Growing your organization’s social media presence these days is kind of like running an marathon that turns out to be a triathlon. You may have had a pretty good idea of what to expect when you got started, but now the terrain keeps changing.
Boy, I hope you know how to swim.
Also did you bring your bike?
With all the ways that the algorithms change, it’s no surprise that the way people use our favorite platforms has changed drastically since their initial heyday in the late aughties.
According to the Rival IQ Social Media Benchmark 2025 and the 2025 LinkedIn Benchmarks from Social Insider, there are a few big takeaways from the 2024 data:
Every platform except LinkedIn took a hit when it comes to user engagement.
- Facebook 0.046% (36% lower than 2023)
- Instagram 0.36% (16% lower than 2023)
- TikTok 1.73% (34% lower than 2023)
- X/Twitter 0.015% (48% lower than 2023)
- LinkedIn 5.0% (30% higher than 2023)
Multi-image posts perform best
- Carousels outperformed Reels and single image posts on Instagram.
- Multi-image posts on LinkedIn had the highest engagement rate (6.6%) of all post types with Native Documents (also often multi-page) in second place at 6.1%.
And, yes, you’re reading that correctly.
The engagement rate for LinkedIn is at 5%, which Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are mere fractions of a percent.
Like I said previously, if you’re not active on LinkedIn… let this be your wake-up call.
Here’s a graph from Social Insider that shows the engagement rate for each post type:
But don’t give up on your social media staples just yet—nonprofit organizations saw better engagement than any other industry of every platform except TikTok (where nonprofits were in 2nd place).
Your best bets for highest engagement as a nonprofit on social media in 2025 are:
- Strategic Hashtags. Use event-themed and holiday hashtags (top performers across all industries) to help followers find your content.
- Specialized Content. Investing in the post types that resonate on each platform.
- Carousels on Instagram
- Videos on X
- Image posts on Facebook
- Multi-image and native document posts on LinkedIn at any follower count (if you have 50k+ followers, strategic use of polls can be exponentially more engaging than any other content type).
Need help with social media strategy? Here are some resources:
8 Ways to Grow Your Nonprofit’s Following on Social Media from Nonprofit Tech for Good
How to Build Your Nonprofit Presence on LinkedIn from LinkedIn Nonprofits
- How to Use LinkedIn to Grow Your Nonprofit and Increase Awareness from DonorBox
Now available at Amazon! Check out my ebook How to Choose the Right Graphic Designer for Your Nonprofit for practical tips to help you and your team to craft the creative team that your organization needs to thrive!
