February 18, 2025 • 36 mins
What’s actually working on social media this year?
I’m breaking down the latest Metricool study (analyzing 21 million posts!) to see what platforms are growing, which ones are struggling, and what all this means for your marketing strategy.
If you’re tired of guessing what works and want to know exactly where to focus your marketing in 2025, this episode breaks it all down.
In this episode of the podcast, I talk about:
- The fastest-growing platforms right now (one of them may surprise you!)
- Why Reels reach is dropping but Instagram posts are up
- How LinkedIn engagement skyrocketed by 99%
- The platforms small accounts should focus on for faster growth
...and more!
This Episode Was Made Possible By:
Riverside All-in-One Podcast & Video Platform
Visit Riverside and use the code DREA to get 15% off any Riverside individual plan. We use it to record all our podcast interviews: https://onlinedrea.com/riverside
Go to the show notes for all the resources mentioned in this episode: https://onlinedrea.com/345
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
If you want inside peek into the data of what's working here
now and today in 2025, boy, do I have a treat for
you this episode. I'm excited to dive all the way
into a recent study released by Metricool to give you
the facts behind what actually is working
here now and today. This is episode number
(00:22):
345 of the Mindful Marketing podcast where I'm helping you scroll less,
connect more, and grow together. But first,
a word from our sponsor. Riverside is the all in
one podcast recording and editing tool that I use for this right
here show. I use it to edit not only the audio in the video,
it is like chef's kiss, magical, making the entire process
(00:45):
so so easy. Plus, I love their
magic AI clips. Their little AI robot
in the background pulls out the most impactful moments of the
episodes without me having to comb through and do it myself, resizes them
for social media. So those vertical videos you see on TikTok and
reels, those all come from magic AI inside of Riverside. It's
(01:07):
literally one click. It spits out 10 clips. I pick the
best one and away I go saves me so much time. If you wanna get
on the Riverside train, check it out today. The link's in the show notes and
make sure to use my code drea, d r e a, at checkout to
get 15% off your membership.
I'm geeking out in this episode because y'all know I love to look at the
(01:30):
data. And especially when it comes to marketing, there's a lot of
feelings involved, especially social media marketing. It's so
gosh darn public that we feel like everyone's
judging us. K? And we also feel like, am I the only one?
Like, why isn't this working for me? Or where should I focus my
attention? Because this person says it's this platform, that person says
(01:52):
it's that platform. So we're gonna get into the facts today of what's
working, and that's why I love this study.
Metricool is the tool that I recommend for social media scheduling
and analytics, and I just love it. I just love it. Okay. So I will
put the link to this study in the show notes as well if you wanna
take a gander and a peek and a look for yourself. But
(02:13):
just to frame where we are, this is not the first time
they've done this study. And in fact, in previous episodes, I've
gone over the data. Also, side note, if you're watching the video, I'm looking at
my screen a lot because I'm looking at the data. Okay? Okay.
So in this study, they, looked at
2024 as a whole, and they looked at
(02:34):
over 21,000,000 posts
across eight different platforms, LinkedIn, Facebook,
TikTok, x, Instagram,
YouTube. I'm missing one. Facebook ads. They looked at a
lot of places, and they, studied
the results of what is working and
(02:57):
what is not based on comparing the platforms to themselves and the posts
to themselves as well. So it's a lot of data
points that we're looking at. But, specifically,
Meta is dominating this data. So I do wanna, like, put that as
a caveat. Instagram
posts and Facebook posts and accounts tend to dominate a
(03:19):
lot of the data. In fact, most of the data comes from those two places.
Kind of in the middle of the road, we do have TikTok,
LinkedIn, and YouTube still have some pretty high, results there
with the bottom of this study looking at x oh, Twitch is the one I
forgot earlier in Pinterest. So when we're looking at all of
these these data points, just keep in mind that Meta,
(03:41):
Facebook, Instagram, is dominating. Also keep in mind,
threads isn't on here. There isn't a lot of data points,
from threads specifically. It's just the way that they share their data. It's not
like that. So I'm hoping in future studies, Metrc will includes
threads in this data as well. And, of course, some of the newer platforms
like Blue Sky, or some of the TikTok competitors
(04:03):
like, Clapper or Lemonade aren't in this study as well.
There's just not enough people on there for that to, make sense.
The other thing to note with this study is they kind of categorize things based
on account size, which I really appreciate. Because when we look at
strategies and apply them to different accounts, a strategy that works
for an account with 50,000 followers isn't going to be the
(04:26):
same when you have 500 followers. K? So I
do like that they broke it down into five different categories.
Tiny accounts have less than 500 followers. Small
accounts have between 502,000.
Medium accounts have between 12,000. Big
accounts are, 10,000 to 50,000, and then huge
(04:48):
accounts are over 50,000 followers. Okay. So they are
looking at community size when it comes to some of these
platforms. Alright. So overall, in
2024, clicks on Pinterest did
increase. This is Pinterest. Increased by
55, which I found interesting. On
(05:10):
Twitch, subscriptions decreased by
88%. Then we'll see later that views still increase, but
subscriptions, people subscribing to Twitch channels drastically
decreased last year, which is interesting. I think, that's because of
YouTube, which we'll see later. LinkedIn interactions
increased on average by 99%.
(05:31):
Ninety nine %. This is why I recently did the LinkedIn challenge. I'm
all about like, I've been doing it for seven years. LinkedIn has consistently
increased and the data is showing. There's just a lot happening on that platform right
now. X, we saw a lot of decreases
over, the past year or two. But most interestingly,
impressions have increased by half, 15%.
(05:54):
Instagram, your post reach has increased by fifth by
21%, excuse me, but Reels reach has decreased by
20%. So your regular post, we're talking like a static post or
carousel post, has increased in reach. Reels has decreased. So we'll
see later that Reels still dominates as one of the most interactive
post styles. Facebook post reach has
(06:17):
decreased by 41% and Reels reach has increased by
13. Lastly, TikTok or sorry, second to last,
TikTok, average watch time still has increased by
71%, k, versus what it was in
2023. So TikTok, despite the threat of
big band, people are still watching it even more than they were the previous
(06:37):
year. And then on YouTube engagement, specifically, dislikes has
gone up by 11%. K? So that was kinda like their
highlight reel of here's what you can expect. Now let's get
into, the key metrics the key metrics.
So generally speaking, based on this data,
the larger your audience, the better the results. So the
(06:59):
more followers you have, the better results you will get in terms
of views and engagement. That is still true based on
this study. I will be curious to see, though, how
this turns out with twenty twenty five's data because,
platforms like Meta, specifically Adam Mosseri, has shared
that followers are becoming less and less important, and we're looking
(07:22):
at views as a metric of success. That being said,
it seems like the algorithms are still favoring accounts who have more
followers versus ones that don't. So
the data is showing that, you know, if you wanna reach more people, you kinda
larger need a larger community, which, you know, it's a chicken and the
egg scenario, but here we are.
(07:44):
Okay. Let's look at, generationally. So,
a lot of people claim that, you know, baby boomers are not on
social or Gen zed is not on social. Sorry, Gen z is not I
keep saying zed y'all because here in Canada, we say zed instead
of zed. And my toddler, she's almost three, is
correcting me whenever I say zed. Because I'm US born and raised,
(08:07):
been in Canada for ten years. But if I say, like, x y z, she'll
be like, no, mom. It's zed. And I'm like, oh, okay. Excuse
me. Anyways, Gen z, Gen z, whatever.
