Engagement rate

Additions, clarifications, extended definition

Engagement rate is one of the most widely used social media metrics, because it allows content performance to be compared regardless of audience size. Engagement includes various forms of interaction – reactions, comments, shares, saves, clicks, and possibly video views depending on the chosen methodology. The basic logic of the metric is always the same: how many people responded relative to how many people the content reached. In practice, however, different calculation variants are used – ER by reach, by impressions, or by follower count.

Interpretation

This is a performance metric showing how attractive and relevant the content was to the audience. A high engagement rate signals that the content caught users' attention and motivated them to act; a low rate may mean the content was overlooked, unappealing or poorly targeted.

Watch out: limits and risks of distortion

• Beware of the different calculation methodologies – ER can be calculated by reach, impressions or followers, so the results differ. It may also count different metrics among the interactions. Bear this in mind when comparing ER results and when interpreting them.
• Accounts with fewer followers or lower reach naturally tend to have a higher ER than large profiles.
• Not all interactions carry the same weight. A reaction (like) has a different value than a comment or a share, yet they are usually added together in ER.
• ER should not be compared much between networks. ER works well within a single platform, less so across platforms, since a "good" ER has a different value on different networks.

Where and how to measure

• The networks' native analytics (Instagram Insights, Meta Business Suite, TikTok Analytics, LinkedIn Analytics etc.), based on the individual input metrics needed to calculate ER.
• The data can also be tracked via third-party tools, e.g. Emplifi, Brandwatch, Hootsuite etc.