Engagement Rate: Definition, How to Measure, and Tips to Increase It!
Engagement rate is of course a term that often comes to mind for many social media users.
As a tool for measuring follower engagement, of course this indicator has various functions for digital marketing purposes.
Here, you will find information about the meaning, benefits, and how to calculate your account's engagement rate. This discussion does not only focus on social media. But it will also discuss audience interaction on your website or blog.
What is Engagement Rate
Engagement rate is a metric used to measure the level of interaction and engagement that an audience has with a particular piece of content or a social media account. It is typically expressed as a percentage and is calculated by dividing the total number of engagements (such as likes, comments, shares, and clicks) by the total number of followers or impressions, and then multiplying by 100.
Engagement rate is often used by marketers and social media managers to assess the effectiveness and popularity of their content or social media campaigns. A higher engagement rate indicates that the content is resonating well with the audience and generating a higher level of interaction, which can lead to increased brand awareness, customer loyalty, and potential conversions.
What is a good engagement rate?
A good engagement rate can vary depending on the platform, industry, and audience size. However, as a general guideline, an engagement rate of 1-3% is considered average, while anything above 3% is considered good.
It's important to note that engagement rates can differ significantly between platforms. For example, Instagram typically has higher engagement rates compared to Facebook or Twitter. Additionally, engagement rates can also vary based on the type of content and the size of your audience.
Ultimately, it's best to compare your engagement rate to your own past performance and industry benchmarks to determine what is considered good for your specific situation.
Instagram engagement rate
On Instagram, the average engagement rate is typically higher compared to other social media platforms. A good engagement rate on Instagram can range from 3-6%. However, it's important to note that engagement rates can vary depending on factors such as the size of your following, the quality of your content, and the level of interaction from your audience.
TikTok engagement rate
On TikTok, the engagement rate is typically higher compared to other social media platforms. The engagement rate on TikTok can vary widely depending on factors such as the number of followers, the quality of content, and the level of interaction from the audience.
Facebook engagement rate
On Facebook, the engagement rate is calculated by dividing the total number of engagements (likes, comments, shares, and clicks) on a post by the total number of people reached, and then multiplying by 100 to get a percentage.
The average engagement rate on Facebook can vary depending on factors such as the industry, the size of the page, and the quality of content. However, a good benchmark for a healthy engagement rate on Facebook is around 1-2%.
This will give you an idea of how well your content is resonating with your audience and how engaged they are with your posts.
Why is the Engagement Rate Important You Pay Attention to?
Apart from being used as a measure of the success of content, engagement rate also serves to increase the effectiveness of the marketing team's performance on social media. Here are other uses for engagement rates created from audience engagement.
1. Assessing the user experience
For each content or website post on a published platform, the engagement rate can indicate the user's level of interest in each content. If the engagement rate of published content is not good, then there are several elements of the user experience that must be improved.
User experience elements include:
User needs
User needs are the goals of products that come from outside the organization or company, namely the users/audiences who will use your product. You have to know what users want from your product and how well it meets the goals of the product.
Product objectives
Product objectives are goals that come from within the organization or company, namely in the form of business goals such as the company's revenue target, target conversion rate, and others.
Functional specifications
Functional specifications are descriptions of a set of features that will be in the product, for example food ordering features, cart features, payment features, and so on.
Content requirements
Content requirements are descriptions of a set of content elements that will be in the product, for example maps, videos, images, illustrations, icons, buttons, and so on.
Interaction design
Interaction design is how the system responds to what the user does. In essence, you will create a user flow/task flow that the user will go through from the start of using the product to the end (until the user's goals are met).
Information architecture
Information architecture is content arrangement to assist users in understanding the information displayed on the product. These contents will be grouped into several categories or menus.
2. Monitor campaign effectiveness
Engagement rate can be an indicator of the effectiveness of a marketing campaign. Because, you can find out how much the audience is involved and makes purchases. So, if the engagement rate is still low, chances are the campaign is less attractive. Whether it's in terms of content, media used, or other factors. So, you can better evaluate and improve campaign content.
3. Monitoring competitor performance
Apart from checking the performance of your personal account or website, you can also monitor competitor performance through engagement rates. To be able to find out your competitors' engagement rates, you can use analysis tools like SocialBlade. For example, if you want to see the engagement rate of a competitor's Instagram account, you only need to write the competitor's account in the search field. As a result, you will see data starting from the number of posts, followers, following, engagement rate, even the average likes and comments.
If your competitor's engagement rate is good, you can imitate their marketing strategy. For example, competitors offer free e-books to get leads quickly. Well, you can also imitate this strategy and make it more interesting.
To be able to find out your competitors' social media engagement rates , you can use analysis tools like SocialBlade.
For example, if you want to see the engagement rate of a competitor's Instagram account, just write the competitor's account in the search field. As a result, you will see data starting from the number of posts, followers, following, engagement rate, even the average likes and comments.
To check the engagement rate of competitors' websites , you can try using the tools from Similarweb. Just like SocialBlade, just enter the URL of the website you want to know then enter.
Factors Affecting Engagement Rate
Engagement rate is influenced by many factors, and some of them are:
1. Content Quality
Content quality is the most significant factor affecting engagement rate. For example, audiences will be more likely to choose to interact with high-quality content that is entertaining, inspiring, educational, or persuasive.
When content is of high quality, audiences tend to show interest by sharing and commenting, or liking, which can increase brand reach and visibility on social media.