They're on the socials. Okay? They're on the socials, but let's break it
down by platform. I'm gonna give you a few highlights here.
Interestingly enough, millennials, we are on all the social
(08:30):
medias. And I'm not I'm not surprised by it, but when I saw the data,
I was like, oh, we're equally everywhere. Gen x is not
far behind with that, with most of Gen x being on every platform, though they're
not as fan as fond of TikTok,
as well. Facebook still is the platform
for, baby boomers, but do not let
(08:52):
anyone say that no one's on Facebook. Facebook is still
the platform with the most people. So when we look at the data, you know,
Facebook has over 3,000,000,000, accounts. Right? So when we look at the
data, whenever someone says, oh, Facebook doesn't matter, it's like, okay, you're comparing
3,000,000,000 accounts though. So, yes,
engagement and and post reach and things may be down. But, like, if we look
(09:14):
at the data, it's like, okay. So it's down
compared to Facebook, but it's so much higher than other platforms. So keep
that in mind. Also interestingly,
baby boomers are on LinkedIn secondarily after
Facebook. So if that is your target demo, Facebook and
LinkedIn are great for baby boomers. Skip
(09:37):
Twitch and skip TikTok if you're a baby boomer.
Gen x, pretty much everywhere, though mostly on
Facebook and YouTube. The platform that they're least on
is Twitch, followed by TikTok. Millennials,
we are everywhere almost equally as much, though interestingly
enough I keep saying that because I I find this data fascinating.
(10:01):
LinkedIn. Millennials. We're on the LinkedIn. It kinda
makes sense because we're like most of the job force right now, aren't
we? I don't know if I'm lying about that. But a lot on LinkedIn,
but honestly, this is almost neck and neck
with, Facebook, Instagram, and
x. We're everywhere. K?
(10:23):
Jin Zed, mostly on Twitch, which is
interesting. They're they're they have the least,
presence, should I say that, on Facebook. K? So Jin Zed, not
really using Facebook that much, not really using LinkedIn
that much. Understandable. They they like the
Twitch. They like the TikTok. They like Instagram.
(10:45):
They like YouTube, but not really anywhere else.
Okay? So let's dive into the next one they
have on here, which is growing your account. So if
you, wanna grow your account
and you have less than 500 followers,
according to this study, the platform that you should be on is
(11:08):
Instagram. So tiny accounts less than 500 followers
see that most success on Instagram followed by YouTube. And I
wanna mention that because there's gonna be a trend here with YouTube in this
entire report. So Instagram followed by YouTube. So keep that in
mind if you're starting from scratch. If you're starting from scratch and you have less
than 500 followers, Facebook is at the bottom of the list. Don't even try
(11:30):
it. It's gonna be really hard to grow that account. Okay? So
that's interesting. Okay. Now generally speaking, for the rest of
us, YouTube is the way to go. Okay? So,
looking at the rest of the accounts, like, excluding small accounts, because small accounts, it's
clearly Instagram. But looking at the rest of the accounts, YouTube
is the fastest way to grow subscribers,
(11:52):
followers, whatever, by leaps and bounds over everyone
else. It's followed by Instagram, followed by TikTok. K? They're not that far
apart. 41% for YouTube, 39% for
Instagram, 34% for TikTok. But YouTube
is clearly the winner here. All of these platforms are
highly focused on video, so just note that. Again,
(12:14):
Facebook's at the bottom. Like, even x is above Facebook right now as far
in terms of follower growth. So keep that in mind. If you're looking to
start a new strategy, you may wanna consider YouTube
or maybe even Instagram or maybe even TikTok, but YouTube is the
fastest growing for all accounts. Now let's take a look
at the accounts specifically
(12:36):
and, what you can expect as you're diving
into growing your accounts and what the data is saying there.
So first up, we're going to look at, small accounts.
So tiny and small accounts. If you have less than
2,000 followers, YouTube,
the average impressions per follower has increased
(12:58):
by over 600% for small accounts. So less than
2,000 followers, less than 2,000 subscribers. Impressions per follower
has increased quite significantly from 2023 to
2024. We saw decreases on TikTok and massive
decreases on Reels. So, again, the data is showing if
you wanna grow, YouTube is where it's at, followed by TikTok and Reels.
(13:21):
If you have a mid size account, this
particular example is looking at 2,000 to 50,000 followers.
YouTube still has the highest average impressions per follower,
again, over 600%,
followed by TikTok, followed by, Reels specifically.
But those are both showing decreases year over year
(13:44):
impressions per follower. So what that basically means is based
on the number of followers you have, the impressions
per follower is increasing on YouTube and is decreasing everywhere else.
So your content is more likely to be seen on
YouTube. It's leading the way for visibility.
But TikTok and Instagram Reels are positioned as another solid
(14:06):
option. I'll put a little asterisk on this to say, at the beginning
of this year in 2025, Adam Mosseri said Instagram is
kind of, deprioritizing Reels a little bit and focusing in on carousel
posts. Right? So the data for this next year will is gonna change
based on how Instagram is kind of, guiding their algorithm, even
though this past data is showing that that's the case.
(14:29):
So it'll be interesting to see that. I think it's it's curious because,
Instagram is fighting so hard to be, like, the alternative for TikTok. But
I've said here on this podcast before, and I'll say it again, YouTube is the
clear choice for this. X, LinkedIn,
and its Instagram stories are actually
showing that if you grow more followers, the the,
(14:52):
impressions on your post don't actually increase, for
those platforms. Okay? So you may see this as you're growing your
LinkedIn followers, your ex followers, your Instagram, followers. As
you grow them, you may not see your stories, your your post, your ex post
necessarily grow as well. I thought that was interesting. Alright.
So we looked at followers and impressions. Now let's look at
(15:14):
interactions and engagement because we all know
it's not about just people seeing our content. We want people to kind of
have a reaction to it. We want them to signal to
us that they're interested in some way, and engagement is oftentimes the
best way to do this. So right now, interactions
per follower, leading platform by leaps and bounds is YouTube.
(15:37):
Still, YouTube, interactions per follower. And they're kind of
lumping in a bunch of interactions here as well. But
overall, interactions per follower is increased,
followed by TikTok. TikTok's not, is is kind of far
behind. So and this is looking at, sorry, accounts with less
than 2,000 followers for this specific data.
(15:59):
Actually, no. Whether you have less than 2,000, they broke it down in the study.
So less than 2,000 or 2,000 to 50,000, honestly, the data
is not that different. YouTube is winning by leaps and bounds as far
as engagement goes. It's just dominating with interaction.
So especially accounts with larger followers, there
is a significant advantage here on the average
(16:21):
interaction per follower. K? So average interaction per follower
massively increased on all platforms, specifically
YouTube. The next in line is TikTok here. So it goes
YouTube, TikTok, and then if you have a smaller account, it's
LinkedIn. But if you have over, 2,000 followers, it's Instagram
Reels. K? So what that tells me is, again, if
(16:44):
you're starting from scratch, YouTube and TikTok are
great for those interactions then LinkedIn or
potentially Instagram Reels here. Okay? Don't worry about
x. Facebook is very challenging right now. It's, like, consistently at the bottom
of the list. We're not Pinterest isn't even on this list, and neither is
Twitch. Okay? So, yeah, it looks like X and
(17:05):
Facebook Reels are actually going backwards in terms of interactions here, which is
wild. Alright. Next, let's look at engagement. Okay. So we
looked at interactions, which they define as
like, comment, or share, and then engagement,
specifically, engagement rate we're looking at here, which is
total interactions divided by reach. Okay? So we're not just
(17:28):
looking at interactions by itself in a bubble. We're looking at
engagement rate. So how many people watch this
video versus how many people liked it or engaged with it?
