Should Your Organization Leave X for Bluesky? A Guide to Navigating Your Decision

You’ve probably seen countless industry outlets hype up Bluesky’s rapid growth. Despite its creation in 2022, the platform has an influx of new users post-election due to the continued political and social concerns around X (formerly known as Twitter).

Several clients have asked us if they should jump ship to BlueSky. Our answer?

“Maybe, but remember Google+ or Clubhouse?”

We’ve seen this story before: A new social platform gains steam, and communications professionals panic, thinking they must quickly change their social media strategy. Sometimes, things work out, and TikTok is a prime example. That said, it’s okay to take a beat (or advise your colleagues) and make an informed decision.

How to assess if it is time to jump ship

Our counsel holds against the test of time; if you are wondering whether you should leave X and join BlueSky, consider the following factors to help inform your decision:

Follow your target audiences

Social media strategy should be centered around your target audiences, so follow them wherever they go. Whether you are an association, nonprofit, healthcare organization or government agency, you probably know where your target audiences are engaged. Many of our healthcare association clients’ members haven’t yet made the full jump to BlueSky because the conversation is still alive on X. Our nonprofit and advocacy clients still need to engage legislators whose staff are active on X, too. On the other hand, the health and science community has signs of mass migration to Bluesky. It is essential to stay engaged and poll your audiences to assess where they are and follow them to that destination if it has changed.

Analytics

Check your platform analytics if you’re unsure where your target audiences are. If you’re not receiving regular reports about your social media performance, request one from your social media manager or firm before deciding to abandon X. At PCI, we share monthly reports with our clients to help them stay abreast of trends. While reviewing X’s analytics, look at these metrics to determine if a platform shift is warranted:

• Engagement rate: the number of clicks, shares, likes/reactions and anything you can do to a social media platform divided by the number of impressions or followers. This is the most important metric we track at PCI because it tells us if people are actually doing something with your content. If you see a notable dip in engagement rate over the last few months, this could indicate that your social media presence is not performing at its peak (or may require a content strategy shift entirely).
• Followers and impressions: Most organizations track followers, but followers are not the best measurement of success as fewer folks follow brands on social media channels. So, check your followers and impressions or views (the total times your content is displayed to someone); if both metrics have seen sharp declines over the last few months, your target audiences have likely abandoned the platform.

When in doubt, test it out

At the minimum, it is okay to put your flag into the ground and test things out: You lose nothing by claiming your profile and, if time allows, starting to repurpose some of the content you share on X or other platforms to see if your audiences flow into the platform and engage with your posts. You might just become an early brand favorite on the platform! And if your engagements don’t kick off within a few months, it is okay to pivot and experiment on other emerging platforms, like Threads.

At the end of the day, we give you this counsel so that you can make the decision that makes the most sense for your organization. We never tell our clients they “have” to join or leave a new network. We hope you consider the factors above as you plan your 2025 social media strategy.

Need more help? Let’s talk – email me at mqueroz@pcipr.com.

Michael Queroz
Senior Vice President, Digital
Public Communications Inc.