Losing reach is not the same as losing customers

Two corners of the 2025 data make a point that applies everywhere.

On Pinterest, impressions fell 59% and interactions fell 48%, yet engagement rate rose 26%. Fewer people saw each pin, but the ones who did were more likely to act. Accounts were reaching a smaller audience that was more tuned in.

On X, only one account size grew its impressions in 2025: mid-sized accounts, up 9%. The reason was that their interactions rose 68%. Small accounts saw interactions fall 15% and impressions fall 22%. Large accounts grew interactions 9% and still lost 17% of their impressions. The order has reversed. Reaction now precedes reach, not the other way round.

Both stories describe platforms that have stopped rewarding volume and started rewarding response.

What it means for a South African business

Reach is the number most business owners look at first, and it is now the least useful one. It measures how crowded the platform is more than how well you are doing. A post that reaches 800 people and produces four comments and one enquiry is doing better work than a post that reaches 4,000 and produces nothing, and on most platforms the first post will out-reach the second over time, because the algorithm saw the comments.

The honest caveat is that on Pinterest, external clicks fell 77%, so a more engaged audience is not automatically a more clicking one. Response inside the platform and action outside it are separate things and both need watching.

What we’d do

Change the number that gets reported. Comments per thousand reached. Saves. Shares. Enquiries. Then brief every piece of content against a single question: what would someone reply to this? If there is no answer, the post is not ready.

Data: 2026 Social Media Study, 39.7 million posts across 1.06 million business accounts, 2025 compared with 2024.