Do you want to calculate your engagement rate without doing any mathematics, right here, right now? The good news is that you can right here, read on.
Do you want to find the perfect accounts to engage with in your niche? I'm going to show you an easy way at the end of this post.
I'll also cover: What Instagram engagement is, why your engagement rate is significant, why you should avoid buying followers and likes, and how you can increase your Instagram engagement, all in this article.
With a background in event marketing and 20 years of experience marketing my own businesses, I trust this article will give you the guidance you need to better understand and improve your Instagram engagement, no matter if you're a start-up, small business, entrepreneur or just an Instagram loving individual.
You're here to calculate your engagement rate, I won't ask you read to the end to get it. Your engagement rate can be calculated here, just below this paragraph thanks to Analisa.io. However, why find out your engagement rate and not understand what it means or how to improve it? Read on to find out how to improve your engagement.
Calculate your Instagram engagement rate:
(IMPORTANT: This tool works for influencer and brand profiles, to check engagement rate of a personal profile try here, then come back and enter your rate in the poll below)
Now you have your engagement rate, what does it mean?
In short: Instagram engagement rate is a measure of how others interact with your content on the platform.
In more depth: Follows, comments, likes and shares are all taken into account to calculate engagement rate. The calculated measurement is used to assess if your Instagram efforts are effective compared to industry benchmarks. Essentially, you can track how much your audience is enjoying, aka engaging with, your content.
This post may contain affiliate links. That means I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through one of the links. Thank you for your support.
How is your engagement rate calculated?
There is some debate over the exact formula for calculating your Instagram engagement rate. Followers, likes and comments factor in, and some say your reach too, yet the calculator you used above by Asalisa, the AI-powered Instagram analytics tool, uses this formula:
The number of likes and comments divided by the number of followers, multiplied by 100, equals your engagement rate.
What is a good engagement rate on Instagram?
Don't panic if your engagement percentage is under 4%, that's normal, phew! The critical detail is whereabouts you sit between 0% and 4%? On the flip side if your engagement is above 4% then big hi-fives to you, it sounds like you're nailing it, keep up the good work!
According to a RivallQ* study, Instagram wide engagement has dropped by approximately 25% in the last year. The average engagement rate across industries in 2021 is 1.22%.
Is your Instagram engagement rate higher or lower than the average 1.22%?
Select your answer below and see what other readers rates are.
Do bear in mind this is a mean average of cross-industry results. It's helpful to note what the rates are for the two top engaging industries:
Higher Education = 3.57%*
Sports Teams = 2.33%*
These two industries' engagement rates stand-alone in measure and are relatively high. All other measured industries' engagement rates vary between 0.67% and 1.75%.
If you are not in higher education or a sports team, and you rule out those engagement rates, a quick re-calculation brings the industry average closer to 1.1%. How does your engagement rate compare now?
So now you know your engagement rate you know where you stand in comparison to industry benchmarks. What do you do with that information now?
Why is engagement rate significant?
Engagement rate, in a nutshell, is how appealing your content is to your audience, an indicator of how you are keeping up with the demands of the moment, and of course, it proves you have happy customers!
The benefits of using engagement rate in more detail:
Engagement rate is a measure of audience interest.
What do I do if I come across a post of my niece looking happy playing in the sunshine? I like the post, I may even leave a comment, maybe an emoji; why? Because I enjoyed seeing the post, it made me happy.
Likewise, suppose Neil Patel, a digital marketer I follow and admire, posts a carousel of images, the first image stating, '10 reasons you don't want to post on Facebook', my interest is heightened. I start swiping through reasons 1, 2, 3 and so on, at the end is a CTA (call to action): 'double tap if that helped you', and I do, why? Because I enjoyed learning something interesting for free.
What's the lesson here? The more appealing your posts are to your audience, the more they are likely to engage with them by likes, comments and shares.
The higher the engagement rate = The more your audience is interested in your posts.
You can learn from your previous posts; what posts get the most engagement? Are they photos, videos or carousels? Are they behind the scenes style posts, happy customer posts, educational posts etc? Find what works and create more content based on your best-performing factors to increase your engagement.
