Engagement Rate
A ratio that measures how much interaction a post earned relative to how many people saw it. Usually calculated as (likes + comments + shares + saves) / impressions.
Engagement rate measures how often viewers actually interacted with a post, expressed as a ratio of interactions to either impressions or followers. The common formula on most platforms is: (likes + comments + shares + saves + clicks) divided by impressions, then multiplied by 100 to express as a percentage.
What counts as a "good" engagement rate varies by platform and account size. LinkedIn personal posts typically run 3-5% engagement rate; anything above 7% is strong. X averages closer to 1-2% for organic posts. Instagram fluctuates wildly by format, with Reels often pulling 5-10% and feed posts running 1-3%.
Smaller accounts almost always have higher engagement rates than larger ones. A 1,000-follower account where every follower knows the creator personally might run 15-20% engagement; a 100,000-follower account where most followers are passive will rarely break 2%. This is a structural reality of audience composition, not a sign of better content.
Engagement rate has limits as a metric. A controversial post that gets thousands of angry comments has a great engagement rate and might be terrible for the brand. A useful reference post might earn modest engagement but high save and share rates that compound over months. Mixing rate with intent matters.
For advertisers, engagement rate is one of several inputs into ad relevance scores, which lower CPMs. For organic creators, it's most useful as a relative metric: tracking your own rate over time tells you whether your content quality is trending up or down.