Why Engagement Rate Matters
In influencer marketing, engagement rate is one of the most important metrics to determine the effectiveness of an influencer's content. It tells you how actively the influencer’s audience interacts with their posts—whether that’s through likes, comments, shares, or saves. The higher the engagement rate, the more likely their audience is to respond to your brand's message. The good news? You don’t need any fancy tools to calculate it. In this guide, I’ll show you how to manually calculate an influencer’s engagement rate in just a few steps.
What Is Engagement Rate?
Engagement rate is essentially a percentage that shows how much of an influencer’s audience engages with their content. The formula takes into account likes, comments, shares, and other forms of interaction relative to the influencer’s follower count. A high engagement rate means their followers are genuinely interested in what they post—an indicator that they’re more likely to be interested in your brand too.
Step 1: Choose a Few Posts to Analyze
Start by picking 3 to 5 recent posts from the influencer’s profile. You want a good sample size, so avoid just looking at one post, as engagement can fluctuate depending on the content.
Step 2: Add Up the Engagements
For each post, you’ll need to total the engagement, which usually includes:
Likes (or reactions on other platforms)
Comments
Shares (if visible)
Saves (if visible)
Let’s say the post has 500 likes, 50 comments, and 20 shares. That’s a total of 570 engagements for that particular post.
Step 3: Divide by Follower Count
Next, take the total number of engagements for each post and divide it by the influencer’s total number of followers. For example, if the influencer has 10,000 followers, and the post has 570 engagements, the calculation would be:
Engagement Rate for the Post=Total EngagementsTotal Followers=57010000=0.057\text{Engagement Rate for the Post} = \frac{\text{Total Engagements}}{\text{Total Followers}} = \frac{570}{10000} = 0.057Engagement Rate for the Post=Total FollowersTotal Engagements=10000570=0.057
Step 4: Multiply by 100 to Get the Percentage
Once you have the result, multiply by 100 to convert it into a percentage. In our example:
0.057×100=5.7%0.057 \times 100 = 5.7\%0.057×100=5.7%
So, the engagement rate for that post is 5.7%. Do this for each post you selected and then average the percentages to get the influencer’s overall engagement rate.
Step 5: Average the Engagement Rates
If you calculated the engagement rate for multiple posts, add them up and divide by the number of posts to get the average engagement rate. For example, if the rates are 5.7%, 6.2%, and 4.9%, you’d calculate:
Average Engagement Rate=5.7+6.2+4.93=5.6%\text{Average Engagement Rate} = \frac{5.7 + 6.2 + 4.9}{3} = 5.6\%Average Engagement Rate=35.7+6.2+4.9=5.6%
This gives you a more accurate picture of how engaged their audience is across different types of content.
What’s a Good Engagement Rate?
Engagement rates vary depending on the influencer’s follower size. Here’s a rough guide:
1% to 3%: Average for large influencers.
3% to 6%: Strong engagement, often seen with mid-tier influencers.
6% and above: Excellent engagement, typically with micro-influencers.
Remember, even if an influencer has a smaller follower count, a high engagement rate means their audience is highly engaged and more likely to convert into customers.
Conclusion
Calculating an influencer’s engagement rate manually is a simple but essential step in your influencer marketing strategy. All it takes is a few minutes, a bit of basic math, and you’ll have a clear idea of how effective an influencer can be for your brand. Remember, when it comes to influencer marketing, engagement often trumps follower count, so don’t be afraid to work with smaller influencers with passionate, engaged audiences!