Meta enjoys record adspend while TikTok faces 39% engagement decline

In terms of paid advertising, both Instagram and Facebook enjoyed record-breaking levels of adspend during the last quarter of 2023.

Notably, ads are becoming increasingly more affordable on X, with cost-per-click (CPC) and cost-per-thousand (CPM) steadily decreasing between 2022 and 2023. X experienced a 22% CPC drop midway through the year and by Q4 2023, they cost less than half what they were in Q2 2022.

For Facebook, CPCs and CPMs have remained consistent throughout the same time period. When analysing click-through rates (CTRs), Facebook delivered the highest CTRs, followed by X and Instagram respectively.

Instagram main feed ads represented the highest CPCs, but also led to a sizable increase in CTRs. In Q4 2023, ads on Instagram’s main feed saw a 24% increase in CTRs from the previous quarter, and respectively, ads on stories had a 22% increase.

Ohad Hecht, CEO at Emplifi, said: “It is such an interesting time for social media marketers and advertisers. The number of tools available to create social content has increased accessibility for a wider variety of brands.

“While the cost to produce high-performing posts has never been as affordable – generative AI being one of the forces driving productivity enhancements with a reduction to cost. As engagement trends are shifting, it makes it difficult to know where to allocate social media marketing budgets.”

'Social media marketers must be flexible and take an agile approach'

Hecht continued: “Marketers need all the insights they can get to create strategic campaigns that deliver measurable outcomes. Because brands rely on social media marketing to bridge the gap between their biggest marketing, commerce, and customer care goals, the insights we’ve uncovered will help social media marketers fine-tune their strategies as they adjust to rapid changes in engagement across multiple social platforms.

“The biggest takeaway from our research is that social media marketers must be flexible and take an agile approach to their social media strategies for both organic and paid campaigns. Social channels – and user engagement on each – continues to evolve. It’s imperative that your social media strategy evolves right along with the platforms and that your content choices align with the content formats that are winning the most engagement. It’s the fast path to social media marketing success.”