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Content & Social

Engagement rate

Definition

Engagement rate is the proportion of people who interacted with a post — through likes, comments, shares or saves — relative to reach or follower count, depending on the formula used.

The denominator changes the number dramatically, so figures are rarely comparable between accounts or tools. Engagement by reach reflects content quality; engagement by followers reflects audience quality and distribution together.

Not all engagement is equal. Saves and shares signal genuine value and are weighted heavily by platform algorithms, while likes are close to costless and correspondingly uninformative. Optimising for total engagement usually produces content that performs well and sells nothing.

Formula

Engagement rate = Total interactions ÷ Reach × 100

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