Engagement rate, I think, is important because it does take into
account your community size. It does take into account your,
potential for engagement as well. Because oftentimes, you know, we
(17:51):
see these videos that go viral and all of that, but we don't necessarily
want to have videos just randomly go viral with people actually not
engaging with them. K. It's not just the views. It's how people,
interact with that post itself. K? So
engagement rate, which platform saw increases? And I'm gonna look at,
this is broken down as two categories again. If you have less than
(18:13):
2,000 followers, LinkedIn engagement rate has actually
increased quite a bit by 14% since 2023,
followed by, surprisingly, Facebook posts.
Facebook posts engagement rate has increased if you have less than 2,000 followers.
K? Now if you have between
52,000 followers, LinkedIn engagement rate
(18:34):
still is at the top there followed by Facebook post. But I wanna mention
Instagram reels here because that has also increased. So if
you have an account between 250,000 followers sorry,
200,000 to 50,000 followers, Those are the platforms to look
at. On the bottom of the list for both of these is YouTube.
So while YouTube we're seeing the higher your community
(18:56):
is, the more they interact, and we're seeing it's easier to
grow, overall, it looks like,
people aren't as engaged on YouTube as they were in previous years.
My theory behind this is,
YouTube TV. So a lot of people are watching
YouTube now on bigger screens. And I
(19:19):
think, my theory again, is that the the community
element of YouTube is actually not as big as it used to
be. Like, commenting and liking on YouTube videos used to be a bigger
deal than it is now. A lot of people like to just
watch. They like to just consume the video. And so I don't necessarily
see that as a bad thing of engagement rate going down, but I did wanna
(19:39):
note that YouTube is on the bottom of this list. Like, engagement rates,
so the number of engagements you get per view, has decreased
year over year. Alright. Now let's talk about conversions. People click
in, people take an action, because it's not always just about
visibility. We want people to take the next step.
Now when we look at clicks, clicks per post
(20:01):
specifically, LinkedIn, if you have an account
less than 2,000 followers, LinkedIn, you're getting,
23 clicks per post on average. And if you
have 2,000 to 50,000 followers, you're getting a
56 clicks per post on average. So
LinkedIn is converting the most when it
(20:23):
comes to clicks, followed by Facebook
posts, followed by Pinterest. K? So
I found that quite interesting that when we're thinking
about, you know, attracting our community, YouTube,
Instagram reels, and TikTok posts are dominating
that category. When we think about converting
(20:46):
though, LinkedIn, Facebook posts, and Pinterest is
dominating that category. I will say this though. This is me
adding color to the the facts here of this, study.
I have seen time and time again, platforms like Pinterest drive the most
traffic. Right? When I look at the report surface level, I'm like, oh my gosh.
Look at all this beautiful traffic coming in from Pinterest. However,
(21:09):
when you dig into the the data deeper, the time on the page is
shorter and then actions on, like, after that traffic lands on your
page is almost nonexistent. So you do wanna, like, peel back
the layers of your own data a little bit more and be a little bit
critical about it. So, you know, Pinterest, again, clicks
for posts, you know, you're getting more than other platforms, but how valuable
(21:31):
are those clicks? Are they actually signing up for things on your website? Are they
converting on page? Are they doing something, on
page? Also, Pinterest just tends to be so far,
at the top of people's buying decision. Like, they're so early in the buying
process that it can be challenging to make a decision based on, Pinterest
activity. Not saying don't do it. I'm just saying the data is
(21:53):
harder to track. A few other so as I wrap
up, I wanna share a few other interesting things that they noted in this study.
These aren't, like, interconnected ideas at all, and I'm not gonna share
all of the things that they put kind of in the back half of the
study. I just wanna share the things that I think would be most interesting
to you, dear listener. Okay. Pinterest is
(22:15):
an interesting platform because Pinterest actually seems to be having a little bit of a
resurgence. I think I've shared this, on here before, but
my sister actually watches her videos on Pinterest. Like, she'll send me
Pinterest videos. I'm like, I saw this on TikTok, like, two months ago, but okay.
It's cute. So, there's a dedicated community over there.
Over 500,000,000 monthly active users on Pinterest.
(22:38):
42% are Gen z. K. So largest
segment of that platform is Gen z. Keep in
mind though, it just tends to be so early in the buying
process. Okay. I mentioned Twitch earlier and how
their subscriptions are down by 88%, but most interestingly is that
there are more accounts on Twitch. So people are
(23:01):
still signing up for Twitch accounts. They are still,
watching. They're just not subscribing. And this goes again into my
prediction of in my predictions episode that I recorded, what,
like, four months, five months ago now, is that subscribers and follower
numbers aren't going to be as important in this next evolution of social
media. People don't necessarily need to follow or subscribe to see your
(23:24):
content because the algorithm's just gonna serve it up to them anyway. So I think
that's an interesting thing to note,
for Twitch specifically. Also noted
for Twitch, there's not as much content going out, as well.
So people aren't posting as frequently as they used to, which
I thought that was interesting. A couple significant
(23:46):
Twitch livestreamers have also just switched over to YouTube.
So again, it feels like the writing is on the wall for YouTube. This
feels like my sign, y'all. If my next episode is like my brand new
YouTube strategy, you know what happened. I looked at the data and was like,
let's let's dive on in. Alright. LinkedIn.
LinkedIn data is just up across the board. Clicks up
(24:08):
by a 22%. Interactions, like I said earlier, up by
99%. Engagement up by 51%.
Average impressions up by 33. They're just having a winning
year. So if LinkedIn is on your dream board,
go for it. They also passed 1,500,000,000 profiles
with about 310 of, million of them being
(24:31):
active at least once a month. K?
Interestingly, though, posting frequency has gone down about
25%, year over year. So posting
less and getting more traction, you y'all know. I'm on board. I'm
on board. O x x, formerly known
as Twitter. They're trying really hard to have
(24:54):
a comeback, and they're seeing some success. Impressions up by
50%, clicks up by 30%, but engagement's down by
30%. Okay? So not as much engagement, but they are seeing more clicks
and more impressions. I think there's a lot of feelings about that
platform. I know I for sure have one.
Instagram. Oh, I love I have such a love hate relationship with
(25:15):
Instagram right now. But if you feel like
your reach is all messed
up, you're not alone. So Instagram has made
this switch, and, actually, the data is showing that they may have made their algorithmic
switch earlier because post regular post, reach is up
by 21%, but Reels reach is
(25:37):
down by 20%. So, actually, that to me looks like an
like, if I if I were to, like, sneak peek on their algorithm, code, I'd
be like, I see it there, if I could read code. Anyways,
it'll be interesting to see how that changes over the next year. I think they're
just trying to balance out their algorithm a little bit, and it makes sense for
them to have a more balanced approach with post versus reels.
(26:02):
I really wish they would just combine everything already because it's
annoying to have all these different types of, places to post, but here
we are. Also, if you feel like your engagement is
down, the data is showing engagement
is kinda down as far as comments and likes go.
But when we look at other, types of engagement, shares
(26:24):
and saves are, by 6%. So
take that for what you will. And this report is broken
down by post versus reels again. So I'm trying to, like, just glance and summarize
for you, but read the full report.
They note here that if you were to decide between a post or a
reel, Reels are still offering better results.
(26:47):
When compared to posts, Reels still get 52% more views
and 34% more interactions on average. K?
