Social media helps firms connect with users and increase brand awareness. But engagement on both organic posts and paid ads is down big time in 2020. We aren’t the only ones who have noticed this—it’s a trend that has been observed across the industry. What’s going on?
We have a few theories:
- It’s political season. The presidential election is just days away, and Trump vs. Biden has dominated social media discussions, posts, and shares. The more that people participate in this political debate, the more social media promotes it—often at the expense of other content. According to Digiday, political content has always dominated social media, and 2020 is no exception.
- COVID-19 is still big news. America is about to select its next president, but it’s also still in the grip of a global pandemic. Between these two major events, it’s tough for any other topics to capture users’ attention. In fact, June 2020 saw the lowest social media engagement in history—and that’s entirely due to the coronavirus.
- Facebook is de-emphasizing Pages for businesses and brands. Many people have noticed that they’re seeing more posts from their friends and Facebook Groups, and fewer from pages and brands they’ve liked or followed. That may be because Facebook is de-emphasizing organic posts from companies to push those brands to spend more on paid ads.
- The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is in effect. Although this should affect only California, some social media experts theorize that the CCPA’s guidelines are being applied by social media platforms across the board—not just to users in the Golden State.
Here’s What We Think
We believe the decrease in social media engagement is mostly due to the first two factors—the upcoming election and COVID-19. Both will likely continue to dominate social media discussions for months to come, but we’re on the case.
Here’s What We’re Doing About It
Social media platforms are always changing their algorithms, and breaking news is always a factor to contend with. That means we’re well prepared to handle challenges like these.
Our social media team is working hard to identify which content generates the most engagement and the ideal times to post it. We’re not content to just sit back and wait for the world to go back to “normal”—we’re running tests and collecting data to increase engagement on all platforms.
Contact Us to Learn More
Curious about how we’re optimizing your social media presence? Want to boost your own Facebook profile’s engagement, activity, and reach? Contact us today at askus@cjadvertising.com to find out how we can help.
