Adults are using the internet to find love in greater numbers than ever before. Young adults’ use of online dating has nearly tripled since 2013, with 15% of all American adults trying it out. Around Valentine’s Day, these dating sites and applications see an increase in traffic, as well as an increase in participation and new members.
With those new numbers in mind, we decided to look at how the most successful matchmaking sites performed on social media. From January 15th to February 15th, 2017, we used Spike to examine their social media content on Facebook and Instagram. For Facebook, we combined likes, shares, and comments, and for Instagram, we combined likes and comments.
With 90,000 cumulative likes, shares, and comments, Tinder was our Facebook champion for total interaction. With 6,000 comments, Zoosk received the most.
In the last two weeks, Lots Of Tuna, BlackPeopleMeet, and Coffee Meets Bagel have been missing from Facebook. With 61 entries, eHarmony had the most content, and the average amount of content posted was 18, except for the three pages that didn’t publish anything.
What can we learn from this Valentine’s season’s best content?
Tongue-In-Cheek
Tinder’s best material in the lead-up to Valentine’s Day was simply a self-deprecating joke on their Instagram account.
The article was liked 50,268 times, shared 7,600 times, and received 2,400 comments. It used a text-photo about a romantic situation that was uncomfortable. The article was sarcastically satirical and illustrated Tinder’s user base’s camaraderie. Those who commented on the post on Facebook mainly were tagging their fellow Casanova want tobes.
During the lead-up to Valentine’s Day, Zoosk, a dating site with 35 million global users, got the most cumulative Facebook comments. Their most famous post had a similar sense of humor to Tinder.
Over 3,000 likes, 750 shares, and 585 comments were left on the Facebook thread, with people commiserating, offering love advice, and searching for romance.
They took a more nuanced approach than Tinder, including posting success stories (534 comments) and reflecting on unofficial holidays such as Friends Day (468 comments).
Video Media
We’re keeping an eye on how marketers are using video this year, and only 11 of the 159 posts by dating sites and apps were video media.
President Barack Obama telling Ellen Degeneres that Michelle Obama was his Valentine was the most engaging video, according to Zoosk. It got almost 2,000 likes, 300 shares, and 300 comments.
Another video that received a lot of attention merged two strategies: marketing and emerging technology adoption. eHarmony held a Facebook Live contest in which users could win $500 for sharing their best date tale. Facebook Live videos instill a sense of urgency in viewers and allow them to comment in real-time.
Instagram Engagement
Coffee Meets Bagel had the most Instagram interaction, narrowly beating out Badoo, despite not being on Facebook. Coffee Meets Bagel is a unique dating app in that it allows users to make just one Match every day, focusing on quality over quantity. It’s the polar opposite of Tinder, our Facebook champion.
Grindr didn’t post anything to Instagram during this period, and neither BlackPeopleMeet nor ChristianMingle had Instagram accounts.
During this time, the total number of Instagram posts published was 11.
Read Also: Dating Section on Facebook | Facebook Dating App Download
Contests Get Hearts All Aflutter
Coffee Meets Bagel, like eHarmony, saw a lot of interest in a contest they ran on Facebook. They auctioned off a date with @doctor.mike, an internet-famous (and gorgeous) doctor, in true rom-com form.
There were 571 likes and 322 comments on the top post, which revealed the lucky winner. The contest raised over $91,000 for the Infinite Tomorrow Foundation as part of a fundraiser. Coffee Meets Bagel was able to gain success by working with an influencer and a good cause.
Aspiration and Humor
On Instagram, there are a few voices that attract a lot of coverage. Our second and third top Instagram contenders, Badoo and Tinder, each have one of these voices on their pages.
After recently acquiring LuLu, an app that enables women to rate men, Badoo, a London-based dating platform anonymously, has been on the rise. Their best Instagram post and overall tone appeal to the platform’s aspirational user base. It depicts an artsy couple kissing on a fall day on a deserted street. Over 600 people liked the picture.
Like their voice on Facebook, Tinder’s best Instagram post poked fun at Valentine’s Day and commiserated with their audience. It was a regram from another user, which can help increase engagement among that user’s followers, especially since the user they chose has a similar following.
Read: Don’t Follow Or Friend The Person You’re Dating On Social Media — It Makes All The Difference
The Fairest of Them All
The top players’ methods didn’t differ all that much across Instagram and Facebook, but the top players did. The newer dating sites ruled Instagram, while eHarmony and Match remained at the top of the Facebook charts.
Niche dating websites ranked near the bottom of the list. Surprisingly, OkCupid, which caters to Millennials and publishes visually appealing sociological studies, had a low engagement as well.
We’ve had success with competitions and promotions in the past, with Coffee Meets Bagel, eHarmony, Christian Mingle, and Match earning many likes and comments.
Dating apps are now wooing new social media fans. On Valentine’s Day, Tinder, our Facebook champion, also released a Snapchat filter that enabled users to mark themselves or others as “Swipe Right Content.”