Optimizing Social Media Campaigns Through Engagement Topology and Behavioral Clustering

Abstract

Social media engagement drives both individual behavior and content dissemination, yet traditional analytics often reduce interactions to simple counts, obscuring the complex structures underlying user activity. In the highly competitive digital landscape, understanding how users interact with content is crucial for businesses aiming to optimize social media campaigns and maximize return on investment (ROI). Traditional engagement metrics, such as likes and shares, fail to capture the underlying structure and dynamics of user behavior. This study investigates the latent patterns of engagement by combining topological data analysis (TDA) with behavioral clustering across 100,000 posts on multiple platforms. Using persistent homology and k-nearest neighbour graphs, we reveal a primary bifurcation between Active (validation-focused) and Passive (consumption/propagation) users, nested four-strain substructures, and over 650 significant H1 loops indicating recurring feedback cycles. Active users exhibit strong cluster cohesion and high engagement rates, while Passive users contribute broadly to content diffusion with slightly higher loop counts, highlighting distinct functional roles in social media dynamics. These findings provide a principled framework for targeting content, reinforcing feedback loops, and leveraging hub posts to amplify engagement. By linking topological structure to behavioral patterns, this work advances both the theoretical understanding of digital interaction and the practical design of more effective social media campaigns.