[What Data Says] Are Social Media Interactions Decreasing?

We know that social media is inherently interactive, so why not measure just how interactive brand content is?

Whether you’re measuring the total volume, the average or the median of social media interactions across different platforms, it’s useful to see what data says about the evolution of interactions for brands on social media.

That is why in this analysis we bring fresh data on median interactions on social media (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn) in 2024, tracking their evolution across the past year and identifying which content type generates the highest number of median interactions.

To sweeten the deal, we also include 7 expert tips on how to get more interactions on your brand's social media accounts.

Let’s get started.

What is social media interaction?

There are several types of social interactions out there: some common across all social media platforms - such as likes, comments, shares - as well as some interactions that are unique to specific channels, such as clicks on Facebook and LinkedIn. These are just a handful of social media interaction examples.

The social media interaction meaning becomes clear when explained in contrast with social media engagement.

When you compare engagement vs interaction on social media, you discover that interaction is an umbrella term for any method by which users choose to come into contact with your brand content, whereas engagement is limited to likes, comments, saves, shares and views.

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Why is it important to measure social media interaction?

You need to measure your brand interactions to make sure that you’re having a two-way conversation with your audience on social media, instead of a monologue.

Social media marketing should not be an echo chamber.

To this end, a social media interaction analysis can give you a real-time snapshot of how active and engaged your followers are and what exactly makes them tick.

Measuring social media interactions can help you identify and understand patterns in customer behavior, and ideally plan ahead in the future. It can help you see what channels or types of content deserve more time and resources, because they offer a better social media ROI (return on investment).

Finally, analyzing interaction on social media can help you spot the virality potential in specific post types.

4 essential social media interaction statistics for 2024

Some marketers say that change is the only constant in social media, and they are right. Algorithms change constantly, forcing brands to keep refining their strategies and thinking up new ways of holding their followers’ attention.

For the purpose of this study, we took a good look at each social media platform and tracked the evolution of social media interaction for the past 12 months.

Here are the our key findings:

Reels receive the highest number of interactions on Instagram

Although median interactions on Instagram are down 14% percent in 2024, this social media channel still manages to come out on top by having the second highest median number of interactions per month. (spoiler alert: TikTok is first!)

Unsurprisingly for many of us, Instagram Reels continue to outperform all other content types, even though they are now generating fewer median social media post interactions than they did a year ago. Carousels are not far behind.

LinkedIn median interactions are up by 76% in 2024

LinkedIn might not have the most interactions on social media, but it sure shows a lot of promise given that in the past year, median social media interactions on this platform have increased by a whopping 76%.

That makes LinkedIn an exception to the rule, seeing as all the other platforms are facing a decline in social media interactions.

That also means LinkedIn might just be the place where brands go to grow their communities and convert users into loyal customers.

It’s worth mentioning that in our previous study – LinkedIn Benchmarks – we stated that multi-image posts were the most engaging post type on LinkedIn. However, things seem to have shifted in the first quarter of 2024, and now native documents are in the lead on LinkedIn.

What’s more, our previous study was looking at the engagement rate while this one focuses on median interactions.

TikTok generates the highest number of median interactions

TikTok is widely known for being the most engaging platform for social media marketing and our data on social media interactions confirms this.

Although median interactions on this platform have taken a slight dip (8%) in the past 3 months, TikTok still scores the highest number of median interactions out of all social media channels.

Median interactions on Facebook are down 80%

Out of the all channels we looked at, Facebook was by far the one that suffered the most drastic change. According to the data we gathered, median interactions on Facebook dropped by 80% YoY.

The other key insight our data revealed is that status-type (aka text) posts perform best, bringing in the highest number of median social media interactions on Facebook.

That’s interesting, given that we live in a social media world very much governed by images and video content.

Basic as they may seem, don't hesitate to keep sharing text posts for increased Facebook engagement and overall meaningful interactions.

How to get more interactions on social media

With all those data-driven insights in mind, do you think you should be improving your strategy in order to get more interactions on social media?

If the answer is yes, then keep on reading to discover all the social media interaction ideas we collected for you.

• Create engaging content

It should go without saying, but it’s worth mentioning anyway. In order to receive more social media interactions on your posts, you need to create content for social media that encourages people to connect with your brand.  

To this effect,  you can either share content that is:

• Visually pleasing
• Informative/valuable
• Entertaining/funny
• Emotionally compelling
• Controversial

Depending on your brand identity and the industry you belong to, you can mix some of these or simply choose one type and stick to it.

As a prime example of controversial posts that are likely to make people interact with your content to share their opinion, here’s how the pizza brand Dominos handles this on Instagram:

• Use interactive features from the native apps

Thankfully, the people in charge of designing social media apps are well aware of how interactive social media is and they’re always implementing new interactive features into these platforms to help improve social media interactions across the board.

Every platform’s got their own special features, so go ahead and explore each channel’s individual capabilities. Some honorable mentions include:

• TiKTok Stitch and Duet features, as well as its option to Reply with Video
• Instagram’s many interactive Stories stickers, such as Quizzes, Polls and Questions

Here’s an example of TikTok Duet feature:

• Encourage UGC in your audience and use it

One way to boost your social media interactions is to inspire your followers to share content featuring your brand. Then you can simply share the user-generated content to your brand’s channel, and follow up by being present and responsive in the comment section.

This method does not only guarantee you an increase in social media interaction, but also a boost of brand awareness and a stronger connection to your community.

Here’s how the folks at Insta360 do it on TikTok:

• Make sure you are easy to reach across all social media channels

Optimizing your social media info facilitates discovery and makes it easy and convenient for your audience to learn more about you and even buy your products or services.

That being said, make sure to provide essential information about your brand in your bio/description, and include links to key pages (sign up, pricing, about, etc). You should also add links to all your other social media channels.

This will make people see your brand as reliable and transparent, therefore they will trust you more and want to interact with you any chance they get.

• Organize giveaways

At first glance, this might sound like a hack to get a massive boost of social media interaction overnight. However, organizing giveaways as interaction posts for social media can help increase your brand visibility, get leads and grow your community.  

In other words, if your product or service is valuable, then people who interact with your content will also choose to follow you and why not, even consider making a purchase in the near future.

• Be present and responsive

Seasoned social media managers will tell you to get your audience to be there for you (and engage with your content) is for you to be there for them. Proper social media customer engagement relies on you being present and responsive to your followers.

Whether that means answering DMs, replying to comments, commenting on UGC or any other platform-specific social media interaction, don’t wait long to respond to your audience.

Doing this will make them feel seen and appreciated and will encourage them to keep interacting with your content (which works out in your favor, of course). You can get yourself a social media interaction management tool to help you automate some of these processes.

• Measure your social media interaction

The best way to figure out where you have to go is to understand where you are. You won’t know what you need to fix about your social media strategy until you identify the gaps in your current approach.

A tool like Socialinsider can help you track your social media engagement statistics across all social media channels.

Or simply view the evolution of post interactions for a specific platform (in this case, Instagram):

Final thoughts

At the end of the day, remember that social media is a two-way street. It’s not just about broadcasting; it’s about building relationships with your audience.

We hope these fresh 2024 social media interactions stats and key actionable tips will help set you on the right path to building an engaged community and win your customers’ hearts.

Methodology

The findings of this study are based on the analysis of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn social media posts published between April 2023 - April 2024.

Median interactions =  the midpoint value for social media interactions. By calculating the median (instead of the average), we make sure we filter out the outlying values that are skewing the results.

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