Engagement rate
Also called ER, engagement rate formula
What is engagement rate?
Engagement rate is a social media metric that shows how many people interacted with content compared with how many could have. It is usually calculated as total engagements (likes, comments, shares, saves) divided by reach, impressions or follower count, then multiplied by 100 to give a percentage that compares posts and accounts.
There is no single standard formula, which is why engagement rates from different tools often disagree. Dividing by reach shows how engaging a post was for the people who actually saw it. Dividing by followers is easier to compare between accounts, because follower counts are public. Dividing by impressions gives a lower number, because one person can see a post several times.
Engagement rate tends to fall as accounts grow, so a small account with a high rate and a large account with a lower one can both be healthy. Compare an account mainly against its own past results.
Why engagement rate matters
Engagement rate tells you whether content is working, independent of how big your audience is. It is the fairest way to compare one post with another and to spot which topics and formats your audience prefers.
Brands also use it to judge creators. In influencer marketing, a creator's engagement rate is often a better guide to their real influence than follower count.
How to calculate engagement rate
- Add up the engagements on a post: likes, comments, shares and saves.
- Pick a denominator and stick to it: reach (most common for your own posts) or followers (for comparing accounts).
- Divide engagements by that number.
- Multiply by 100 to get a percentage.
- Average it over many posts before drawing conclusions.
Engagement rate example
Engagement rate by reach = (likes + comments + shares + saves) / reach x 100
Example: (180 + 22 + 15 + 33) / 5,000 x 100 = 5%Engagement rate FAQ
What is a good engagement rate?
It depends on the platform, the formula and the account size. Rather than chasing a published benchmark, track your own average and aim to beat it over time.
Should I calculate engagement rate by reach or by followers?
Use reach for your own posts, because it measures the people who actually saw them. Use followers when comparing accounts, since you cannot see other accounts' reach.
Related terms
Engagement is how people interact with a post: likes, comments, shares, saves, replies and clicks. It shows content is landing, not just being seen.
Reach is the number of unique people who saw a post or ad at least once. Impressions count every view, including repeats.
Impressions are the total number of times content was shown on screen, counting repeat views by the same person. Reach counts people.
Influencer marketing is paying or partnering with creators who have an engaged audience to promote a product in their own content and voice.
A social media audit reviews every social profile, its content and its results to see what works, what does not and what to change.
Click-through rate (CTR) is the percentage of people who click a link, ad or button after seeing it: clicks divided by impressions.