I mean, use your own data, but Reels are still getting more
views and more interactions when compared to posts. Again, I think that will change over
the year, but it'll be interesting to see. Stories, it it just
continues to drop. Impressions are down by 7%, reach is down by
(27:08):
7%, and posting frequency people are posting less frequency down by
33%. Alright. Let's take a look at Facebook.
Just downward trends all around, but,
they're still, like, they're they have so much impact on
everything with the most user 3,000,000,000. So, you know,
Reels, reach is up by 13%, but everything else is
(27:32):
down, post reach, post frequency, real frequency.
Even though the there is a decline, they still have so
many users. And what I will say is this data,
this report doesn't take groups into account. And,
the way my algorithm is, my whole Facebook feed is groups. That's just where I
(27:52):
spend my time, so it kinda makes sense. I rarely see pages.
I see some posts from people I follow personally, but most of my stuff
is groups. Okay. TikTok. I know
people are like, oh, TikTok is dying, but honestly, reach is up by 70%,
watch time up by 71%. Engagement is down, though, by 17%.
So if you feel like your engagement is down, it's not you, boo. Everyone
(28:15):
is kind of experiencing the same thing when we look at 2023 versus
2024. We're curious. We're curious over here to
see what this ban will do. I left me some TikTok, and I
don't want it to disappear. So we'll we'll see
what happens. But, you know, they're still one of the the big guns in
this, world of social media platforms with over
(28:37):
1,000,000,000 monthly active users.
When compared to Instagram, TikTok impressions
are, increased by
84%. So that means if you post the same
video on TikTok and Instagram, all things remaining equal,
more people are gonna see your TikTok video versus your Instagram reel.
(28:59):
K? So, I mean, still post to both places, but keep in mind, you may
see more traction on TikTok. I will say with my data, very
anecdotally, YouTube Shorts still continues to be the the biggest contender
here. And there's this is my writing on the wall again. I should really focus
in on YouTube. But YouTube is just up across the board. Speaking of, that's
what's next on here. Views up by 8%, but dislikes,
(29:20):
oddly, up by 11%. Engagement is down though by
13% on that platform. Still a lot of
people, 2,700,000,000 monthly active users.
But being that it is a video platform, people engage with
platform a little bit differently than they would their Facebook or their,
you know, threads or their Instagram. But according
(29:43):
to Meta's data, users watch 200,
billion reels per day. And right now, YouTube
Shorts is growing. It's up to 30,000,000,000 daily
plays. K? So 30,000,000,000 oh, sorry.
30,000,000,000, that was 2021. It's 90,000,000,000 in
2024. So Instagram Reels still getting more
(30:06):
daily views, but YouTube is, it's increasing for
Shorts. I still think people see YouTube as the long form
content platform. And even when you go to, you know,
YouTube home screen, it's still promoting mostly the long form
video. So that kinda makes sense. But, again, I I see Shorts kind of having
their their day in the sun coming up very soon. I know my
(30:27):
husband watches videos on YouTube Shorts. And, again, he'll send them to me, and I'm
like, I saw this on TikTok two weeks ago, but good for you, YouTube Shorts.
Okay. That was a lot of data. As we wrap up, I
do wanna share some of their best practices at MetraCool
because I feel like they really do have a a really good insight on a
lot of the industry trends with this data, and a lot of their things I
(30:51):
agree with. So first, they say niche all the way down.
It looks like the accounts that stand out the most have a very
specific niche, a very specific, either style
or trend or group of people that they go after. So in
this report, for example, they're sharing a a gardening
account with 2,600,000 followers on TikTok, and it's all
(31:14):
about gardening. Okay? That's a niche. They have another one that's a crochet and
knitting account, all about that specific niche. K? So when you think
about the accounts that are standing out, they're niche. They
also create high value content. K.
High value content. People wanna see
examples, tips and tricks. Give
(31:35):
us the whole thing in the actual video. And I've been talking about this a
lot because I think as business owners, sometimes we like to tease and
tantalize because we want people to buy our thing, which is great and
all, and there's a time and a place for that. But when we think about
us as humans, how frustrating is it to watch a video where
they're like, okay. We're gonna share three tips on how to do this.
(31:57):
Here's one. But for the other two, you have to go to our
website. Like, okay. I'm scrolling. Right? So we don't wanna do that.
We want our our content to be a complete thought when it comes
to its presentation in social media and in your marketing.
Humor, still going all the way up. Humor
is, especially for short form video, seems to
(32:20):
be the way to go. Even more serious
I'm putting that in air quotes, serious accounts like car
salesmans, auto shop repair people. Like, we're seeing
that when they add the humor to their posts, we love it. We we
we share it. We like it. And so that is still doing very
well. And then if you find a formula that
(32:42):
works, keep doing the formula. I keep seeing people do this.
I personally have a really hard time with this. Like, I'm not
I don't I don't like to be super repetitive. But when you see a formula
that works so for example, I'm thinking of
the TikTok food critic, Keith Lee. Oh my god. I just told like,
my mind totally blanked on his name. Anyways, when I think about
(33:04):
Keith Lee and, like, his style of
video, he landed on something that just works. And so
he does that repetitively, like, the framing,
the way that he edits. Yes, he goes to different locations
to critique his food, but, like, as someone watching his videos, I know
what to expect and I look forward to his style of videos, and it
(33:26):
really stands out to me. And I because of that, I'm more willing to watch
beginning to end. And the algorithm loves video completion,
so we want that beautiful video completion rate to be top
of mind. But that's what works when it comes
to creating content online is having a formula that people kind of come
to expect, and then they watch it time and time again. Let's
(33:49):
see. I think they have two more things that I wanna talk about in here.
One is my tried and true advice of, like, reposting to various
accounts. They looked at this account called, Pizz of
Art. Anyways, it's a pizza account. Pizza of
Art, I guess. It's just p I z z. Anyways,
they looked at a video posted on Instagram, got 1,800,000
(34:10):
views. The same video on TikTok, 1,100,000 views.
K. So we're looking at Instagram versus TikTok. The exact same
video is still getting millions and millions of views across both
channels. So repost, repost, and,
yeah, repost again. All right, friends. That
is the deep dive into the MetraCool twenty twenty five social
(34:33):
media study. I love the data. I hope you did too. If
you did, send me a DM on Instagram. I also love a good voice note
DM and say, oh my gosh, that data was smexy. And although you came in
here from the podcast. Coming up next on the
show, you know, I release these episodes every Tuesday, y'all, and
it's just a lot of fun. And I hope you'll continue to
(34:55):
join me. So next Tuesday, I have Trang Nova to come on. She's
gonna talk about speaking and presence. And especially for
someone like me who's, like, very introverted and, like, put me in
front of real people and, like, I don't know what to do with my hands
and my pits are sweating. You'll wanna come to this session. She
even talks about, how to translate that into online content
(35:16):
as well. So that will be next Tuesday's episode.
Also, if you're not in the Mindful Marketing Lab,
come on in and join us. We have stuff happening all
the dang time. Like, for instance, next week, we're having Meg Casebolt come
in and do an SEO keyword research session for
us, which, again, if YouTube is your thing, you'll wanna come to
(35:39):
Meg's session. She just did, an audit for me, and my top
YouTube video has 55,000 views. Like, okay. This is
my sign. Y'all are experiencing here on the podcast for the first time. This is
my sign to get all the way serious about YouTube. Anyways, she did an audit,
and she did keyword research for me. So I have all these lists of keywords
that I can do to create my YouTube videos. And so, it's been
(36:00):
so helpful. I just sit down and record them, and so that's what I need
to do next. So if you want that magic of Meg's brain,
come to the session. It's only for lab members. Go to
onlinedrea.com/lab and come on in and join us and get all the perks of
unlimited strategy support courses and, workbooks and training
materials and custom GPTs and all of it. All of it. I'll see you in
(36:21):
the lab. I'll see you on the podcast next week. That's all for today. Bye
for now.
