Emplifi’s 2023 Social Media Trends Report Shows Instagram Reels Usage Up 86% By Brands

Emplifi’s data makes clear that video content, including Reels, live video and even GIFs on Twitter, consistently outperform text-based posts across social platforms, driving engagement and boosting social interactions

Emplifi, a leading customer engagement platform, today released its “Unleashing the Power of Video: Key Trends Driving Social Media Engagement” report, offering marketers deep insights on Q2 2023 social media behavior and trends. One of the most significant findings from the report is the success of Instagram Reels compared to other short-form video content. According to Emplifi’s data, Instagram Reels outperform all other content types on the social app, generating 55% more interactions than single-image posts on Instagram and 29% more interactions than standard video posts.

“Because the social media landscape is evolving and changing at such a rapid pace, it’s crucial marketers have access to insights that can help them earn the biggest bang for their marketing bucks. A key insight from this report is that despite an ongoing decline in engagement on Instagram last quarter, the platform still delivers the highest engagement rates for brands compared to Facebook and Twitter,” said Zarnaz Arlia, Chief Marketing Officer, Emplifi.

Another interesting finding from the report involves Twitter verification trends by brands. After analyzing more than 40,000 brand Twitter accounts, Emplifi discovered 4% were verified on April 11, 2023, a week before the platform began charging an $8 per month subscription fee for its Twitter Blue status. By June 30, that number doubled to 9% of brands having the Twitter Blue verification badge.

Here are the top takeaways from Emplifi’s Q2 2023 Social Media Trends Report:

Instagram for Brands: A High-Level Overview

Instagram Reels and Instagram Carousels (multi-image posts) are the top-performing content for brands on the platform, with Reels shared by brands earning 75 median interactions per post in Q2 and Carousels earning 74 median post interactions.

Interestingly, when looking at Instagram ads overall, only 11% are Reels placements—still, 87% of brands used Instagram Reels for ad placements, at least once in Q2 2023, representing a 26% increase year-over-year. Overall, Instagram Reels usage by brands is up 86% compared to Q2 2022, with 90% of brands posting, at least, one Reel in Q2 of this year.

It would be remiss not to point out the fact that Instagram Reels engagement has been trending downward for the last five quarters, dropping 30% year-over-year in Q2 2023. The competition for engagement on the platform is steep, not to mention the recent deprioritization of Reels by Meta, Instagram’s parent company. These data points make clear how important it is for brands to diversify their social content, embracing more than one channel for their video marketing efforts.

Brands that are leveraging Instagram Reels are seeing amazing results with SpaceX earning first place for median interactions (222, 580), followed by Addidas Football (176,429), Rockstar Games (121,684) and Netflix Brazil (118,302) (Top 10 list available in full report).

Facebook Reels: Still Playing Catch Up

While Instagram Reels are exploding, Facebook Reels are not seeing the same traction. In fact, Facebook Live Video dominates all other video content on the platform, earning nearly four-times the number of interactions compared to static video posts. (It’s worth noting that Facebook Reels have not been around as long as Instagram Reels, having been released two years after Instagram launched its most popular video format. As more brands cross-post their Instagram Reel content to Facebook, marketers may see a shift in engagement.)

Only 31% of brands used Facebook Reels for ad placement in Q2 2022, but that number jumped to 82% during the same time period this year, representing an astounding 166% jump in usage.

What’s Happening on Twitter?

With all the recent changes happening at Twitter, the platform has been a hot topic among social media marketers and advertisers. For the brands wanting to make the most of their activity on the social network, Emplif’s data found that Tweets containing GIFs earned twice as many interactions as those with links and 33% more than text-based status updates.

TikTok vs Instagram Reels

TikTok user growth is continuing to soar. Emplifi’s data revealed that the average brand saw a five-fold increase in TikTok followers in Q2 2023. While its ability to gain new users is impressive, Instagram Reels is still outperforming TikTok content when comparing median reach, median interactions, and median video views. Meanwhile, TikTok wins in terms of median engagement rates when compared to Instagram Reels.

“It is time marketers fully embrace their video efforts, and that means everything from Instagram Reels and Facebook Live Video to TikTok content and even GIFs on Twitter. Short-form video is exploding and the brands that lean into this trend will gain a major competitive edge,” said Arlia. “As a leading customer engagement platform, we know that implementing a successful video strategy takes time. That’s why we devote so much of our efforts to creating these reports and sharing this data—we want to help marketers by giving them a headstart on developing social media strategies that will deliver measurable impact.”

Emplifi’s report also includes actionable social media marketing tips based on the findings, serving as a “cheat sheet” for social media marketers wanting to boost their brand’s social efforts. To review the full findings, download the report at: “Unleashing the Power of Video: Key Trends Driving Social Media Engagement.”

About Emplifi

Emplifi is a leading unified customer engagement platform that empowers businesses to reach and grow communities through digital- and social-first strategies. More than 20,000 brands like McDonald’s, Ford Motor Company, and Delta Air Lines rely on Emplifi to enable connected, empathetic experiences for the modern consumer across marketing, commerce, and care. Headquartered in New York, Emplifi partners with major social media networks and digital platforms, including Google, Meta, LinkedIn, Twitter, TikTok, and Snapchat.

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