Key Takeaways
- Engagement is evolving, not disappearing.
Overcrowded feeds and algorithm shifts mean brands must create more intentional, valuable content. - Strong engagement still matters.
Why? Because it signals brand affinity, improves reach, and drives conversions. - Strategy comes first.
Success starts with clear goals, audience insights, platform-specific plans, and consistent branding.
Short-form video performs.
Especially in episodic formats. - Optimize for social SEO.
Think captions, alt text, keywords, and video subtitles—hashtags alone won’t cut it. - Private communities are rising.
Facebook Groups, Discord, and broadcast channels foster deeper connections. - Authenticity beats polish.
UGC, testimonials, and behind-the-scenes content resonate more than overproduced ads.
Social media engagement is more than just a metric. It's a window into how your audience connects with your brand. But in 2025, even top-tier marketers are noticing a troubling trend: engagement rates are slipping across the board. With an ever-expanding content universe and shifting platform algorithms, standing out is harder than ever.
But here's the truth: engagement isn't gone, it's just evolving. And the brands that adapt are the ones that thrive. In this guide, we’ll break down what’s really going on with social media engagement today and share the strategies that are helping modern marketers rise above the noise.
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Why Is Social Media Engagement Down?
Social media isn’t shrinking. It’s exploding. Every brand, creator, and influencer is competing for the same limited real estate on your screen. In the past few years, the number of active users across platforms has grown, but so has the volume of content being pushed out daily. The result? Overcrowded feeds and shorter attention spans.
At the same time, the algorithms powering platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn have evolved. They’re more selective about which content gets surfaced organically. Even if you’re doing everything “right,” the algorithm might still not show your post to your full audience.
And the data backs this up. A recent study by Socialinsider found that organic reach has dropped by 29% on Instagram and 9% on Facebook. That means fewer eyeballs on your posts, even if your follower count is growing.But that doesn't mean organic social media is dead. What it does mean is that the bar has been raised. To get traction, your content must now be more intentional, more valuable, and more aligned with your audience’s needs than ever before.
As our Social Media Manager, Caroline Morris, puts it:
"With so much low-quality content flooding feeds, there’s a major opportunity for brands that prioritize quality and authenticity to rise to the top."
In other words, the decline in engagement isn’t a death sentence. It’s a challenge. One that smart brands can overcome with the right organic social strategy.
Why Engagement Still Matters
In an era of declining organic reach and constantly shifting platform algorithms, social media engagement remains one of the clearest indicators of whether your content is actually working. While metrics like impressions and follower count may inflate brand perception, engagement reflects something more meaningful: attention, connection, and intent.
Here’s why engagement is still a critical metric for marketers to track:
1. It Signals Brand Affinity
Engagement—whether it’s likes, comments, shares, or saves—reflects emotional investment. These are users who aren’t just seeing your content; they’re responding to it. High engagement rates indicate that your brand is resonating with its audience on a deeper level, building relationships that go beyond passive scrolling.
2. It Increases Organic Reach
Social media algorithms are designed to prioritize content that performs well. When users engage with your posts, those signals tell the platform that your content is valuable. In response, the algorithm is more likely to show it to others, amplifying your reach without requiring additional ad spend.
3. It Drives Conversions
Engagement is often the first step in a customer’s path to conversion. A user who comments or shares a post is more likely to click through, sign up for a newsletter, or make a purchase. In this way, engagement acts as both a lead indicator and a conversion catalyst.
4. It Provides Real-Time Feedback
Tracking engagement metrics offers immediate insights into what’s working and what isn’t. This kind of feedback is essential for refining messaging, adjusting content formats, and aligning with what your audience actually values.
5. It Helps Benchmark and Optimize Strategy
Engagement metrics allow you to measure performance over time and across campaigns. A sudden drop in engagement might signal the need to pivot your approach, while a spike can help validate a new strategy. It's one of the few metrics that connects content strategy directly to audience behavior.
Build a Strong Foundation First
Before jumping into short-form video trends, influencer collabs, or SEO optimization, your social media strategy needs a strong, strategic core. Without it, even the most creative content won’t drive meaningful results.
Here’s what that foundation should include:
1. Clear Business Objectives
Every piece of content you publish should ladder up to a larger business goal, whether that’s brand awareness, lead generation, customer retention, or direct sales. Without this alignment, social becomes a scattershot effort rather than a strategic growth tool. Before planning posts, define what success actually looks like in the context of your business.
2. Audience Research & Social Listening
Understanding your audience goes beyond demographics. You need to know what they’re thinking, feeling, struggling with, and talking about online. Social listening—tracking conversations and sentiment around relevant topics, competitors, or your brand—helps uncover those insights.
“We never hand over a boilerplate strategy. It has to be tailored to the brand’s niche, goals, and audience behaviors.”
