How to Calculate your Engagement Rate on Social media.

The only thing worse than putting out bad content is not knowing how your audience is responding to it.

This is where engagement rate becomes one of your most important metrics. It’s the easiest way to understand whether your followers care about what you post or if you’re simply speaking into the void.

Why Engagement Rate is Crucial for Brands and Businesses

Social media isn’t just about follower count—it’s about connection. You could have 200,000 followers, but if only a handful of them engage, you’re not truly building influence.

According to Socialinsider, the average engagement rate on Instagram across all industries is about 0.54% in 2024. That means if you’re hitting 2% or more, you’re already outperforming most brands.

A high engagement rate means:

Your audience resonates with your content. Algorithms on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and other platforms are more likely to push your content to a wider audience. You’re building a loyal community that’s more likely to buy from you, recommend you, or collaborate with you.

How to Calculate Engagement Rate

The most common formula for engagement rate is:Engagement Rate (%) = (Total Engagements / Total Followers) × 100

Here’s what counts as engagements:

Likes 👍 Comments 💬 Shares 🔄 Saves 📌 Clicks on links or CTAs (depending on the platform)

Example 1:

Your brand has 20,000 Instagram followers and receives 1,000 likes on your latest post.Engagement Rate = (1,000 / 20,000) × 100 Engagement Rate = 5%

Example 2:

Another brand has 200,000 followers and gets 2,000 likes.Engagement Rate = (2,000 / 200,000) × 100 Engagement Rate = 1%

📌 Even though the second brand has 10× more followers, your smaller brand is performing better because your followers are more engaged.

Benchmarks by Platform

Here’s what’s considered a “good” engagement rate according to Hootsuite:

How to Improve Your Engagement Rate

If your engagement rate is low, here are proven tips:

Post content your audience actually wants – Use polls, Q&As, and analytics to find out what works. Be consistent – The algorithms love consistency. Engage back – Reply to comments, DMs, and tag people when relevant. Use storytelling – People connect with stories, not just sales pitches. Experiment with content formats – Try Reels, carousels, live videos, and behind-the-scenes posts.

The Bottom Line

The effectiveness of your social media strategy isn’t about the number of followers, it’s about how many of them engage, share, and take action. If your content sparks conversation, saves, and shares, your growth will naturally follow.

If you’re a business owner struggling with low engagement, now is the time to take a closer look at your numbers and your strategy.

💡 Need help growing your social media presence?

I help brands create powerful, high-engagement content that turns followers into paying customers.

📩 DM me “help” or Contact me here to get started.

Pro tip: Bookmark the official analytics pages for each platform so you can track your metrics:

Instagram Insights

TikTok Analytics

LinkedIn Analytics

Facebook Page Insights