Replying to Comments Can Increase Engagement by 5–42% on These Major Platforms
Marketers believe their content isn’t performing because they need better ideas, more videos, or bigger budgets. The reality is much simpler. Your audience is already talking to you in your comments, and every missed reply is a missed opportunity for stronger engagement, deeper connection, and better reach
Across major social platforms, the data is surprisingly clear.
When brands consistently reply to their comments, engagement can jump anywhere from 5 to 42 percent.
Not because the algorithm suddenly falls in love with you, but because conversations keep content alive longer, signal relevance, and make people feel seen.
If you’re a modern marketer or building a brand in today’s noisy digital world, this is one of the easiest wins you’re ignoring. Every comment is a door your audience opens. When you reply, you’re simply stepping through and continuing the conversation. When you don’t, the door quietly closes and the connection fades.
Let’s break down why replying matters so much and how it impacts your engagement more than most content tweaks ever will.
How replying to comments actually impacts engagement
Before breaking things down platform by platform, here’s the overall picture from the research. Across nearly two million posts and hundreds of thousands of accounts, one pattern kept showing up: posts where creators or brands reply to their comments consistently outperform posts where they stay silent. The lift isn’t tiny either. It ranges from a modest bump to a dramatic spike, depending on the platform.
Here’s how the engagement increase looks when posts include replied-to comments:
Platform and Engagement increase compared to normal posts
- Threads → +42%
- LinkedIn → +30%
- Instagram → +21%
- Facebook → +9%
- Twitter/X → +8%
- Bluesky → +5%
Now let’s look at each platform more closely and understand why the impact isn’t the same everywhere.
Breaking it down platform by platform
Instagram showed a clear pattern: posts where creators replied to comments performed noticeably better. On average, engagement was about 21% higher whenever the creator returned to continue the conversation.
This wasn’t a one-off effect. When comparing each account to its own usual performance, posts with replied-to comments consistently landed above their baseline, while posts left unanswered tended to fall slightly below it. A majority of profiles followed this same trend, making the impact steady across different niches and styles.
Instagram’s design naturally pushes viewers back into comment threads, so every reply helps keep the post active for longer, increases dwell time, and signals ongoing relevance to the algorithm.
Facebook’s lift was smaller but still meaningful. Posts where creators replied saw an average 9% increase in engagement.
Because Facebook has a more mature and slower-moving ecosystem, even a single-digit bump across such a large set of posts becomes significant. The pattern stayed consistent when measured against each account’s typical engagement levels. Just over half of the pages performed better when they replied compared to when they didn’t.
On a platform where conversation threads often spread quietly through notifications and shares, even small interactions help extend a post’s life.
Threads
Threads showed the strongest effect of all the platforms. Posts with replied-to comments saw an impressive 42% increase in engagement.
Threads is built around conversation-first interactions, and replies carry almost the same visual weight as original posts. That design choice encourages active back-and-forth discussion, which naturally boosts visibility and engagement.
When comparing posts within the same account, the difference was dramatic. A large portion of profiles saw substantially higher performance whenever they participated in their own comment section.
LinkedIn came in next with about a 30% lift in engagement for posts where creators responded to comments.
The effect held steady even when accounting for whether the post had comments in the first place. Replies tend to spark longer, professional discussions, which pushes the post into more feeds and increases reach. Most profiles benefited from this pattern, showing a strong correlation between active comment conversations and improved performance.
LinkedIn’s algorithm often rewards meaningful exchanges, so replying doesn’t just help your current post—it can also increase profile visibility to new audiences.
Twitter/X
On Twitter/X, the effect was more modest but still present. Posts where creators replied to comments saw around an 8% increase in engagement.
Although the sample of posts with replies was smaller compared to other platforms, the overall direction remained consistent: replied-to posts tended to perform slightly better than each account’s usual engagement levels. About half of the profiles showed improvement when they interacted in the replies.
Given how fast content moves on X, even small boosts help keep posts circulating a little longer.
Bluesky
Bluesky is still developing, and the dataset was smaller, but the pattern followed the same direction. Posts with replies saw about a 5% uplift in engagement.
The effect wasn’t as large as on other platforms, likely due to Bluesky’s early-stage growth and smaller audience sizes, but the consistency is notable. Posts with creator replies generally sat above the account’s average engagement, even if the margin was slim.
No matter which platform you look at, one thing becomes impossible to ignore. Posts where creators show up in the comments consistently perform better than posts left unanswered.
The numbers vary from place to place, but the direction is the same everywhere. Engagement grows when conversations keep going.
Need help with boosting your social media reach?
Keeping up with content and conversations isn’t always simple, and we get that.
As one of the leading social media marketing experts, we at Ingenious Netsoft help brands grow on social media. From planning and creating posts to running campaigns, managing comments, and tracking what actually performs, our social media marketing experts bring the experience needed to strengthen and maximize your social presence.
If you ever want to understand what it might look like for your brand, you can reach out for a free quote & we’ll walk you through everything at your pace.
