beverages, the Iced Coffee Rosé. The post generated an engagement rate of 75%, nearly 11x the average engagement rate of the food and beverage industry on TikTok.

Over on Instagram, Philz is scoring high marks due to their frequent use of Reels. According to our Social Media Industry Benchmark Report, Reels were the top-performing type of content for the food and beverage industry, despite much of the industry posting static photos more often. Philz shared 53 Reels during this time. Their top three posts during this time period in terms of engagement were Reels.

Over on Facebook and Twitter, Philz used similar tactics. The coffee company used the social media platforms to share updates about their business and information about deals and other goings-on at Philz.

According to Sprout Social’s research, older generations are more likely to use Facebook. Facebook is the top social media platform for Gen Xers, while 92% of Baby Boomers also have a Facebook account. Many Gen Xers like using Facebook to find information on sales and discounts, while Baby Boomers enjoy using the platform to learn about what’s happening at a company and get the lowdown on new offerings. Both demographics do not like direct ads and can be turned off from a company if their Facebook content is too bogged down with advertisements and irrelevant content.

Baby Boomers’ desire for newsworthy content might be why one of the brand’s top Facebook posts during this time period was an announcement about a new location in Long Beach. The post earned a 0.46% engagement rate, about 12x the food and beverage industry’s average engagement rate on Facebook.

Philz Coffee also uses Twitter to post company news, which falls in line with how many people use the platform. According to Statista, Twitter is the social network most people turn to for news. As on Facebook, one of the brand’s top Twitter posts was an announcement for a new location, this time in Thousand Oaks. The tweet earned a 1.01% engagement rate, about 25x the average engagement rate for the food and beverage industry on Twitter.

Best on Facebook: Dutch Bros

What Makes Them Stand Out: Sharing deals and promotions

Dutch Bros came in first on both Facebook and Instagram, but they used different tactics to engage their audience on each social platform. On Facebook, the coffee brand primarily posted about new drinks and shared deals and promotions.

While younger generations are moving away from Facebook and using more video-centric apps, like TikTok and Snapchat, older generations are still going strong on Facebook. As we’ve previously discussed, Baby Boomers and Gen Xers are two of the biggest demographics on Facebook, according to Sprout Social’s research.

To appeal to these demographics, companies should focus less on direct advertisements and more on company news and deals. Both demographics love finding a good deal, whereas Baby Boomers enjoy learning about what’s happening at companies they support.

One of Dutch Bros’s posts with the most engagement on Facebook during this time period was an announcement of the company’s Fill-A-Tray deal, which saw customers get four medium drinks for $15 on one day only. The post garnered an engagement rate of 1.14%, 30x the average engagement rate for the food and beverage industry on Facebook.

Best on Instagram: Dutch Bros

What Makes Them Stand Out: Leaning into pop culture references

Over on Instagram, Dutch Bros is focusing on appealing to younger generations by referencing what’s happening in pop culture. Whether it’s a post about Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker’s relationship or a photo using the Spirit Halloween meme format, Dutch Bros is attempting to speak the language of those who use Instagram most often.

According to Sprout Social’s research, millennials and Gen Zers are both likely to use Instagram. Gen Zers, in particular, enjoy light-hearted content as long as it fits within the brand’s voice. If the content comes across as inauthentic, Gen Z is likely to reject it.

However, because Dutch Bros has carefully curated a brand voice that’s very fun-loving and relatable, their pop culture references don’t feel out of place. One of the brand’s top posts during this time period on Instagram was a strong example of their playful brand voice.

The post is captioned, “Send this to someone who owes you Dutch.” In the photo, the image of Kourtney Kardashian announcing she’s pregnant has been doctored to say, “Travis, I want Dutch Bros.” The post earned an 8.70% engagement rate, about 18x the average engagement rate on Instagram for the food and beverage industry.

What also works so well about this post is that it encourages conversation. It garnered 520 comments, with people tagging others asking for a visit to Dutch Bros, others simply talking about how much they too want Dutch Bros, and more users joking about the meme format and talking about Kardashian and Barker’s relationship.

