Instagram Engagement Rate - How to calculate yourself and what % to aim for.

You've heard of Instagram engagement rate but you're not sure (or kinda sure but want it to be better?) keep reading..

I’m going to simplify 3 different ways to calculate your Instagram engagement rate. Knowing this information will allow you to measure the success and effectiveness of your content and ensure you become (or remain) the authority in your niche, on Instagram.

So, what is an Instagram Engagement Rate?

Your Instagram engagement rate is a % that represents how well your content is performing. It also tells you:

1. If the content you’re creating is resonating with your audience

2. Helps build authority in your niche, in the eyes of your audience (the more engagement you have, the more authority people will perceive you have)

3. Is used as a qualifying factor for brands and companies who might want to work with you

Before I go any further, let me explain - it's pretty hard to achieve a high engagement rate these days and it's NOT your fault. Rather it's a by-product of how the Instagram algorithm works.

*Remember: if you have 1,000 followers that does not mean that all 1,000 will be shown your post. Because of this limitation, it makes having a drastically high engagement rate practically impossible to achieve.

What is a good Instagram Engagement Rate?

The higher your engagement rate the better (obviously), however it will drastically change based on the amount of followers you have (typically, the more followers you have = the lower your engagement will be)

Let's calculate your engagement rate!

There three different methods you can use that take into account varying elements of your post analytics.

Method 1:

Takes into account your current following and your total post interactions. Post interactions are a sum of the different actions a user can take on your post. This includes: likes, comments, saves and shares.

To find your Instagram engagement rate using this method, take the sum of the likes, comments, saves and shares (which you can find in your post analytics on the app) from a recent post and divide it by your follower count, then multiply it by 100 to get a percentage.

This is the most common and most accurate method and I recommend it for when you’re trying to determine how your account is performing as a whole and in relation to others in your niche.

This method is the most common and most accurate and I recommend it for when you’re trying to determine how your account is performing as a whole and also in relation to others in your niche.

Method 2: Calculates your engagement rate based on your post reach (rather than your follower count which we used in the first method). Take the total of your post interactions and divide it by your post reach, then multiply it by 100.

This method could be considered slightly more accurate as it’s based specifically on how many people saw your post, which will give you a good idea of how well it’s performing. I personally don't think it’s the most appropriate way to represent your influence to brands that want to work with you.

Method 3:

This is based off the amount of impressions your post received. This calculation is total post interactions divided by impressions and multiplied by 100. This method will likely result in a percentage lower than the previous calculation but is good for measuring the effectiveness of your content because it takes into account 100% of the times your posts was seen.

Of course the higher the number is the better - but don’t beat yourself up about it. If you can stay within the guidelines I shared with you in the table at the beginning, you’re doing a great job.