Quick Tip: According to Bannersnack**, carousel posts get the highest engagement rate on average across industries. This is followed by images and then video. Of course, look at what works for your audience based on insights (below), but if you need a place to start experimenting, jump on the carousels!
How do you find your top engaging posts?
Profile - Insights - Overview - Content Interactions - Top Posts
You're welcome :)
The engagement rate shows if you are a strong player.
The official term is 'social proof'. A reasonable engagement rate helps to prove that you are worth following. Seeing many others following and engaging with you can be a significant factor for non-followers deciding whether you're worth them hitting that 'follow' button.
A healthy engagement level indicates that you have happy customers, even further solidifying your social authority and gaining you that 'follow.
For example, I came across an Instagram account that possesses 14'000 followers. I almost hit 'follow', then I checked out their recent posts, they only had 2 to 3 likes each and no comments, showing a relatively low engagement rate, so I decided against following.
That's not to say that you shouldn't follow those with low engagement, I've been there myself, but for what I was looking for, I needed to see brand trust and therefore higher engagement.
The engagement rate helps determine if you're still the cool kid.
The official term is 'brand relevance.' Are you still the cool kid on the block that all your friends (followers) want to hang out with? Perhaps you are right now, and your engagement is high, but what about in 6 months when trends change? Do you still have your finger on the button? Are you still the cool kid everyone wants to spend time with? Monitoring changes in engagement rate can help track if you are staying relevant and shows where you can take action if you aren't.
Why shouldn't you buy Instagram likes to increase engagement rates?
Hopefully, by this point in the post you can answer this question yourself, but so that we are on the same page:
It smells of cheating, an Instagrammer will likely sniff out the fact that you have, for example, 1000 likes but 200 followers.
Your engagement rate is essentially false. You won't get an accurate picture of your progress from your insights and truly learn what your audience enjoys.
It's not allowed, don't risk getting banned from the platform.
It's a waste of money.
If you want to partner with brands, you'll likely ruin your chances as they'll sniff out fake, paid-for accounts
Tempting as it might be for a quick fix, don't do it. Be real!
How to increase your Engagement Rate - 3 Tips
1. Know your audience, post for them
Marketing skills 101: Who is your model customer? What pain points (problems/needs) or desires might they have? How can you solve their pains, give them what they desire or simply make them smile with your post, whilst still relating to your product or service? The key here is to solidify your intention behind the post, not just post blindly. Whether the post is a contest, a fact, a peek backstage or any other type of post, have clear user benefiting intent.
Next, what format of content does your audience prefer? Carousels, images, videos? As I discussed above in the section: 'How do you find your top engaging posts via insights?', you can see your top engaging posts and what format they were in via your Instagram insights. Can you match the post intention with this top-performing format? If yes, great!
Finally, do you know when your followers are online? Your Instagram insights will tell you:
Profile - Insights - Your Audience - See All - Most Active Times
Post at days and times when your followers are online the most. However, still mix it up occasionally, then you're not missing out on engaging with a completely different set of customers, even if there are fewer of them online.
2. Grab attention and say hello to AIDA, "Hi Aida"
Who's Aida? I hear some of you asking. Aida is a well-know marketing model that is useful when planning Instagram content. Aida stands for:
A - Attention (or Awareness)
I - Interest
D - Desire
A - Action
Attention: Your follower, or followers-to-be, can only see the first 125 characters of your caption in their feed. You need to grab their attention with a headline or first sentence that will make them stop scrolling and open the rest of your caption. You can drive attention through the media in your post as well.
Interest: Pique the reader's interest; can they relate to what you're saying? Can they benefit from reading on?
Desire: Instagram's algorithm measures how long a user spends looking at your post. You can write up to 2200 characters in your caption, so why not capitalise on the number of words you can add to keep them on your post for longer? During that time, it's your chance to get your user to connect with what you're saying on a deeper level, to make them want your product or service, and build their desire to take action.
Action: Have a clear call-to-action (CTA). Whether that's in the form of a written instruction in the caption, a 'double tap' and heart icon on the post image or an actual CTA button, make sure what you want the user to do is crystal clear. Remember, the actions the user takes are recorded in your engagement rate.