Best on Twitter: Blue Bottle Coffee

What Makes Them Stand Out: Celebrity partnerships

Blue Bottle Coffee came in first on Twitter in the coffee brand social media rankings, and they primarily have celebrity partnerships to thank for that. Blue Bottle Coffee managed to combine the use of their celebrity partnerships with announcements of company news, which is in line with how many people turn to Twitter for news content.

The coffee brand partnered with singer The Weeknd to announce a new coffee line called Samra Origins. Throughout several tweets, the company talked about how the partnership came to be, why it’s named what it is, how the coffee was produced, and what’s being offered as a part of the coffee line. Additionally, the company posted updates to keep people aware of when it was coming and how they could be the first to try it.

These tweets could have been simple advertisements for the new line, but instead, Blue Bottle Coffee made their content more valuable by using the tweets to teach people about the coffee, the history of Ethiopian coffee creation, and heart-warming information about The Weeknd and his mother.

Blue Bottle Coffee’s top 17 tweets during this time period talked about Samra Origins, with the post with the most engagement being the launch announcement. The tweet garnered a 6.85% engagement rate, about 171x the food and beverage industry’s average engagement rate on Twitter.

Best on TikTok: Caribou Coffee

What Makes Them Stand Out: Being entertaining and informative with ads

Caribou Coffee was the only other brand on our list of the best coffee brands on social media that surpassed the average engagement rate of the food and beverage industry on TikTok, aside from Philz Coffee. According to Statista, over 76% of active social media users aged 18 to 24 were on TikTok. It’s no wonder why the social network is considered such a Gen Z playground, although younger millennials are also a high demographic on the platform as well.

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To appeal to Gen Zers and young millennials, the key is authenticity and light-heartedness, according to Sprout Social’s research. Gen Z focuses on entertainment first. They’re also more likely to turn to influencers to get buying advice rather than a brand’s own social media channels. That fact can mean that advertising to Gen Z can be tricky.

Even beyond Gen Z, brands may be finding it hard to advertise through social media. According to Cheetah Digital’s 2022 Digital Consumer Trends Index, 67% of respondents don’t trust advertising on social media platforms, which means that brands need to get creative with how they post ads to make them feel less like just ads.

This tactic appears to be something that Caribou Coffee has mastered on TikTok. Many of the brand’s top posts leaned into pop culture references or the sharing of helpful information while also promoting the brand’s drinks and products.

The top TikTok during this time period was a post sharing a list of drinks you can get at Caribou Coffee with non-dairy milk for no extra charge. The post worked as an advertisement for the fact that Caribou was no longer charging for non-dairy milk, at least if you were a Caribou Perks member. However, the TikTok was also both entertaining and informative.

Providing value to viewers is a great way to go beyond simply posting an advertisement. TikTok users like content with information they can benefit from, as is evident by SEMRush’s study that determined that posts with advice and life hacks are one of the top types of posts most likely to go viral.

The fact that the post is not just an ad but also a fun-to-watch and value-adding video is likely why it earned a 170% engagement rate, about 25x the average engagement rate for the food and beverage industry on TikTok.

Methodology

To determine the top coffee brands on social media, we compared the engagement rates of several of the biggest coffee companies in the world against the average engagement rates for the food and beverage industry according to our Social Media Industry Benchmark Report, looking specifically between September 1, 2022, and August 31, 2023.

Then, we compared the brands that outperformed that average engagement rate against one another. In order to be chosen for this list, brands must not only have the highest engagement rates but also post at least once per week.

Wrapping Up the Best Coffee Brands on Social Media

If there’s any takeaway from the list of the best coffee brands on social media, it’s that it is crucial to understand the social media platform and its largest audience demographics. When it comes to Facebook and Twitter, older generations can typically be found here, who are looking for deals, discounts, and company news.

Meanwhile, younger demographics are on Instagram and TikTok, where they want to see fun, entertaining, and informative content. Especially on TikTok, it’s vital to find a way to make an ad feel less like an ad and more like an interesting, helpful piece of content.

The post The Top Coffee Brands on Social Media and What Makes Them Stand Out appeared first on Rival IQ.

