Engagement rate is the heart of the social media content strategy. The metric helps to gauge the engagement level generated from brand content. In addition, it refers to the interaction level with your valued perspective. Of course, vanity metrics are also an impressive choice to count incredible attention. However, engagement metrics are considered the best choice to improve content marketing strategies.
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It’s time to learn how to count these metrics and how it impacts your overall business. This blog will get the complete details of engagement rates, an overview, why it is essential, and how to measure it!
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What is the engagement rate?
Engagement rate is the formula to measure the amount of interaction and social media content earnings. This metric helps figure out the audience base and adds more value to the business. It includes several activities like reactions, like, share, mentions, click through rates, saves, messages, etc. Overall, it covers all the social engagement and actions performed by active and passive customers and prospects.
There are several ways to measure the rate and help you decide your social media objectives.
Engagement Rate Formula:
Engagement Rate = Total Engagement ÷ Total Followers x 100.
- Total engagement means the number of interactions.
- Total followers mean the entire audience base following your business on social channels.
The metrics of total engagement are calculated based on the platforms. For instance:
- In Facebook, the engagement rate is counted based on the number of shares, like reactions and comments.
- In Instagram, the rate is calculated based on likes and comments.
It was the most basic formula to evaluate engagement metrics from multiple social channels. Alternatively, many marketers prefer to calculate the rate using the number of impressions. Hence, it involves internal data sources from the social channels.
For any online business, it is imperative to keep track of the total engagement rates. Suppose you have recently conducted a Facebook campaign; the metrics will help you understand the success rate. In fact, you can also measure the ROI and other crucial business ventures.
Common engagement metrics
Be it for Facebook or Instagram; there are specific metrics for engagement calculators. Especially, those who are new to the business might ask what counts as engagement? The list of engagement metrics is huge. It depends on the particular campaign or the objective to include the factors in counting the final number. In general, one can include all the facts to finalize the equation. Let us take a glance at the most common engagement metrics:
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- Reaction
- Likes
- Comments
- Shares
- Saves
- Clicks
- Message
- Click-through
- Tags and mentions
- Link Clicks
- Quote tweets
- Profile Visit
- Retweet
- Calls
- Texts
- Regrams
- Stories
- Get directions for Instagram
- Replies
- Branded hashtags
The next thought that comes to our mind is the importance of engagement rates concerning the business form.
Why is tracking engagement rate crucial?
The ultimate motive of social media ad campaigns is increasing the number of audiences. It also focuses on expanding online visibility and improving brand awareness. In fact, growth is the ultimate purpose. Likewise, when you receive an adequate response, you can be certain that the content resonates with the people. It shows how much the content resonates with the audience. Eventually, it helps to develop better customer relationships. It also helps to figure out whether the audience is paying adequate attention to your content.
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To understand social media engagement
If you want to stay ahead of your competitors, instead of focusing on the likes and comments, choose a smart way to measure the engagement metrics because all likes and comments don’t contribute to the conversation rate. Most people on social media hit a Like because their common friends have done the same. As a result, they completely forget about your business over time. Hence, the increasing number of like doesn’t mean your business is doing well.
Even though a post has more likes, the content is likely to be ignored. Hence, it is very important to figure out whether the customers are engaged with your business or not! On the flip side, your brand page might not have huge likes and comments, but it can have popularity among the audience. Hence, a higher engagement rate is crucial compared to Likes. Hence, you should try harder on engagement next time than drooling over likes.
To have an idea of the competitors
Surprisingly, maximum businesses on Facebook have significantly fewer engagement rates. In fact, the biggest celebrity brands have around 1% engagement rates. For example, one of the largest brands Coca Cola, with a highly impactful content marketing strategy, has less than a 1% engagement rate on Facebook. The more you delve deeper into the metrics, you will find the biggest brands of the world might falter on Facebook. This is the reason you should focus on your competitors’ engagement rate. If their campaigns are thriving, they are likely to have better margins. On the flip, if they lack the potential attention, the engagement rates will be automatically low.
Advantages of Engagement Rates
You already know engagement rates offer an accurate representation of the content performance than simply looking at the likes, comments, and shares. Hence, it is more comprehensive than other metrics. In fact, it is very useful:
- To measure the level of audience interaction.
- To improve insight into the content quality.
On the other hand, if you are organizing an awareness campaign, it is crucial to use an Instagram engagement calculator, as it affects the reach of the posts. In general, the higher engagement you get, the more comprehensive your reach.
