How to Calculate Social Media Engagement Rate: Your Quick Guide

Calculating social media engagement is a popular way for social media managers to understand how well they're connecting with audiences.

This guide will explain how to calculate your social media engagement rate using different formulas, and what to do with those numbers once you have them.

Learning about this will help you improve your reporting and overall social media strategy.

What is engagement rate and why is it important?

Engagement rate is a calculation that helps you better understand how well your social media content is resonating with your audience.

It takes into account total engagements (the sum of interactions such as likes, comments, and shares).

It’s a metric that is crucial whether you’re a micro-influencer or a big brand, in order to effectively manage your online presence. After all, it takes more than simply tracking your follower count to understand how your content is resonating. 

For instance, you could have a high follower count but your engagement rate may be very low. What use are followers if they’re not engaged? If you want to learn more, here’s a deeper look at social media engagement.

When you calculate your engagement rate on individual posts, you get a better understanding of what social media content works best for your brand. It’s essential to know this when developing a strategy for creating content that your audience wants to see.

Another reason it's important is that it enables you to make decisions based on data, by comparing your content performance with industry standards. It’s important, though, that you set clear social media goals for an accurate measurement of engagement, so you can align the data with your ambitions.

Different ways to measure engagement rate

As we've established, engagement rate is an important part of assessing your social media performance. You might also look at average engagement rates across your industry.

That said, there are a few different ways to measure it, and you should keep that in mind – especially if you're using different social media management tools or native platforms to look at this metric.

You may not always be looking at "apples to apples" comparisons.

Common engagement rate formulas

Each formula is tailored to different goals and may lend itself to different social media sites. 

Engagement rate by followers (ER post)

This is a popular formula that calculates engagement using your followers as the baseline, with 'total engagement divided by total followers' being a crucial part of the formula.

ER Post = (Total Engagements / Total Followers) x 100%

This means that if a post was to receive 80 likes and 20 comments (engagement = 100), and the account has 5,000 followers, then:

ER Post = (100 / 5,000) x 100% = 2%

This method is practical if you want to understand the average engagement per post, which makes it popular within influencer marketing on Instagram and TikTok. It’s also a great metric for LinkedIn as users tend to interact closely with their network of followers.

Engagement rate by reach (ERR)

Not every follower will see a post, which is partly down to algorithm factors.

The ERR metric is particularly good for Instagram and X where the algorithm gives you similar content from accounts you don’t follow. As a brand, high reach is often what you’re aspiring to achieve.

The formula goes:

ERR = (Total Engagements / Reach) x 100%

Want to know more? Take a look at our guide to reach vs impressions.

Engagement rate by impressions

If you are a brand that uses paid ads and promotions then impressions are key. Impressions are the number of times your ad has been seen.

ER Impressions = (Total Engagements / Total Impressions) x 100%

This metric carries a lot of value on sites like TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and X, where reposts and replies are frequent.

A user who sees the same post multiple times may be less likely to engage with it multiple times, which impacts the engagement metrics. Impressions can count as multiple views from one person, so this rate may seem lower when compared to calculating engagement by followers.

Additional variations

Daily Engagement Rate

Daily ER = (Total Daily Engagements / Total Followers) x 100%

This is a great metric for those studying the effectiveness of a new content strategy on a day-to-day basis.

Cost Per Engagement (CPE)

CPE = (Total Amount Spent / Total Engagements)

Your ad strategy will benefit from knowing your CPE, as you can set spending limits and test various content types to find the right fit.

Ultimately, whichever engagement rate formula you choose, consistency is key for tracking trends over time.

Step-by-step guide: How to calculate engagement rate

No matter which formula you choose, there are some simple steps you should take to calculate engagement rate for your social media:

1. Gather your data

Firstly, you need to gather data. This shouldn’t take too long if you use software like Brandwatch, which enables you to gather data from across social media.

• Gather total engagements (likes, comments, shares, etc.), on all of your posts.
• Note your total followers.
• Record the number of views earned on video.
• Run competitor analysis and gather data on competing brands. 

2. Choose the right formula

Understand the formula most appropriate to you by referring to your social media strategy. Consider what you’re trying to achieve and how knowing your engagement rate might help.

• Engagement rate by followers is the most straightforward approach.
• Use ERR if you’re looking at data on new audiences and non-followers, as well as your competitors.
• With paid ads, use engagement rate by impressions. 

3. Do your calculations

Calculate engagement rate across your chosen social media sites and analyze the results.

• You could choose to split your results per social media site or gather it all together to come up with an overarching brand engagement rate.
• You can also assess posts of the same type, style, message, or campaign. You might find videos from your first marketing campaign still get more engagement than your latest efforts.
• Use a tool like Brandwatch to analyze your data. 

4. Track performance

Track performance over time using software from Brandwatch as your guide.

• Use social media analytics tools when tracking metrics in real-time and identify trends.
• A good engagement rate depends on your brand and your industry. The aim is to make improvements over time and reach your goals, which is why data tracking is so important.

Tools to automate engagement rate calculation

Manual calculations are possible using a free engagement rate calculator or a simple spreadsheet, but using a comprehensive social media analytics tool that automates calculations will save time and eradicate human errors.

These tools – such as Brandwatch – pull data like followers, total engagements, and impressions from social media sites, and instantly calculate engagement rates.

Automating this process not only saves time but also streamlines your social media management, giving you more time to strategize and compare your data against industry competitors.

What good engagement looks like

Understanding what makes a good engagement rate depends on various factors. What’s good for you might not be good for a different brand. A lot of it is about your current context and where you want to end up. If you have a small presence on social media but intend to significantly grow it, then you have to accept that you might have low engagement at the start. 

A big thing to consider is platform variation. Engagement rates differ across multiple social media platforms. A good engagement rate on TikTok might not look the same on Facebook, for instance.

Then you have your audience size to consider – it's possible for smaller accounts to see higher engagement rates. Micro-influencers and local businesses need to be aware that growing follower numbers doesn’t guarantee an improved rate of engagement, even if overall engagement goes up.

Your content type and posting frequency will also come into play. How effective your social media content is depends on how often you're posting and, importantly, how consistent your posting is. Social media users like what they like and their algorithm feeds more of the same content. So, if you find a style that works, it’s worth doing it again and again.

Using engagement rate to refine your social media strategy

When you’re confident and comfortable with calculating your engagement rates, and have clear goals, you can begin to use these insights to improve your strategy.

Assess your data and consider what content produces the highest engagement. Set that as your benchmark for creative inspiration. Explore our collection of social media post ideas for more insight.

Remember to schedule posts depending on when your audience is most active. This will ultimately boost your engagement.

You can also go deeper with your analysis, looking at platform-specific data that will help you decide how to specialize your content to each social media site. You might find that your 30-second videos on TikTok don’t resonate on LinkedIn, meaning you’ll have to repackage your content for that platform.

Remember to always take a look at your competitors and how they are performing. And it never hurts to look further afield at popular brands outside of your industry that you could get inspiration from.

Start calculating your social media engagement today

When you begin to calculate your engagement rate, remember that it’s not just about numbers. It’s how you use the insights you get from your data to better understand your audience. Your social media engagement essentially reflects the quality of your content and the strength of your social media presence.

Using the right engagement rate formula and leveraging the best social media analytics tools enables you to make smarter, data-driven decisions and demonstrate your performance to leaders.

If you’re calculating manually, or using online tools to automate it, just remember that every interaction counts. Don’t get overwhelmed by the idea of lots of data – embrace the numbers and allow them to enhance your social media efforts. With the right strategy, you'll increase engagement rates and see your success on social boom.