If you spend your lunch break scrolling through your favorite travel company’s social accounts, you’re not alone. According to our Social Media Industry Benchmark Report for 2023, the engagement rates for the travel industry are fairly average and on par with other industries. Though travel isn’t the industry with the highest engagement rates, it’s pretty clear that social media users love to see what their favorite travel company is up to.

That’s especially the case for travel brands on TikTok. Although travel companies were in the middle of the pack for Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, they scored third place in terms of engagement rate on TikTok. Perhaps there’s just something about actually seeing your favorite travel destination in action in TikTok’s short-form videos.

However, there are brands that are outliers and outshining other industries across all four of these major social media platforms. Let’s get into the travel brands doing best on social media and how they found success on social.

Takeaways From Top Travel Brands

Top Travel Brand on Facebook: Viking Cruises

What They Do Well: Understanding their demographic

Some brands play to their audience well, and one travel brand that shows they understand their target audience perfectly is Viking Cruises. The ocean and riverboat cruise line focuses on social media platforms that their customers are more likely to use. From September 1, 2022, to August 31, 2023, Viking Cruises posted more on Facebook than on any other platform. During this time period, the cruise line posted 615 times.

In comparison, they posted 331 times on Instagram and 188 times on Twitter. They do not use TikTok at all.

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According to Sprout Social’s research, a whopping 92% of adults aged 56 and up, often known as Baby Boomers, have a Facebook account. With Baby Boomers also reporting that their social media usage is going up, it appears to be a particularly ideal time for companies like Viking to focus on their Facebook strategy.

The Baby Boomer demographic aligns with Viking’s target audience. According to TripSavvy, Viking Cruises passengers are typically older adults, with many being retired and over the age of 60. Perhaps this alignment is why the engagement rate for Viking Cruises on Facebook during this time was 0.90%, which is just over 10x the average engagement rate of the travel industry on Facebook in 2023.

In addition to focusing on Facebook, Viking Cruises also made sure their posts were tailored toward the interests of their older audience. According to Sprout Social, 69% of Baby Boomers like to follow companies online to stay up to date on new products and services. Baby Boomers are also some of the hardest followers to keep. When they’re met with poor reviews of the companies or excessive ads, they’ll often unfollow. Viking may perform so well with this demographic because they don’t make their advertisements obvious.

Baby Boomers like to see positive reviews, which tend to encourage their purchases. Viking often incorporates these types of reviews subtly into their posts. 

One of their posts with the highest engagement during this time period included a blurb from a former passenger talking about the incredible castles they saw on their trip. The post earned an engagement rate of 6.09%, nearly 70x the average engagement rate of the travel industry on Facebook in 2023. The comments section is filled with people talking about having taken this particular cruise themselves, which is even more likely to convince Baby Boomers to be interested in what Viking is offering.

Top Travel Brand on Instagram: Dollywood

What They Do Well: Leaning into their brand image

Dollywood, the theme park nestled in the Great Smoky Mountains named for its famous songstress founder, wasn’t always Dollywood. The theme park actually changed hands three times before it became Dollywood in the 1980s. Now, it’s hard to believe it was ever not tied to Dolly Parton and her beloved music. Parton is an integral part of the theme park’s brand.

Dollywood knows that, at least according to their social media presence. Dollywood is inextricably linked to Parton. For many of its fans and visitors, it’s one of the biggest reasons why they make plans to venture on through the park’s gates. This love for Parton is what Dollywood capitalizes on when putting together their Instagram strategy. This theme park earned an Instagram engagement rate of 1.61%, about 3.5x the average engagement rate of the travel industry on Instagram in 2023.

While some of Dollywood’s top posts for the year keep their audience updated on upcoming rides, many more posts simply celebrate all things Dolly. One of the park’s top posts by engagement wasn’t in celebration of Dollywood but instead honored 50 years of the hit song “I Will Always Love You.” The post earned a 4.86% engagement rate, more than 10x the average Instagram engagement rate of the travel industry in 2023.

A post that performed even better in terms of engagement was even simpler. With a picture of Parton herself riding down the streets of Dollywood and a caption saying, “Hi, Dreamer-in-Chief,” the post was just a shoutout to the woman who started it all.

