What Does Your Engagement Rate Mean?
Your engagement rate on social media is far more than just a vanity metric — it’s a value metric.
What do we mean by value metric?
If your content is resonating with your audience — meaning it’s the kind of content they want to see and learn about — they’re going to let you know how valuable they find it by engaging with it. Likes, comments, shares, and saves are obvious measures of how valuable your audience finds your content!
What does engagement rate mean — literally?
The literal definition of your engagement rate is simply the percentage of your followers who are actively engaging and interacting with your content. When you look at it from a value perspective, though, your engagement rate can really tell you so much more about your content strategy and your audience!
Does an engagement rate actually matter — if so, why?
If the goal of your social media content is to bring in new clients, make more sales, and grow your business, then yes, your engagement rate really matters.
Why? It’s the clearest way of indicating if your content is accomplishing all that you want it to. Your engagement rate, meaning the number of times that your audience is actively engaging with your content, will tell you exactly how well — or how poorly — your content is converting.
An added plus? The higher the engagement with your content, the more visible it will be. Instagram’s algorithm determines the value of your content based on how much interaction it’s getting from your audience. If they’re liking, commenting, sharing, and saving it, Instagram will denote that it is valuable, and therefore show it on your audience’s feed more!
What is a good engagement rate?
Let’s talk numbers — because when you put your social media profile into an engagement rate calculator you’re likely wondering if it's “good” or “bad.”
It’s important to remember that your engagement rate is relative to your number of followers. Why does that matter? There’s a common misconception that BIG accounts (50k followers or more) should have HUGE engagement rate numbers, and that’s actually not the case.
Bigger accounts tend to have a lower engagement rate, while accounts with smaller followings tend to have a higher number.
So, what should your engagement rate be based on your following?
Up to 1,000 followers: 7.00%
Up to 10,000 followers: 3.00%
Up to 100,000 followers: 2.00%
Up to 1,000,000 followers: 1.75%
Up to 10,000,000 followers: 1.25%
Kim Kardashian has one of the biggest followings on Instagram, and her engagement rate is only 1.06%!
If you want to calculate your engagement rate, we’re big fans of this platform: Influencer Marketing Hub!
Moral of the story: An engaged audience is important for your business for more than just vanity metrics. Of course, it looks great to have a highly engaged audience but it also proves that you: know your audience well, consistently deliver the content they want to see and create a welcoming space for interactions to take place.
Maggie Peikon
Maggie is a Senior Content Creator and Editor at AMR Digital. When she’s not crafting content for clients, she can be found hiking with her pup, Finley, checking out Denver’s best vegan restaurants, and working on her garden. She’s currently planning her next SUP adventure and plotting how to become a goat mom.