When it comes to social media, you often hear about engagement and engagement rates. And with all the metrics out there, it is normal to feel confused.

More than that, even if you use a social media analytics tool, you may discover that not all tools use the same formulas for these metrics.

Let’s unravel the mystery and discover what’s the magic recipe that Socialinsider uses.

Engagement for all social media platforms

The engagement for a post will be a number that shows the reactions received for that specific post in the given time period.

Take a look at how Socialinsider defines engagement for all platforms:

Facebook - The sum of reactions, comments, and shares received for the posts published in the selected time period.

Instagram - The sumof likes and comments received for the posts published in the selected time period.

Twitter - The sum of likes and retweets received for the tweets published in the selected period.

LinkedIn - The sum of likes, comments, clicks, and shares received for the posts published in the selected time period.

YouTube -  The sum of likes and comments received for the videos published in the selected time period.

TikTok - The sum of likes, comments, and shares received for the posts published in the selected time period.

NOTE! We know that on Instagram, the saves are usually added to the engagement. However, Socialinsider doesn't use this formula because Instagram API doesn't offer access to the saves metric for competitors' profiles. In this way, without adding the number of saves, you're able to perform a quick social media competitor analysis and get insightful social media industry benchmarks.

What is engagement rate

As you have already seen, engagement means that people interact with your content. And that's exactly what you want.

Whether we're talking about likes, comments, or shares, we all want to see a higher engagement when posting on social.

And engagement rate is the one and only metric that will always tell you if your content resonates with your audience.

Since we're dealing with content and audience, it's safe to say that it's time to do the math: the engagement rate will be the total engagement divided by the total number of followers, all multiplied by 100.

Engagement rate = (Total engagement/ Total followers) x 100

Engagement rate calculations methods

There are multiple ways to get the data you want. Marketers tend to use different types of formulas, depending on their interests.

  • Engagement rate by reach

This metric measures the percentage of people who interacted with your content after seeing it.

ERR = (Total engagement per post/ Reach per post) x 100

From this formula, you can even get to the average engagement rate by reach:

Average ERR = Total ERR/ Total posts

  • Engagement rate by impressions

Since impressions show how many times your content was seen by other users, this metric could be useful for you.

ERI = (Total engagement on a post/ Total impressions on a post) x 100

You can translate this into the average engagement rate by impressions as follows:

Average ERI = Total ERI/ Total posts

  • Engagement rate by posts

This shows the engagement rate on a specific post that was published.

ERP = (Total engagement on a post/ Total followers) x 100

The average engagement rate by posts will be:

Average ERP = Total ERP/ Total posts

NOTE! Socialinsider calculates the engagement rate by the number of fans/followers.

Engagement Rate on a Post = (Total Post Engagement/ Total Followers) x 100

TikTok is the only platform that makes an exception in this case. Since we're talking about video content here, it would make more sense to include the number of views somewhere in the formula.

Engagement rate/post (TikTok) - The sum of likes, comments, and shares of that post divided by the number of views. The result is shown as a percentage.