Much like how Walt Disney World will forever be tied to Walt Disney, Dolly Parton will always be Dollywood’s “Dreamer-in-Chief.” That’s something worth celebrating for the park’s fans, who came out in droves in the comments to say how much they loved Parton and hoped to see her in the park themselves one day. The likes, comments, and shares earned the post an engagement rate of 5.78%, over 12x the industry average for 2023.

These posts demonstrate how well Dollywood understands its brand and knows that Parton herself is such a big part of it. While other theme parks may rely on costumed characters as mascots, Dollywood knows that Parton is, in a way, Dollywood’s biggest, most beloved mascot.

Top Travel Brand on Twitter: Vidanta

What They Do Well: Celebrity partnerships

Vidanta, known for their luxury hotels and experiences throughout Mexico, also has their own version of mascots. Rather than having a famous founder or costumed characters, Vidanta instead partners with well-known celebrities. This tactic seems to work particularly well on Twitter, where the brand has scored a 0.29% engagement rate, 9x the average engagement rate for the travel industry on Twitter.

Most of the brand’s top tweets by engagement involve actors Catherine Zeta-Jones, Mark Wahlberg, and Jaime Camil. However, the brand’s celebrity partnership usage greatly differs from how Dollywood uses their founder in their posts. Instead of talking about the person, Vidanta’s celebrity ambassadors showcase their properties and company news.

The top tweet in terms of engagement for Vidanta during this time period shows pictures of Camil in front of different parts of the company’s Nuevo Vallarta property. The tweet garnered an engagement rate of 1.04%, 32.5x the average engagement rate for the travel industry on Twitter in 2023.

Many of these posts also tie into company news, which may be beneficial for Twitter. According to Statista, Twitter is the most popular platform that users turn to for news. The company updates that Vidanta posts, such as a tweet featuring Camil that talks about the phased opening of Vidanta’s new theme park, may resonate with those who turn to Twitter to get insights into what’s happening.

The post earned a 0.91% engagement rate, about 28x the average engagement rate of the travel industry on Twitter. This successful post demonstrates that Vidanta’s followers want updates on what the company is doing and how they’re expanding. The celebrity endorsements just add to the excitement.

Top Travel Brand on TikTok: Hilton

What They Do Well: Showcasing experiences in bite-sized ways

While Vidanta showcases the properties they own, hotel conglomerate Hilton takes things a step further by showing off experiences instead. While Hilton does use the Dollywood tactic of having its famous founding family in their TikToks, the majority of posts veer away from celebrities. Instead, Hilton posts TikToks showing off all the fun their ambassadors and other individuals can have when they stay with Hilton. This strategy helped Hilton score an engagement rate of 7.83%, which is just above the travel industry’s average engagement rate for 2023.

One of the brand’s most successful posts in terms of engagement doesn’t come across much like an ad at all. In the TikTok, we see a family going on vacation and finding that their dad has booked a tiny home that’s hardly going to fit them all. Luckily, they managed to find more comfort in a Hilton hotel. The TikTok shows off their room, the friendly staff, dining, and more that you’ll find in a Hilton establishment.

The TikTok looks like influencer-generated content (IGC) or user-generated content (UGC). It would fit in elsewhere on TikTok beyond Hilton’s own social media pages, making the post feel more authentic and trustworthy. This post earned a 133% engagement rate, about 18x the average engagement rate on TikTok for the travel industry.

It’s also worth noting that Hilton follows another strategy that seems to work across social media video formats, like TikToks, Instagram Stories, and Instagram Reels. According to Facebook Blueprints Insights, the optimal length for a scene is just 2.8 seconds. For this reason, it’s better to do quick cuts rather than make a scene the entire length of a video.

This strategy is also apparent in another of the brand’s top posts, this time showcasing a dog staying at a Hilton hotel. This TikTok uses quick cuts to show off all the different amenities that a dog gets to enjoy here. Using this format, Hilton gets to demonstrate a lot of their experiences in a short time. The post earned a 73.6% engagement rate, just about 10x the average engagement rate of the travel industry on TikTok.