If you want inside peek into the data of what's working here
now and today in 2025, boy, do I have a treat for
you this episode. I'm excited to dive all the way
into a recent study released by Metricool to give you
the facts behind what actually is working
here now and today. This is episode number
(00:22):
345 of the Mindful Marketing podcast where I'm helping you scroll less,
connect more, and grow together. But first,
a word from our sponsor. Riverside is the all in
one podcast recording and editing tool that I use for this right
here show. I use it to edit not only the audio in the video,
it is like chef's kiss, magical, making the entire process
(00:45):
so so easy. Plus, I love their
magic AI clips. Their little AI robot
in the background pulls out the most impactful moments of the
episodes without me having to comb through and do it myself, resizes them
for social media. So those vertical videos you see on TikTok and
reels, those all come from magic AI inside of Riverside. It's
(01:07):
literally one click. It spits out 10 clips. I pick the
best one and away I go saves me so much time. If you wanna get
on the Riverside train, check it out today. The link's in the show notes and
make sure to use my code drea, d r e a, at checkout to
get 15% off your membership.
I'm geeking out in this episode because y'all know I love to look at the
(01:30):
data. And especially when it comes to marketing, there's a lot of
feelings involved, especially social media marketing. It's so
gosh darn public that we feel like everyone's
judging us. K? And we also feel like, am I the only one?
Like, why isn't this working for me? Or where should I focus my
attention? Because this person says it's this platform, that person says
(01:52):
it's that platform. So we're gonna get into the facts today of what's
working, and that's why I love this study.
Metricool is the tool that I recommend for social media scheduling
and analytics, and I just love it. I just love it. Okay. So I will
put the link to this study in the show notes as well if you wanna
take a gander and a peek and a look for yourself. But
(02:13):
just to frame where we are, this is not the first time
they've done this study. And in fact, in previous episodes, I've
gone over the data. Also, side note, if you're watching the video, I'm looking at
my screen a lot because I'm looking at the data. Okay? Okay.
So in this study, they, looked at
2024 as a whole, and they looked at
(02:34):
over 21,000,000 posts
across eight different platforms, LinkedIn, Facebook,
TikTok, x, Instagram,
YouTube. I'm missing one. Facebook ads. They looked at a
lot of places, and they, studied
the results of what is working and
(02:57):
what is not based on comparing the platforms to themselves and the posts
to themselves as well. So it's a lot of data
points that we're looking at. But, specifically,
Meta is dominating this data. So I do wanna, like, put that as
a caveat. Instagram
posts and Facebook posts and accounts tend to dominate a
(03:19):
lot of the data. In fact, most of the data comes from those two places.
Kind of in the middle of the road, we do have TikTok,
LinkedIn, and YouTube still have some pretty high, results there
with the bottom of this study looking at x oh, Twitch is the one I
forgot earlier in Pinterest. So when we're looking at all of
these these data points, just keep in mind that Meta,
(03:41):
Facebook, Instagram, is dominating. Also keep in mind,
threads isn't on here. There isn't a lot of data points,
from threads specifically. It's just the way that they share their data. It's not
like that. So I'm hoping in future studies, Metrc will includes
threads in this data as well. And, of course, some of the newer platforms
like Blue Sky, or some of the TikTok competitors
(04:03):
like, Clapper or Lemonade aren't in this study as well.
There's just not enough people on there for that to, make sense.
The other thing to note with this study is they kind of categorize things based
on account size, which I really appreciate. Because when we look at
strategies and apply them to different accounts, a strategy that works
for an account with 50,000 followers isn't going to be the
(04:26):
same when you have 500 followers. K? So I
do like that they broke it down into five different categories.
Tiny accounts have less than 500 followers. Small
accounts have between 502,000.
Medium accounts have between 12,000. Big
accounts are, 10,000 to 50,000, and then huge
(04:48):
accounts are over 50,000 followers. Okay. So they are
looking at community size when it comes to some of these
platforms. Alright. So overall, in
2024, clicks on Pinterest did
increase. This is Pinterest. Increased by
55, which I found interesting. On
(05:10):
Twitch, subscriptions decreased by
88%. Then we'll see later that views still increase, but
subscriptions, people subscribing to Twitch channels drastically
decreased last year, which is interesting. I think, that's because of
YouTube, which we'll see later. LinkedIn interactions
increased on average by 99%.
(05:31):
Ninety nine %. This is why I recently did the LinkedIn challenge. I'm
all about like, I've been doing it for seven years. LinkedIn has consistently
increased and the data is showing. There's just a lot happening on that platform right
now. X, we saw a lot of decreases
over, the past year or two. But most interestingly,
impressions have increased by half, 15%.
(05:54):
Instagram, your post reach has increased by fifth by
21%, excuse me, but Reels reach has decreased by
20%. So your regular post, we're talking like a static post or
carousel post, has increased in reach. Reels has decreased. So we'll
see later that Reels still dominates as one of the most interactive
post styles. Facebook post reach has
(06:17):
decreased by 41% and Reels reach has increased by
13. Lastly, TikTok or sorry, second to last,
TikTok, average watch time still has increased by
71%, k, versus what it was in
2023. So TikTok, despite the threat of
big band, people are still watching it even more than they were the previous
(06:37):
year. And then on YouTube engagement, specifically, dislikes has
gone up by 11%. K? So that was kinda like their
highlight reel of here's what you can expect. Now let's get
into, the key metrics the key metrics.
So generally speaking, based on this data,
the larger your audience, the better the results. So the
(06:59):
more followers you have, the better results you will get in terms
of views and engagement. That is still true based on
this study. I will be curious to see, though, how
this turns out with twenty twenty five's data because,
platforms like Meta, specifically Adam Mosseri, has shared
that followers are becoming less and less important, and we're looking
(07:22):
at views as a metric of success. That being said,
it seems like the algorithms are still favoring accounts who have more
followers versus ones that don't. So
the data is showing that, you know, if you wanna reach more people, you kinda
larger need a larger community, which, you know, it's a chicken and the
egg scenario, but here we are.
(07:44):
Okay. Let's look at, generationally. So,
a lot of people claim that, you know, baby boomers are not on
social or Gen zed is not on social. Sorry, Gen z is not I
keep saying zed y'all because here in Canada, we say zed instead
of zed. And my toddler, she's almost three, is
correcting me whenever I say zed. Because I'm US born and raised,
(08:07):
been in Canada for ten years. But if I say, like, x y z, she'll
be like, no, mom. It's zed. And I'm like, oh, okay. Excuse
me. Anyways, Gen z, Gen z, whatever.
They're on the socials. Okay? They're on the socials, but let's break it
down by platform. I'm gonna give you a few highlights here.