Caroline Morris, Social Media Manager at L7 Creative
This principle helped shape L7 Creative’s strategy for Nutrex Hawaii, a supplement brand that produces Spirulina and BioAstin. Through targeted social listening, the team discovered two key audience segments:
- Spirulina buyers were more health-conscious and deeply interested in vegan lifestyle content, especially recipes.
- BioAstin buyers, on the other hand, were more fitness-focused and responded well to performance-based challenges and recovery tips.
These insights fueled the creation of platform-specific content like vegan recipe carousels and the Path to Wellness fitness challenge, which rewarded users for participating in social fitness tasks. The result? A 1,236% increase in video views, 1.26 million plus impressions, and a 113% increase in net audience growth—driven by a strategy built not just on intuition, but on actionable audience data.
3. Platform-Specific Priorities
Not all platforms serve the same purpose. What works on TikTok might flop on LinkedIn. That’s why it’s essential to identify:
- Where your audience spends time
- What kind of content performs best on each platform
- Which KPIs matter most per channel (e.g., engagement on Instagram vs. click-through rate on LinkedIn)
Your content strategy should reflect these distinctions instead of applying a one-size-fits-all approach.
4. Consistent Brand Voice and Visuals
From your tone of voice to your brand standards and post structure, brand consistency is key. A strong foundation means your brand feels cohesive across all platforms, even when experimenting with new formats like Reels or LinkedIn carousels. When your audience instantly recognizes your tone or aesthetic, they’re more likely to stop scrolling, engage, and trust your brand.
Strategy #1: Episodic Short-Form Video
Short-form vertical video isn’t new, but it’s still underutilized by many brands. And when done right, it delivers. For example:
- Eisenhower Health, a healthcare client, saw over 2,000 new followers on LinkedIn after L7 introduced short-form videos.
- 90% of vertical videos outperform horizontal ones in watch-through rate.
Why it works:
- It’s mobile-native
- Easily digestible
- Encourages return viewers with episodic formats
Whether you’re showcasing behind-the-scenes content or telling a multi-part story, short-form video provides an opportunity to build narrative over time and deepen engagement.
Pro Tip: Don’t post for the sake of it. No format will save content that lacks purpose or quality.
Strategy #2: Optimize for Social SEO
Younger users are using platforms like TikTok and YouTube as search engines. If your content isn’t discoverable there, you’re missing massive opportunities.
How to improve your social SEO:
- Use keywords in captions, not just hashtags
- Add alt text to all images
- Include subtitles on every video
- Write search-optimized titles for Reels and Shorts
Hashtags, once a social SEO staple, are becoming obsolete. Keywords placed naturally in your content now matter more than blocks of tags.
Strategy #3: Build Private Communities
Public feeds are increasingly cluttered. Instead, users are gravitating toward private, interest-based spaces like:
- Discord servers
- Facebook Groups
- Instagram broadcast channels
These spaces allow brands to:
- Build deeper connections
- Reward loyalty (e.g., giveaways, early access)
- Collect direct feedback
Strategy #4: Embrace Authentic UGC
90% of consumers say authenticity influences their buying decisions. People want to see content from people they trust—not just polished influencer ads.
Ways to bring authenticity to your content:
- Partner with with an agency experienced in niche content for your indutry, not just influencers
- Showcase real customer testimonials
- Highlight team stories and behind-the-scenes moments
Recap: Winning the Engagement Game in 2025
To break through the noise and boost your engagement:
- Quality > Quantity: Don’t post just to post
- Short-form video wins: Especially in episodic formats
- Optimize for social SEO: Think beyond hashtags
- Nurture private communities: Build trust and reward loyalty
- Stay authentic: Real voices build real connections
Social media engagement isn’t dead, but lazy strategies are. By investing in better content and smarter tactics, your brand can still stand out and thrive in 2025 and beyond.
Need Help With Your Organic Strategy?
At L7 Creative, we help brands in Biotech, Life Sciences, Healthcare, Healthtech, and Wellness build social strategies that actually work. From content creation to analytics and SEO, we bring clarity to your chaos.
Let’s talk. Get in touch to build a social media playbook that drives engagement and delivers results.
Resources
- Social Insider. (2025). [What Data Says] Social Media Reach Has a 12% YOY Decrease on Instagram. Social Insider. https://www.socialinsider.io/blog/social-media-reach
- Yans Media. Vertical Video Statistics. Yans Media. https://www.yansmedia.com/blog/vertical-video-statistics#:~:text=90%25%20of%20vertical%20videos%20have,with%20vertical%20branded%20video%20content.
- Social Media Today. (2019) Survey Reveals How Consumers Really Judge Brand Authenticity (and Influencers). Social Media Today. https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/survey-reveals-how-consumers-really-judge-brand-authenticity-and-influence/549038/