2. Content Relevance
Content creation also needs to consider the interests of the audience. Instead, content is made according to what the audience is interested in. Learn topics that are close to their daily lives.
Inserting elements from everyday life can make content that contains serious discussions light and easy to enjoy.
That way, it's easier for a brand to build connections and show that its business can understand the needs and interests of its audience.
When content is relevant to the audience, it is very possible for them to be interested and share that content with others.
3. Posting Times
Post timing is very important because it can affect the visibility of the content or when the audience sees it.
It's best to schedule content at the optimal time, when your audience is most active and online. With effective scheduling, a business can increase the possibility of content being viewed so that the engagement rate also increases.
4. Call-to-Action (CTA)
A CTA is an invitation for the audience to take an action, such as clicking a link or making a purchase. Effective CTA is very important for increasing engagement rates because it encourages the audience to actively engage with the content.
The CTAs that are created can take many forms, from questions to the audience to requests for feedback. By including CTA in the content, the audience will have a clear direction on what to do next.
5. Post consistency
Posting content regularly keeps the audience, especially followers, interested and shows that a business is actively creating content. This can help build a strong relationship with the audience so that the engagement rate increases over time.
Apart from that, consistent posting can also increase visibility on social media platforms. Content that is posted regularly will increase the chances of it appearing in your audience's feed, resulting in more engagement with that content.
So, if a business wants to build a strong online presence and engagement rate, it's important to create a consistent posting schedule.
Engagement rate best practices
Here are some best practices to improve your engagement rate:
- Create high-quality content: Focus on creating content that is visually appealing, informative, entertaining, or valuable to your audience. This will encourage them to engage with your posts.
- Know your audience: Understand your target audience's preferences, interests, and needs. Tailor your content to resonate with them and provide value.
- Be consistent: Regularly post content to keep your audience engaged and interested. Consistency helps build trust and loyalty among your followers.
- Encourage interaction: Prompt your audience to engage with your content by asking questions, running polls, or requesting their opinions. Respond to comments and messages promptly to foster a sense of community.
- Use hashtags strategically: Research and use relevant hashtags to increase the visibility of your posts. This can help attract new followers and increase engagement.
- Collaborate with influencers or other brands: Partnering with influencers or collaborating with other brands can expose your content to a wider audience and boost engagement.
- Analyze and optimize: Regularly analyze your engagement metrics to identify what content performs well and what doesn't. Use this data to refine your content strategy and optimize for better engagement.
Remember, engagement rate can vary across different platforms and industries. It's essential to monitor your specific metrics and adjust your strategies accordingly.
How to Calculate Engagement Rate
How to measure engagement rate can be done through several matrices including likes, comments, and shares. But on some platforms, the matrix varies greatly, depending on what platform is used to publish a content. The following are several ways that can be used to measure engagement rates on social media.
How to Calculate Social Media Engagement Rate
On social media, the calculation of the post engagement rate will be easier to see. Because, every interaction made by followers is considered as an indicator of engagement rate. Like likes, comments, and shares.
1. Engagement rate by reach
The calculation of the engagement rate matrix based on the number of reaches is done through research on the number of reaches, not just the number of followers. Because what is meant by reach is the total number of people who have seen your content.
This formula is the most common way to calculate audience engagement with content. Here's how to calculate engagement rate based on reach.
ERR (engagement rate reach) = engagements per post / reach per post x 100
Average ERR (engagement rate reach) = total ERR / total posts
2. Engagement rate by impression
The second calculation is a matrix calculation based on impressions. What is meant by impressions is the number of times your content or advertisement has appeared on the screen, whether you get clicks or not. The following is how to calculate engagement by impression.
ER impressions = total engagement on a post / total impressions x 100
Average ER impressions = total Impressions / total posts
3. Engagement rate by post
Technically, this formula measures follower engagement on each post. In other words, you can use the engagement rate calculation based on posts if your social media has quite fluctuating post reach numbers. By dividing through the number of followers, the engagement rate value will be more stable later.
However, this calculation will not affect the engagement rate on viral posts with a higher reach. The following is the formula used to measure engagement rate by post.
ER posts = total engagements on a post / total followers x 100
Average ER by post = total ER by post / total posts
4. Engagement rate by view
The calculated value based on views is very suitable if your brand or brand is the main content in achieving engagement. Please note that views are different from unique views. That means, the 1000 views you get could have come from 300 users who watched it repeatedly.
The following is the calculation formula for calculating engagement rate by view.
ER views = total engagements on video posts / total video views x 100
Average ER views = total ER views / total posts
How to Calculate Website Engagement Rate
Apart from social media, you can also calculate the engagement rate of your website. The calculation formula is almost the same, namely:
Website engagement rate formula:
Engagement Rate (%) = (Engaged Users / Total audience ) x 100
To measure engaged website users, you need to first determine the purpose of the website page.
For example, you have a blog article that aims to get subscribers. So, it means that the measurement of engaged users is the number of visitors who subscribe after reading the article divided by the total visitors who read the article.
In addition to the methods above, there are actually metrics to measure engagement based on time. Here are the measurement metrics:
- Average Visit Duration – the percentage of time a visit to your website
- Average Pages/Visit – percentage of visit time per page
- Bounce Rate – the percentage of visitors who leave the page without interaction
Well, you can see all the percentages of time above through Google Analytics. All you have to do is open the Audience > Behavior > Session Quality menu.