5 reasons your social media engagement might be down in Q4.
If you are not running ads to your business, you won’t be alone if your engagement is low right now.
⭐But it might not be something that you’ve done.⭐
Here are some reasons why you might be hearing crickets…
Increased competition
Not only are we in Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend, but we are in the lead-up to Christmas, so ad spend has gone up from big brands, so it might mean fewer eyeballs on your own content. Black Friday is one of the busiest times of year for retailers, and they are all competing for attention on social media. This can make it more difficult for you to stand out and get their content seen.
Ad fatigue
If you’ve been anywhere near your emails this week, you might be feeling this too! We’re flooded with ads in the weeks leading up to this weekend. It can really make us pay less attention to organic social media posts. We’re basically done, and we tune out!
Shopping fatigue
By Black Friday, many buyers are already exhausted from shopping. They may be less likely to spend time on social media, and they may be more focused on making purchases, or simply switching off from social, than on engaging with brands.
Seasonality
Engagement can also be affected by seasonality. Black Friday falls around Thanksgiving, and so a large portion of your audience, if they are based in the States are busy! Now, of course, some of those people might be cosied up and scrolling, but you will likely still feel the effects of the season on your engagement.
This leads me to Christmas. With only 4 Fridays left until Christmas, the pressure is for many. (Like me, who still hasn’t finished gifts, the tree, cards, anything really!) It means I’m less likely to be engaging online, and being more present in my tasks offline. And I know I am not alone in that!
Threads
Lastly, Meta is focusing its energy on Threads. I’ve heard a lot of business owners reporting growth on Threads, and crickets on Instagram. We saw this happen when Reels launched, and posts tanked, and then eventually, they evened out a little more. And I think we are seeing the same with Threads.
Much of this is a case of waiting until the new year to see what picks up; we can’t control the season, Meta, or the shopping fatigue! So, while we wait to see how it shakes out, there are things we CAN control that we can change. I wouldn’t change your content strategy necessarily, but I would look at your engagement campaign. Stepping up your direct contact with your audience might be worth testing out. It also might feel easier to do, rather than change up your content so close to the holiday!