Methodology for the Best Travel Brands

To determine what the top travel brands on social media are, we first took a look at the engagement rates for some of the biggest travel brands active on social media between September 1, 2022, and August 31, 2023. Then, we compared those rates to the average engagement rates of the travel industry across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok in 2023, according to our Social Media Industry Benchmark Report.

Those with engagement rates higher than the average moved on to the next round, where they were compared with one another to determine who had the best social media presence. In addition to having to have the highest engagement rate on the specified social media platform, the company’s social media also had to have a regular posting schedule to be chosen as a top travel brand. Those that posted less than once per month on average were not eligible to make the list.

It’s also worth noting that no brand of those surveyed had an above-average engagement rate on all four platforms, which is why this list is broken down by each social network.

Wrapping Up the Top Travel Brands

The top travel companies on social media go to show how important it is to understand each social media platform and format. For those like Viking Cruises who focus on Facebook, it’s essential to cater to your target audience and the platform’s primary demographics.

Although some brands think that social media isn’t the place to be to target Baby Boomers, Viking demonstrates that idea is outdated. Meanwhile, those who focus on Twitter, like Vidanta, know they need to find exciting ways to keep their audience up to date on what’s happening at their company.

Those who rely on videos, like Hilton, know how important it is to keep their viewers engaged, which means quick cuts and a lot of content in one short video. Brands like Dollywood go to show that, no matter what platform you’re on or the format of content you’re creating, understanding what followers love about your brand is key.

The post The Top Travel Brands on Social Media and How They Shine appeared first on Rival IQ.

With the beginning of TikTok, some suggested that Instagram might go by the wayside. And it is true that engagement is down on Instagram, according to our 2023 Social Media Industry Benchmark Report. With how much content is out there, not only on Instagram but on many more social media apps, content creators are competing for eyes on their posts and Stories. It’s no wonder why engagement saw a 30% decrease in 2023.

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Our 2023 Instagram Stories Benchmark Report discovered similar findings, as our research determined that engagements on posts, regardless of follower count, decreased across the board.

Stories had a mixed bag of both good and not-so-good results. This year’s Instagram Stories tap-back rate, which is the rate of people tapping backward to see a Story frame again, has increased, which suggests that brands are making content that people want to engage with. The reply rate has also increased, though replies are always low on Stories. However, the exit rate has also gone up, but not by too much.

With engagement mainly decreasing across Instagram, it’s more important than ever to ensure that you’re making content that’s optimized for the platform and your target audience. With an Instagram analytics tool, you can test your content and reinvest in what works. The right tool can give you in-depth, indispensable information that helps you tailor your posts and Stories into content that people want to engage with.

What should you look for in an Instagram analytics tool? Let’s talk about what makes for a good analytics tool and which ones are worth your investment.

What to Look for In an Instagram Analytics Tool

Before you invest in a new tool to help you track your Instagram presence, you want to be sure you’re making the best possible call. The right tool for you might not be the right one for another company’s needs.

For instance, if you have multiple stakeholders, you may want to go with something that makes it easy to share regular reports. Or perhaps you have numerous people working on your Instagram account. In that case, you’ll likely want a tool that allows for multiple users.

But there are other features to look for in an Instagram Analytics tool in general, regardless of size and stakeholders, such as:

• An easy-to-use interface
• Detailed reports that are easy to understand
• Actionable insights created from your data
• Competitive benchmarking

It’s worth noting that many Instagram analytics tools serve multiple purposes beyond tracking analytics. You may want to consider investing in one that has other features, like social listening, which helps you follow the online conversation around your brand and engage with your audience.

Now, let’s get into the tools that can help you boost your engagement. These Instagram analytics tools are in no particular order, as all of them have something that allows them to fit different companies’ unique needs.

The 10 Best Instagram Analytics Tools

Instagram Insights

How it works: Instagram Insights is the native Instagram analytics tool provided by the platform. It gives you a look at the accounts you’ve reached, the accounts you’ve engaged, and your follower count. You can also see your top-performing posts, Stories, and Reels.