Interestingly enough, millennials, we are on all the social
(08:30):
medias. And I'm not I'm not surprised by it, but when I saw the data,
I was like, oh, we're equally everywhere. Gen x is not
far behind with that, with most of Gen x being on every platform, though they're
not as fan as fond of TikTok,
as well. Facebook still is the platform
for, baby boomers, but do not let
(08:52):
anyone say that no one's on Facebook. Facebook is still
the platform with the most people. So when we look at the data, you know,
Facebook has over 3,000,000,000, accounts. Right? So when we look at the
data, whenever someone says, oh, Facebook doesn't matter, it's like, okay, you're comparing
3,000,000,000 accounts though. So, yes,
engagement and and post reach and things may be down. But, like, if we look
(09:14):
at the data, it's like, okay. So it's down
compared to Facebook, but it's so much higher than other platforms. So keep
that in mind. Also interestingly,
baby boomers are on LinkedIn secondarily after
Facebook. So if that is your target demo, Facebook and
LinkedIn are great for baby boomers. Skip
(09:37):
Twitch and skip TikTok if you're a baby boomer.
Gen x, pretty much everywhere, though mostly on
Facebook and YouTube. The platform that they're least on
is Twitch, followed by TikTok. Millennials,
we are everywhere almost equally as much, though interestingly
enough I keep saying that because I I find this data fascinating.
(10:01):
LinkedIn. Millennials. We're on the LinkedIn. It kinda
makes sense because we're like most of the job force right now, aren't
we? I don't know if I'm lying about that. But a lot on LinkedIn,
but honestly, this is almost neck and neck
with, Facebook, Instagram, and
x. We're everywhere. K?
(10:23):
Jin Zed, mostly on Twitch, which is
interesting. They're they're they have the least,
presence, should I say that, on Facebook. K? So Jin Zed, not
really using Facebook that much, not really using LinkedIn
that much. Understandable. They they like the
Twitch. They like the TikTok. They like Instagram.
(10:45):
They like YouTube, but not really anywhere else.
Okay? So let's dive into the next one they
have on here, which is growing your account. So if
you, wanna grow your account
and you have less than 500 followers,
according to this study, the platform that you should be on is
(11:08):
Instagram. So tiny accounts less than 500 followers
see that most success on Instagram followed by YouTube. And I
wanna mention that because there's gonna be a trend here with YouTube in this
entire report. So Instagram followed by YouTube. So keep that in
mind if you're starting from scratch. If you're starting from scratch and you have less
than 500 followers, Facebook is at the bottom of the list. Don't even try
(11:30):
it. It's gonna be really hard to grow that account. Okay? So
that's interesting. Okay. Now generally speaking, for the rest of
us, YouTube is the way to go. Okay? So,
looking at the rest of the accounts, like, excluding small accounts, because small accounts, it's
clearly Instagram. But looking at the rest of the accounts, YouTube
is the fastest way to grow subscribers,
(11:52):
followers, whatever, by leaps and bounds over everyone
else. It's followed by Instagram, followed by TikTok. K? They're not that far
apart. 41% for YouTube, 39% for
Instagram, 34% for TikTok. But YouTube
is clearly the winner here. All of these platforms are
highly focused on video, so just note that. Again,
(12:14):
Facebook's at the bottom. Like, even x is above Facebook right now as far
in terms of follower growth. So keep that in mind. If you're looking to
start a new strategy, you may wanna consider YouTube
or maybe even Instagram or maybe even TikTok, but YouTube is the
fastest growing for all accounts. Now let's take a look
at the accounts specifically
(12:36):
and, what you can expect as you're diving
into growing your accounts and what the data is saying there.
So first up, we're going to look at, small accounts.
So tiny and small accounts. If you have less than
2,000 followers, YouTube,
the average impressions per follower has increased
(12:58):
by over 600% for small accounts. So less than
2,000 followers, less than 2,000 subscribers. Impressions per follower
has increased quite significantly from 2023 to
2024. We saw decreases on TikTok and massive
decreases on Reels. So, again, the data is showing if
you wanna grow, YouTube is where it's at, followed by TikTok and Reels.
(13:21):
If you have a mid size account, this
particular example is looking at 2,000 to 50,000 followers.
YouTube still has the highest average impressions per follower,
again, over 600%,
followed by TikTok, followed by, Reels specifically.
But those are both showing decreases year over year
(13:44):
impressions per follower. So what that basically means is based
on the number of followers you have, the impressions
per follower is increasing on YouTube and is decreasing everywhere else.
So your content is more likely to be seen on
YouTube. It's leading the way for visibility.
But TikTok and Instagram Reels are positioned as another solid
(14:06):
option. I'll put a little asterisk on this to say, at the beginning
of this year in 2025, Adam Mosseri said Instagram is
kind of, deprioritizing Reels a little bit and focusing in on carousel
posts. Right? So the data for this next year will is gonna change
based on how Instagram is kind of, guiding their algorithm, even
though this past data is showing that that's the case.
(14:29):
So it'll be interesting to see that. I think it's it's curious because,
Instagram is fighting so hard to be, like, the alternative for TikTok. But
I've said here on this podcast before, and I'll say it again, YouTube is the
clear choice for this. X, LinkedIn,
and its Instagram stories are actually
showing that if you grow more followers, the the,
(14:52):
impressions on your post don't actually increase, for
those platforms. Okay? So you may see this as you're growing your
LinkedIn followers, your ex followers, your Instagram, followers. As
you grow them, you may not see your stories, your your post, your ex post
necessarily grow as well. I thought that was interesting. Alright.
So we looked at followers and impressions. Now let's look at
(15:14):
interactions and engagement because we all know
it's not about just people seeing our content. We want people to kind of
have a reaction to it. We want them to signal to
us that they're interested in some way, and engagement is oftentimes the
best way to do this. So right now, interactions
per follower, leading platform by leaps and bounds is YouTube.
(15:37):
Still, YouTube, interactions per follower. And they're kind of
lumping in a bunch of interactions here as well. But
overall, interactions per follower is increased,
followed by TikTok. TikTok's not, is is kind of far
behind. So and this is looking at, sorry, accounts with less
than 2,000 followers for this specific data.
(15:59):
Actually, no. Whether you have less than 2,000, they broke it down in the study.
So less than 2,000 or 2,000 to 50,000, honestly, the data
is not that different. YouTube is winning by leaps and bounds as far
as engagement goes. It's just dominating with interaction.
So especially accounts with larger followers, there
is a significant advantage here on the average
(16:21):
interaction per follower. K? So average interaction per follower
massively increased on all platforms, specifically
YouTube. The next in line is TikTok here. So it goes
YouTube, TikTok, and then if you have a smaller account, it's
LinkedIn. But if you have over, 2,000 followers, it's Instagram
Reels. K? So what that tells me is, again, if
(16:44):
you're starting from scratch, YouTube and TikTok are
great for those interactions then LinkedIn or
potentially Instagram Reels here. Okay? Don't worry about
x. Facebook is very challenging right now. It's, like, consistently at the bottom
of the list. We're not Pinterest isn't even on this list, and neither is
Twitch. Okay? So, yeah, it looks like X and
(17:05):
Facebook Reels are actually going backwards in terms of interactions here, which is
wild. Alright. Next, let's look at engagement. Okay. So we
looked at interactions, which they define as
like, comment, or share, and then engagement,
specifically, engagement rate we're looking at here, which is
total interactions divided by reach. Okay? So we're not just
(17:28):
looking at interactions by itself in a bubble. We're looking at
engagement rate. So how many people watch this
video versus how many people liked it or engaged with it?