The Disadvantage of Tracking Engagement
While engagement rate metrics have so much to offer, sometimes, you might face difficulty differentiating the interactions. For example, all the customer interactions would not result in fruitful conversation. In that case, measuring the holistic engagement rates is not enough to differentiate the general audience and the prospects. As a general rule of thumb, you might provide more importance to ‘share.’ However, the formula might not be universally true. In fact, you can gain potential leads from a single ‘Like’ or even ‘click’ as well. Unfortunately, both these interactions are considered equal in the calculation. Hence, to differentiate among the metric, it should not be generalized.
When you say higher or lower engagement rate, it is crucial to know the industry-standard rates. So let us put some light on the standard engagement rate.
The industry-standard engagement rate
In general, engagement rates cannot be generalized. In order to have a deeper insight into the metrics, every platform has different standards. Here in the list, you will find a general guideline on the industry-standard rate:
Very low: below 1 Percent
Average: 1 to 3 Percent
High: 3 – 6 Percent
Very high: Above 6 Percent
Targeting higher metrics will keep you motivated to improve the metrics. Now that you know about the engagement rate formula, why is it important? It is crucial to learn the method of calculation. Find out how to calculate the engagement rate in the next section.
The most effective engagement rates calculation methods
Here is a list of formulas you can use to calculate the final metrics. Typically, total engagement refers to reaction, likes, comments, shares, saves, and often it also includes clicks and taps based on the platform you are using!
Calculating engagement by reach
This method is popularly known as ERP or total engagements per post. In fact, it is the most common formula to gauge the metrics. With this method, you will measure the percentage of people interacting with your business. In addition, you will find two simple formulas to calculate your Instagram and Facebook posts.
- ERP = total engagement per post ÷ reach per post × 100
With this formula, you can determine the average add-up from each post.
- Average ERP = Total ERP / Total Posts
Or, Post 1 (3.4%) + Post 2 (3.5%) /2 = 3.45%
The first formula is applicable to measure the engagement rate of a single post. On the other hand, the second formula helps determine the average rate for an entire media campaign.
Merits:
The measurement of customer reach would be more accurate than the followers’ counts. As all the followers do not follow your content, you can have many engagements.
Demerits:
The reach would fluctuate for a few reasons. Hence, it can create different variables. But, on the other hand, if the content has a low reach, the engagement rates might not be accurate. Hence, while calculating the metrics, you should be aware of all the situations.
Engagement rate on the basis of posts (ER Post)
Using this formula, you can measure the engagement rates from the followers’ lists for a specific post. In fact, it is almost like ERP, and the only difference is it focuses on the followers instead of the reach. The top marketers calculate the average engagement rates using the following formula:
- ERP = total engagement per post ÷ reach per post × 100
With this formula, you can determine the average add-up from each post.
- Average ERP = Total ERP / Total Posts
Or, Post 1 (3.4%) + Post 2 (3.5%) /2 = 3.45%
Merits:
Measuring the ERP is indeed a better choice to gauge the interaction. The difference is that it replaces the number of reach with the number of followers; hence, this result can be considered as a more accurate method. Moreover, followers are regarded as more stable metrics.
Also, in most cases, the number of reaches often fluctuates more, while the followers remain comparatively stable. You can utilize the method to analyze post-by-post engagement.
Demerits:
Even though the number of followers can offer stable metrics, the method doesn’t necessarily offer the entire picture of engagement ratio. Moreover, when the number of followers increases, the engagement rate will likely drop. Hence, before considering the metrics, it is important to access them in the light of growth analytics.
Engagement rates using audience impression
This method can be technically termed as ER impression strategy. It is an effective base audience metric to measure engagement using positive impressions. To be more specific, the reach measures focus on how the general audience sees your content impression; on the other hand, focus on how many times the content appears on the screen.
So, let us look at the formula of engagement rate:
ER impression = Total Engagement on a post ÷ total impressions
Average ER impression = Total ER impression ÷ Total Posts
Merits:
This formula is useful when the business owners run paid content. Using this ER impression formula, they can analyze the campaign’s effectiveness and how it can lead to a successful conversation.
Demerits:
Like the metric reach, the impression metric is also inconsistent. Moreover, if you calculate the engagement rate and the impression, the base is bound to be low concerning the post equation.