Pros: This Instagram analytics tool is free to use, making it a good place to start if you’re a new company or just beginning to utilize Instagram analytics.

Cons: Instagram Insights requires you to have an Instagram Business Account or a Professional Account. This analytics tool is also best for a general overview. It does not give you the in-depth information that many other Instagram analytics tools do.

Rival IQ

How it works: With Rival IQ, you can dive deep into your Instagram metrics, but Rival IQ focuses strongly on the benefit of using competitor metrics as well. You can track what’s happening on your Instagram and compare it against your top competitors for a greater understanding of your industry. With all these in-depth metrics, you’ll also get helpful insights, such as the best times to post.

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Pros: In addition to competitive benchmarking, one of the most significant benefits of using Rival IQ for your Instagram analytics tool is that you also get social listening for Instagram with its Instagram Discover feature. You’ll be able to keep track of the conversation around you on Instagram, as well as get ideas for top hashtags to boost your engagement.

Cons: Some users desire more customized reporting options rather than using Rival IQ’s default reporting settings.

HubSpot

How it works: HubSpot’s Social Inbox tool is a comprehensive solution for tracking and analyzing Instagram analytics. With the ability to monitor engagement metrics, follower growth, and post performance, this tool provides valuable insights for optimizing your social media strategy. You can easily identify top-performing content, track trends, and measure the impact of their Instagram marketing efforts.

Pros: HubSpot has the ability to centralize all social media interactions in one convenient platform, making it easier to stay engaged with followers and respond to messages promptly. Additionally, HubSpot’s Social Inbox tool allows for seamless collaboration within their all-in-one platform, which enables coordination between team members and all other marketing campaigns.

Cons: While HubSpot provides free access to their free tools suite, some premium features are hidden behind a higher cost for big businesses and enterprise.

Sprout Social

How it works: Sprout Social is an all-in-one social media management tool where you can plan your Instagram content, publish it right from Sprout Social, monitor your engagement and the conversation around you on Instagram, and analyze your Instagram performance. You can also track your competitors’ performance, see how your hashtags are doing to optimize your posts, and get detailed information on your audience.

Pros: Sprout Social is known for having a very user-friendly interface. It’s also an ideal application to collaborate on if you have multiple users handling your Instagram account.

Cons: Users report that there’s some difficulty with tagging content from Instagram and posting Stories directly through the application. You also unlock more features with high-tier packages, which means that the feature you want may be challenging to get if you don’t have a high enough budget.

Iconosquare

How it works: Like Sprout Social, Iconosquare is another all-in-one tool that goes beyond analytics. This tool lets you plan, collaborate on, and publish your content in one place. You can also monitor your engagement through the application and keep track of the greater conversation around your brand on Instagram. When it’s time to analyze your posts, you have a dashboard with easy-to-read graphs showing you over 100 metrics. The application also makes it easy to deliver visual reports to key stakeholders.

Pros: Iconosquare has an easy-to-use interface. Their in-depth reports are also ideal if you have multiple stakeholders interested in seeing your success on Instagram.

Cons: Users report difficulty in scheduling and posting Stories through Iconosquare. They also say that reports can take a great deal of time to generate.

Brandwatch

How it works: Brandwatch has multiple tools that fit different sides of social media management. You can choose which one makes the most sense for your needs. It’s long been known for its consumer intelligence application, which utilizes social listening to give you insights and trend reports into your industry and the conversation around your brand. It also offers an influencer marketing solution, enabling you to manage relationships and campaigns all in one place. Its social media management tool can take care of your content calendar, engage with your audience, and track your Instagram performance.

Pros: Reports are highly customizable, ensuring that you can see all the metrics that mean the most to you and your stakeholders. You can also share reports with the simple click of a button.

Cons: Some users report discrepancies in the data between Brandwatch’s analytics and the native analytics on a social media platform.

Keyhole

How it works: Keyhole is a social media analytics and social listening tool. Monitor what people are saying about you, analyze your and your competitors’ Instagram profiles, keep track of your influencer campaigns, and conduct market research and trend tracking through the platform. Keyhole also allows you to schedule and publish content right through the application, with helpful insights like the best time to publish enabling you to optimize every post.