3. Most importantly, be social!
The whole reason it's called social media is to share and interact socially. So be sure to do that! Simple ways to be social include:
Like posts of the people you follow
Comment on posts of the people you follow
Follow other accounts within your niche
Comment on accounts with # hashtags relevant to your niche
The 4 points above may sound obvious, but with our increasingly busy lifestyles, it's easy to ignore these integral but straightforward steps that will help increase Instagram engagement.
I have a solution! I run two successful small businesses as well as write for this blog and run a household, yet I have a game-changing way to find time to engage with tens of relevant Instagram users every day, using very little brain-power!
I use Gary Vee's Dollar Eighty Instagram Strategy and Dollar Eighty Chrome Extension.
What Is Gary Vee's Dollar Eighty Instagram Strategy?
World-renowned marketer Gary Vee suggests you leave your '2 cents', your meaningful opinion, on 9 posts for 10 different hashtags.
0.02(cents) x 9(posts) x 10(hashtags) = $1.80
When you leave your 90 comments a day, you have increased profile awareness and connected with the right type of user in your niche. Most importantly, you're naturally encouraging new followers and engagement for your profile.
For those of you who may be thinking, WHAT 90 COMMENTS?! Trust me, it doesn't take that long thanks to the Dollar Eighty software, in fact, 30 mins on average. Read on to see why I think that 30 minutes is well spent if you're serious about growing your following.
How does the Dollar Eighty Chrome extension work?
The extension connects with your Instagram account. You select locations, hashtags and profiles to target.
Dollar Eighty will then show you all the recent and top posts from your targets, making it quick and simple for you to add your '2 cents'. Make your comments meaningful though, this will encourage further engagement with your profile.
The best part is, Dollar Eighty saves your replies, so you can reuse them later on in another post, saving you valuable time. Don't be a spammer though; mix it up and be real!
Instagram only actually allows 30 comments an hour. Dollar Eighty solves that issue by queuing your comments and posting them automatically in intervals, so you don't have to worry about remembering to come back and post.
By grouping all relevant posts in one place, saving comments for reuse, and queuing your comments, you can save tonnes of time, as I do.
There's an easy-to-read analytics section in the extension too, in which you can track your engagement rate in real-time!
Who can use Dollar Eighty?
I use it for one of my business profiles, yet influencers, brands, products, social media managers and even personal profiles can all make great use of it.
Is Dollar Eight Free?
Yes and no. There is a free version; you can post up to 10 comments a day with just hashtag targeting. The free version is a great way to test the water, see if Dollar Eighty is for you and check out proportionate results.
The full version is $15 a month. I use this and I feel it's worth the investment. I target 10 locations in my business service areas, 10 hashtags relevant to my business niche, and 10 profiles of my industry's big players. I spend 20-30 minutes a morning with my coffee in hand, putting my '2 cents' on as many posts in the extension as I can in that time block. I can reach the full 90 posts in 30 minutes when I focus!
I know some might think spending 20-30 minutes intensely on social commenting is too much, but I assure you, I'd spend way longer writing odd comments throughout the day and scrolling trying to find something relevant to comment on. I also use Todoist, the task management software, to time block my day so I don't deviate from the plan of 20-30 minutes on Dollar Eighty.
I highly recommend Dollar Eighty; it's a game-changer for a small business owner like me who juggles many business activities every day.
In Conclusion To How To Calculate Engagement Rate On Instagram
Did you use the engagement calculator from Analisa? Did you enter your answer to see if your engagement rate was above the cross-industry average? Hopefully, you did and now have a better understanding of where you may need to progress.
Full disclosure: I am a massive culprit for having skills and depth of knowledge in a subject, but I'm not always great at implementing them! One of those subjects being my Instagram strategy! I'm working on that and Dollar Eighty is helping me along the way. So we're on this journey together you and I!
Engagement rate is an excellent measurement to judge your posts' quality and effectiveness, plus it's real-time and free. Why not bookmark this webpage so you can come back and check or compare your engagement rate in the future?
I hope you enjoyed this post. If it helped you, please feel free to share it with a friend or other small businesses trying to get the best from Instagram.
Jen - Author, Tried and Loved
References
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