Update: a guy in a Denver discord call said 'just post more' and I finally get why that advice is trash
Last week I was in a voice chat with a small group of creators and one guy kept saying the answer to low reach is just posting 3x a day. I ran that for 14 days straight on my own page and watch time dropped from 42 seconds to 19 seconds. The app did not reward volume, it just fed my stuff to fewer people once my first hour tanked. What actually moved the needle was replying to the first 20 comments within 10 minutes, two posts a week, same time slot. So no, posting more is not the cheat code, it just buries your good stuff next to your lazy stuff. Has anyone here tested posting less but showing up in comments way more, and did it actually help your reach?
Posting more can work if the extra posts are actually good. Sounds like your drop was a quality thing not a volume thing. I post daily and my watch time holds steady, so the 3x a day advice isn't totally wrong.