Social media-related jargon can be confusing, but understanding terms like engagement, reach, and impressions can help you grow your business. Let’s look at the term ‘engagement rate’ and some strategies to increase yours.
What is an engagement rate?
The engagement rate is the metric used to measure the level of engagement created from a social media post or campaign. It’s a quick and simple snapshot of the effectiveness of your content. There are two types of engagement rates:- Public engagement rate: refers to the level of engagement from followers who engage with a post. That is the number of engagements divided by your followers.
- Private engagement rate: refers to the engagement of particular posts, that is the number of engagements divided by the reach (the number of accounts served with that content).
Engagement is measured differently across different platforms
Each social media platform has varying response cues and ways people can interact with the content. It makes sense, then, that the engagement rate is gauged differently across different platforms.- Facebook: Likes, comments, clicks, and shares that occur on a single post or ad campaign.
- Instagram: Likes, comments, forwards via DM (direct message), and saved posts. On Instagram, accounts with high engagement rates typically get boosted by the algorithm, which is why focusing on the engagement rate is essential when it comes to exposure.
- Twitter: The number of times followers interact with your tweet. This can include retweets, replies, follows, likes, hashtags, and clicks to your profile through a tweet. The engagement rate on Twitter can be easily calculated by dividing the number of engagements by the number of impressions.
- YouTube: Measured by users interacting with your YouTube videos or your YouTube page. On YouTube, the most important and weighty actions are comments. When a user comments on your videos, you’ll be able to gain an understanding of how they feel toward your content and tailor your future content accordingly.
Why is engagement so important?
Engagement rates are a signal that the content you are posting is valuable to your followers. Not only does a high engagement rate look good to prospective followers, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. High engagement leads the algorithm to favor your content, which can expose you to more of your audience, and new audiences. Here are five tips to increase your engagement rate:- Get to know your audience on each platform
- Show some personality
- Schedule your posts at optimal times
- Create valuable, meaningful content
- Track your engagement