Pros: Keyhole offers real-time metrics, allowing you to make changes to your campaign while it’s ongoing. This Instagram analytics tool is an optimal choice if you’re looking for influencer management solutions, as you’ll also get in-depth reporting on things like your influencer’s return on investment (ROI).

Cons: Users report that Keyhole can get expensive quickly as pricing is based on how much data the application needs to track. If you have a very successful campaign, you may find yourself paying more than you expected. Some users also say that the interface is not user-friendly, particularly when it comes to scheduling posts.

minter.io

How it works: minter.io is primarily an analytics tool, but it does have some social listening capabilities. This Instagram analytics tool lets you track your follower growth, get insights into your audience’s demographics, compare yourself to your competitors through easy-to-understand graphs, view how your hashtags are performing, and see engagement information for posts, Stories, and ads. The application also enables you to keep an eye on your brand mentions.

Pros: minter.io offers an Instagram Audit tool, which gives you a performance score and tells you where you can improve across your profile and content. It’s a great place to start if you’re looking to optimize your Instagram presence. Users report that minter.io works best for Instagram compared to the other social media applications it works with.

Cons: Users say exporting reports is very time-consuming, and competitor data is lacking.

Hootsuite

How it works: Hootsuite is an all-in-one tool that’s primarily known for its scheduling capabilities. Through the application, you can schedule all your Instagram content and allow it to be automatically published by Hootsuite. Hootsuite also uses your Instagram analytics to help you optimize your posts by giving you recommended posting times. When it comes to analytics features, Hootsuite will also provide you with information on your top-performing posts and help you see where you stand in your overall industry with competitive benchmarking.

Pros: Users report that using Hootsuite significantly saves them time and that the interface is easy to understand.

Cons: As the scheduling tool and social media management features are what Hootsuite is mainly known for, its reporting features are somewhat lacking in comparison to some of the other Instagram analytics tools on this list. It’s better for a general overview rather than if you’re looking for very in-depth metrics.

SquareLovin

How it works: SquareLovin differs from the other Instagram analytics tools on this list in that it’s best for those aiming to build a robust influencer marketing system. Through the application, you can manage influencer relationships on the app, collect and repurpose user-generated content (UGC) and influencer-generated content (IGC), and measure the impact of your campaigns.

Pros: SquareLovin shows you metrics like your ROI on a particular influencer, making it helpful when attempting to show stakeholders the benefit of your influencer campaigns.

Cons: Because SquareLovin is primarily focused on influencer marketing, it’s not a good fit for those not looking to build brand relationships or repurpose UGC or IGC. Its analytics are more tailored toward influencer relationships and less about overall Instagram account metrics.

Pallyy

How it works: Pallyy is an all-in-one tool that’s known for being more budget-friendly than other social media management and analytics tools on the market. With Pallyy, you can plan, schedule, and auto-publish your content on Instagram and other social media platforms. Then, you can use its analytics features to create custom reports to show stakeholders how you’re growing.

Pros: Because of Pallyy’s low price point, it’s an ideal fit for those looking for an all-in-one tool who don’t have the budget for the others on the market, like small businesses. Users also report that it’s easy to navigate and highly customizable.

Cons: Pallyy is still relatively new. As a result, users say Pallyy still has some bugs to fix. Its reporting feature, as well as its scheduling capabilities, are not as robust as other Instagram analytics tools.

Wrapping Up Instagram Analytics

A good Instagram analytics tool goes beyond showing you data. Instead, it’ll take that data and offer you ways to optimize your social media campaigns, allowing you to bring in more followers and boost your engagement.

Investing in an Instagram analytics tool means that you’re testing and reinvesting. You’re seeing what works and what doesn’t, not only for you but for your industry as a whole. From there, you’re making data-driven decisions to make your Instagram strategy much more impactful.

Not ready to invest in an Instagram analytics tool yet? Start by checking out our suite of free social media analytics tools to help you advance your Instagram strategy.

The post The Top 10 Instagram Analytics Tools to Boost Your Engagement appeared first on Rival IQ.