Engagement rate based on Views
This metric works well when you promote your brand using videos. In fact, it is imperative to know how many people are engaging with the videos once they watch them. To measure the engagement rates based on the views, you can apply the following formula:
ER View: Total engagement in video posts ÷ total video views × 100
Average ER view: Total ER view ÷ total posts
Merits:
If you aim to generate engagement from the video posts, this would be a great idea. For example, posting training videos and improving the viewed number can improve the engagement rate. Moreover, when your business involves creating impactful videos, this metric would help to generate more engagement.
Demerits:
While measuring the view tallies, the system also includes repeat views. Hence, it would count the non-unique views from a single audience. In addition, all views do not increase conversion. On the other hand, this metric cannot differentiate unique views and repeated ones. Therefore, it does not necessarily count the exact number of fruitful engagements.
Daily engagement rate
Of course, measuring engagement rates by reach is crucial. Moreover, it helps to gauge the maximum exposure. Considering all the situations, it is also very impactful to understand how these audiences react regularly.
Take a look at the formula of measuring daily engagement rate:
Daily ER = Total engagements in a day ÷ total followers × 100
Average daily ER = total engagement for ** days ÷ (* days × followers) × 100
Merits:
This formula works well to identify how often the followers interact with your business regularly. It is helpful because you can analyze the reaction of the old and new posts and make your post publishing equation. In fact, many social media influencers prefer to customize the method for specific cases. For example, in case the brand measures the daily comment, you can adjust the total ER.
Demerits:
Top marketers believe there is a chance of error while using the method. This is because the formula cannot differentiate the follower engages ten times in a day vs. ten followers to engage for one post. On the other hand, the engagement for the regular posts might depend on the frequency of the posting and how many people share them. Hence, it is better to focus on several posts and other engagement metrics instead of investing time on daily engagement rates.
Factor Engagement Rate
In a few cases, some exceptional market leaders prefer to use factored engagement rates. There are a few factors that influence the equation of engagement. Hence, a social media influencer might prefer to put stress on comments. Similarly, a few might rely on the likes. Hence, the equation would be
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Comment-weighted ER = (total comments ×2) + all other engagements / Reach per post × 100
You will not get the exact engagement rate using this formula. However, since the factored formula is not popular among the market leaders, it is better to avoid misleading metrics.
Cost per engagement calculator
Once you are done measuring the engagement formula, you should arrange an additional media toolbox. CPE or Cost Per Engagement is a useful equation to reach your key objectives. In fact, you will also get assured ROI.
CPE formula:
CPE = Total amount spent ÷ total engagement
If you outsource a social media strategist, you must be aware of the calculation. Most ad platforms would do the same for you. Except for the general metrics, they also offer object-oriented calculation, for example, cost-per-click.
You should always check which type of interactions they consider engagement regardless of the industry you belong to and what your customer reaches.
Classic Formula of Engagement Rate
It is utilized by the most common industry benchmarks and major social media campaign analysis tools. It is necessary to compare the performance in a competitive market. Yet, it is still imperfect to gauge the real metrics.
The advanced formula of counting engagement
Traditionally, you can follow the metrics mentioned above to calculate the numbers. As per the research and observation of Forbes, the classic or traditional formula might not provide you with real engagement metrics. One needs to evaluate the data from social platforms to have a clear insight.
So, now, let us delve further into the advanced formula. Basically, this formula stresses the real engagement rate of the posts and includes measurement of active and inactive followers using platform algorithms. You can use many reaches and viewers to have a real understanding of the content reflection. Hence, you need to be equipped with a better content strategy based on the quality of the posts. If you stress the quality of the post, measuring the algorithm can take a back seat. Especially on Instagram, you can have better account insight.
A suggestive outcome:
Suppose you take account of 12k followers; you can have a few different engagement rates.
- If you take public interaction into your consideration, the engagement rate is likely to reach 5.9%.
- Using both public and private interaction, the rate can reach 8%.
- However, the rate can increase up to 20.5% with the advanced formula.
While the traditional formula provides us with the quality of the followers, the advanced formula is regarded as the true indicator. Hence, you can fabricate individual influencer and content marketing strategies by using the strategy.
To wrap up
With the advent of modern technologies and their increasing benefits, many marketers prefer to use a paid calculator. You can simply use this calculator from Google Sheet and keep track of each post. In fact, you can schedule the reports automatically. Regardless of the tracking method, counting engagement is crucial to measuring the success of any paid campaign. Also, it encourages introducing new content to the audience.
We hope this blog was helpful to know all the nitty-gritty of engagement rates. If you have further queries, please share them in the comment section.
