Evaluate Engagement Rate

What is the Engagement Rate?

The engagement rate is a metric used to gauge the level of engagement generated from created content or a brand campaign. In other words, the engagement rate refers to the level of interaction with followers that is generated from content created by a user.

Summary

• The engagement rate is used to measure the level of interaction by followers from content created by a user.
• It is calculated as total engagement divided by total followers, multiplied by 100.
• The engagement rate provides a more accurate representation of content performance than simply looking at absolute measures such as likes, shares, and comments.

Formula for Engagement Rate

Where:

• Total Engagement refers to the number of interactions (the measurement of which is dependent on the platform); and
• Total Followers refers to the total amount of individuals that are following the account/page/etc

Example of Engagement Rate

An analyst is conducting an analysis on Company ABC, which maintains a social media page on Facebook. Part of the analysis process involves determining how engaged followers are with the company’s Facebook page. The analyst also found two comparable companies. Given the information below, does Company ABC see a higher rate of engagement than the comparables?

Using total likes, total shares, and total comments as the method for determining total engagement, the rate of engagement for each company is as follows:

Company ABC = (54,321 + 1,523 + 105,231) / 5,123,501 x 100 = 3.14%

Comparable 1 = (74,321 + 2,191 + 116,954) / 10,421,412 x 100 = 1.86%

Comparable 2 = (65,121 + 945 + 94,512) / 6,321,512 x 100 = 2.54%

From the resulting figures above, Company ABC saw a higher engagement rate than the comparables. Note that Company ABC recorded the lowest number of followers but enjoyed the highest engagement rate. It only garnered about 105,000 comments to Comparable 1’s 116,000, but that number came from just about half as many followers as Comparable 1’s page has. The numbers imply that the content on the company’s Facebook page is more appealing to followers than that of similar pages.

How to Use Engagement Rate

A strong engagement rate justifies your campaigns. However, engagement metrics can also be a powerful tool in other areas of business growth. Marketing teams use engagement rate to:

• Guide content creation strategies: Engagement metrics indicate which content earns the most attention.
• Measure performance on social networks: Tracking engagement rate with a tool like Sprout Social ensures you’re interacting with clients on the right platforms.
• Find brand advocates and influencers: Engagement metrics highlight invested individuals willing to act as ambassadors for a brand.
• Measure success in specific campaigns: Engagement rates demonstrate how people feel about new products, services and campaigns.
• Target the right audience: Pay attention to specific demographics (Gender, age, location) of engaged audience members. If you notice that most of your engagement comes from people different from your user personas, tweak your strategy.

Engagement is a critical metric for modern companies. As customers continue to prize experience over product features and price, the importance of the engagement rate will grow.