Engagement rate, I think, is important because it does take into
account your community size. It does take into account your,
potential for engagement as well. Because oftentimes, you know, we
(17:51):
see these videos that go viral and all of that, but we don't necessarily
want to have videos just randomly go viral with people actually not
engaging with them. K. It's not just the views. It's how people,
interact with that post itself. K? So
engagement rate, which platform saw increases? And I'm gonna look at,
this is broken down as two categories again. If you have less than
(18:13):
2,000 followers, LinkedIn engagement rate has actually
increased quite a bit by 14% since 2023,
followed by, surprisingly, Facebook posts.
Facebook posts engagement rate has increased if you have less than 2,000 followers.
K? Now if you have between
52,000 followers, LinkedIn engagement rate
(18:34):
still is at the top there followed by Facebook post. But I wanna mention
Instagram reels here because that has also increased. So if
you have an account between 250,000 followers sorry,
200,000 to 50,000 followers, Those are the platforms to look
at. On the bottom of the list for both of these is YouTube.
So while YouTube we're seeing the higher your community
(18:56):
is, the more they interact, and we're seeing it's easier to
grow, overall, it looks like,
people aren't as engaged on YouTube as they were in previous years.
My theory behind this is,
YouTube TV. So a lot of people are watching
YouTube now on bigger screens. And I
(19:19):
think, my theory again, is that the the community
element of YouTube is actually not as big as it used to
be. Like, commenting and liking on YouTube videos used to be a bigger
deal than it is now. A lot of people like to just
watch. They like to just consume the video. And so I don't necessarily
see that as a bad thing of engagement rate going down, but I did wanna
(19:39):
note that YouTube is on the bottom of this list. Like, engagement rates,
so the number of engagements you get per view, has decreased
year over year. Alright. Now let's talk about conversions. People click
in, people take an action, because it's not always just about
visibility. We want people to take the next step.
Now when we look at clicks, clicks per post
(20:01):
specifically, LinkedIn, if you have an account
less than 2,000 followers, LinkedIn, you're getting,
23 clicks per post on average. And if you
have 2,000 to 50,000 followers, you're getting a
56 clicks per post on average. So
LinkedIn is converting the most when it
(20:23):
comes to clicks, followed by Facebook
posts, followed by Pinterest. K? So
I found that quite interesting that when we're thinking
about, you know, attracting our community, YouTube,
Instagram reels, and TikTok posts are dominating
that category. When we think about converting
(20:46):
though, LinkedIn, Facebook posts, and Pinterest is
dominating that category. I will say this though. This is me
adding color to the the facts here of this, study.
I have seen time and time again, platforms like Pinterest drive the most
traffic. Right? When I look at the report surface level, I'm like, oh my gosh.
Look at all this beautiful traffic coming in from Pinterest. However,
(21:09):
when you dig into the the data deeper, the time on the page is
shorter and then actions on, like, after that traffic lands on your
page is almost nonexistent. So you do wanna, like, peel back
the layers of your own data a little bit more and be a little bit
critical about it. So, you know, Pinterest, again, clicks
for posts, you know, you're getting more than other platforms, but how valuable
(21:31):
are those clicks? Are they actually signing up for things on your website? Are they
converting on page? Are they doing something, on
page? Also, Pinterest just tends to be so far,
at the top of people's buying decision. Like, they're so early in the buying
process that it can be challenging to make a decision based on, Pinterest
activity. Not saying don't do it. I'm just saying the data is
(21:53):
harder to track. A few other so as I wrap
up, I wanna share a few other interesting things that they noted in this study.
These aren't, like, interconnected ideas at all, and I'm not gonna share
all of the things that they put kind of in the back half of the
study. I just wanna share the things that I think would be most interesting
to you, dear listener. Okay. Pinterest is
(22:15):
an interesting platform because Pinterest actually seems to be having a little bit of a
resurgence. I think I've shared this, on here before, but
my sister actually watches her videos on Pinterest. Like, she'll send me
Pinterest videos. I'm like, I saw this on TikTok, like, two months ago, but okay.
It's cute. So, there's a dedicated community over there.
Over 500,000,000 monthly active users on Pinterest.
(22:38):
42% are Gen z. K. So largest
segment of that platform is Gen z. Keep in
mind though, it just tends to be so early in the buying
process. Okay. I mentioned Twitch earlier and how
their subscriptions are down by 88%, but most interestingly is that
there are more accounts on Twitch. So people are
(23:01):
still signing up for Twitch accounts. They are still,
watching. They're just not subscribing. And this goes again into my
prediction of in my predictions episode that I recorded, what,
like, four months, five months ago now, is that subscribers and follower
numbers aren't going to be as important in this next evolution of social
media. People don't necessarily need to follow or subscribe to see your
(23:24):
content because the algorithm's just gonna serve it up to them anyway. So I think
that's an interesting thing to note,
for Twitch specifically. Also noted
for Twitch, there's not as much content going out, as well.
So people aren't posting as frequently as they used to, which
I thought that was interesting. A couple significant
(23:46):
Twitch livestreamers have also just switched over to YouTube.
So again, it feels like the writing is on the wall for YouTube. This
feels like my sign, y'all. If my next episode is like my brand new
YouTube strategy, you know what happened. I looked at the data and was like,
let's let's dive on in. Alright. LinkedIn.
LinkedIn data is just up across the board. Clicks up
(24:08):
by a 22%. Interactions, like I said earlier, up by
99%. Engagement up by 51%.
Average impressions up by 33. They're just having a winning
year. So if LinkedIn is on your dream board,
go for it. They also passed 1,500,000,000 profiles
with about 310 of, million of them being
(24:31):
active at least once a month. K?
Interestingly, though, posting frequency has gone down about
25%, year over year. So posting
less and getting more traction, you y'all know. I'm on board. I'm
on board. O x x, formerly known
as Twitter. They're trying really hard to have
(24:54):
a comeback, and they're seeing some success. Impressions up by
50%, clicks up by 30%, but engagement's down by
30%. Okay? So not as much engagement, but they are seeing more clicks
and more impressions. I think there's a lot of feelings about that
platform. I know I for sure have one.
Instagram. Oh, I love I have such a love hate relationship with
(25:15):
Instagram right now. But if you feel like
your reach is all messed
up, you're not alone. So Instagram has made
this switch, and, actually, the data is showing that they may have made their algorithmic
switch earlier because post regular post, reach is up
by 21%, but Reels reach is
(25:37):
down by 20%. So, actually, that to me looks like an
like, if I if I were to, like, sneak peek on their algorithm, code, I'd
be like, I see it there, if I could read code. Anyways,
it'll be interesting to see how that changes over the next year. I think they're
just trying to balance out their algorithm a little bit, and it makes sense for
them to have a more balanced approach with post versus reels.
(26:02):
I really wish they would just combine everything already because it's
annoying to have all these different types of, places to post, but here
we are. Also, if you feel like your engagement is
down, the data is showing engagement
is kinda down as far as comments and likes go.
But when we look at other, types of engagement, shares
(26:24):
and saves are, by 6%. So
take that for what you will. And this report is broken
down by post versus reels again. So I'm trying to, like, just glance and summarize
for you, but read the full report.
They note here that if you were to decide between a post or a
reel, Reels are still offering better results.
(26:47):
When compared to posts, Reels still get 52% more views
and 34% more interactions on average. K?
I mean, use your own data, but Reels are still getting more
views and more interactions when compared to posts. Again, I think that will change over
the year, but it'll be interesting to see. Stories, it it just
continues to drop. Impressions are down by 7%, reach is down by
(27:08):
7%, and posting frequency people are posting less frequency down by
33%. Alright. Let's take a look at Facebook.
Just downward trends all around, but,
they're still, like, they're they have so much impact on
everything with the most user 3,000,000,000. So, you know,
Reels, reach is up by 13%, but everything else is
(27:32):
down, post reach, post frequency, real frequency.
Even though the there is a decline, they still have so
many users. And what I will say is this data,
this report doesn't take groups into account. And,
the way my algorithm is, my whole Facebook feed is groups. That's just where I
(27:52):
spend my time, so it kinda makes sense. I rarely see pages.
I see some posts from people I follow personally, but most of my stuff
is groups. Okay. TikTok. I know
people are like, oh, TikTok is dying, but honestly, reach is up by 70%,
watch time up by 71%. Engagement is down, though, by 17%.
So if you feel like your engagement is down, it's not you, boo. Everyone
(28:15):
is kind of experiencing the same thing when we look at 2023 versus
2024. We're curious. We're curious over here to
see what this ban will do. I left me some TikTok, and I
don't want it to disappear. So we'll we'll see
what happens. But, you know, they're still one of the the big guns in
this, world of social media platforms with over
(28:37):
1,000,000,000 monthly active users.
When compared to Instagram, TikTok impressions
are, increased by
84%. So that means if you post the same
video on TikTok and Instagram, all things remaining equal,
more people are gonna see your TikTok video versus your Instagram reel.
(28:59):
K? So, I mean, still post to both places, but keep in mind, you may
see more traction on TikTok. I will say with my data, very
anecdotally, YouTube Shorts still continues to be the the biggest contender
here. And there's this is my writing on the wall again. I should really focus
in on YouTube. But YouTube is just up across the board. Speaking of, that's
what's next on here. Views up by 8%, but dislikes,
(29:20):
oddly, up by 11%. Engagement is down though by
13% on that platform. Still a lot of
people, 2,700,000,000 monthly active users.
But being that it is a video platform, people engage with
platform a little bit differently than they would their Facebook or their,
you know, threads or their Instagram. But according
(29:43):
to Meta's data, users watch 200,
billion reels per day. And right now, YouTube
Shorts is growing. It's up to 30,000,000,000 daily
plays. K? So 30,000,000,000 oh, sorry.
30,000,000,000, that was 2021. It's 90,000,000,000 in
2024. So Instagram Reels still getting more
(30:06):
daily views, but YouTube is, it's increasing for
Shorts. I still think people see YouTube as the long form
content platform. And even when you go to, you know,
YouTube home screen, it's still promoting mostly the long form
video. So that kinda makes sense. But, again, I I see Shorts kind of having
their their day in the sun coming up very soon. I know my
(30:27):
husband watches videos on YouTube Shorts. And, again, he'll send them to me, and I'm
like, I saw this on TikTok two weeks ago, but good for you, YouTube Shorts.
Okay. That was a lot of data. As we wrap up, I
do wanna share some of their best practices at MetraCool
because I feel like they really do have a a really good insight on a
lot of the industry trends with this data, and a lot of their things I
(30:51):
agree with. So first, they say niche all the way down.
It looks like the accounts that stand out the most have a very
specific niche, a very specific, either style
or trend or group of people that they go after. So in
this report, for example, they're sharing a a gardening
account with 2,600,000 followers on TikTok, and it's all
(31:14):
about gardening. Okay? That's a niche. They have another one that's a crochet and
knitting account, all about that specific niche. K? So when you think
about the accounts that are standing out, they're niche. They
also create high value content. K.
High value content. People wanna see
examples, tips and tricks. Give
(31:35):
us the whole thing in the actual video. And I've been talking about this a
lot because I think as business owners, sometimes we like to tease and
tantalize because we want people to buy our thing, which is great and
all, and there's a time and a place for that. But when we think about
us as humans, how frustrating is it to watch a video where
they're like, okay. We're gonna share three tips on how to do this.
(31:57):
Here's one. But for the other two, you have to go to our
website. Like, okay. I'm scrolling. Right? So we don't wanna do that.
We want our our content to be a complete thought when it comes
to its presentation in social media and in your marketing.
Humor, still going all the way up. Humor
is, especially for short form video, seems to
(32:20):
be the way to go. Even more serious
I'm putting that in air quotes, serious accounts like car
salesmans, auto shop repair people. Like, we're seeing
that when they add the humor to their posts, we love it. We we
we share it. We like it. And so that is still doing very
well. And then if you find a formula that
(32:42):
works, keep doing the formula. I keep seeing people do this.
I personally have a really hard time with this. Like, I'm not
I don't I don't like to be super repetitive. But when you see a formula
that works so for example, I'm thinking of
the TikTok food critic, Keith Lee. Oh my god. I just told like,
my mind totally blanked on his name. Anyways, when I think about
(33:04):
Keith Lee and, like, his style of
video, he landed on something that just works. And so
he does that repetitively, like, the framing,
the way that he edits. Yes, he goes to different locations
to critique his food, but, like, as someone watching his videos, I know
what to expect and I look forward to his style of videos, and it
(33:26):
really stands out to me. And I because of that, I'm more willing to watch
beginning to end. And the algorithm loves video completion,
so we want that beautiful video completion rate to be top
of mind. But that's what works when it comes
to creating content online is having a formula that people kind of come
to expect, and then they watch it time and time again. Let's
(33:49):
see. I think they have two more things that I wanna talk about in here.
One is my tried and true advice of, like, reposting to various
accounts. They looked at this account called, Pizz of
Art. Anyways, it's a pizza account. Pizza of
Art, I guess. It's just p I z z. Anyways,
they looked at a video posted on Instagram, got 1,800,000
(34:10):
views. The same video on TikTok, 1,100,000 views.
K. So we're looking at Instagram versus TikTok. The exact same
video is still getting millions and millions of views across both
channels. So repost, repost, and,
yeah, repost again. All right, friends. That
is the deep dive into the MetraCool twenty twenty five social
(34:33):
media study. I love the data. I hope you did too. If
you did, send me a DM on Instagram. I also love a good voice note
DM and say, oh my gosh, that data was smexy. And although you came in
here from the podcast. Coming up next on the
show, you know, I release these episodes every Tuesday, y'all, and
it's just a lot of fun. And I hope you'll continue to
(34:55):
join me. So next Tuesday, I have Trang Nova to come on. She's
gonna talk about speaking and presence. And especially for
someone like me who's, like, very introverted and, like, put me in
front of real people and, like, I don't know what to do with my hands
and my pits are sweating. You'll wanna come to this session. She
even talks about, how to translate that into online content
(35:16):
as well. So that will be next Tuesday's episode.
Also, if you're not in the Mindful Marketing Lab,
come on in and join us. We have stuff happening all
the dang time. Like, for instance, next week, we're having Meg Casebolt come
in and do an SEO keyword research session for
us, which, again, if YouTube is your thing, you'll wanna come to
(35:39):
Meg's session. She just did, an audit for me, and my top
YouTube video has 55,000 views. Like, okay. This is
my sign. Y'all are experiencing here on the podcast for the first time. This is
my sign to get all the way serious about YouTube. Anyways, she did an audit,
and she did keyword research for me. So I have all these lists of keywords
that I can do to create my YouTube videos. And so, it's been
(36:00):
so helpful. I just sit down and record them, and so that's what I need
to do next. So if you want that magic of Meg's brain,
come to the session. It's only for lab members. Go to
onlinedrea.com/lab and come on in and join us and get all the perks of
unlimited strategy support courses and, workbooks and training
materials and custom GPTs and all of it. All of it. I'll see you in
(36:21):
the lab. I'll see you on the podcast next week. That's all for today. Bye
for now.
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