Engagement is an indicator that reflects the activity of recipients in the community. Engagement affects the algorithms of social networks - the more reactions and useful posts the action and the community collects, the greater the chance of getting into recommendations and news. Therefore, the greater the chances of reaching the recipients.
What is ER?
ER is the audience engagement rate, which is calculated according to the formula:
(number of reactions / posts) / number of subscribers x 100*
*Formula for calculating ER. ER can also be calculated for one selected position - then the number of positions will be equal to 1
The indicator reflects the ratio of the average number of reactions to a post to the number of page subscribers. Reactions are manifestations of audience activity:
likes;
comments;
reposts, sharing;
saving the publication in bookmarks.
It's up to you to decide which responses to consider, based on what's important to you.
What is ERR?
The development of social networks has made adjustments and now marketers and SMM specialists are increasingly guided by the ERR formula:
(number of reactions / posts) / average reach of posts x 100*
Formula for calculating ERR. When calculating ERR for one post, we take the coverage of the selected post instead of the average
This formula is important:
- for social networks with an algorithmic feed, where each post is seen by only some of the subscribers. For example on Instagram;
- for websites with a recommendation channel, where the channel's viewership may be several times higher than the number of subscribers. For example YouTube, TikTok and Instagram Reels;
publications that were promoted using targeted advertising.
That is, almost always. The formula helps you gauge how engaging a post was to people who saw the post, story, or video.
Which ER is cool?
There are opinions that a low ER is below 1%, and a rate above 3.5% is considered high. However, it depends.
It is best to compare: indicators for the previous period - with current data.
Some analytics services offer ER comparisons to those of communities with a similar topic and audience size. This will give you a rough idea of the level of involvement in the industry.
If your reach or number of subscribers increases, your ER or ERR may decrease. This is a natural phenomenon. The wider the audience, the harder it is to please everyone at once.
How important are ER and ERR for a company?
They are personalized. If you want to build a community around your company and strengthen the emotional bond with your audience, every like, repost and comment will increase the value of your brand.
Typically, engagement metrics are important for popular FMCG products, as well as products with a high emotional consumption component - for example, fashion brands or entertainment and leisure websites.
If the goal is to collect leads, publications that focus on likes will not achieve this. You can often find posts on the Internet whose purpose is to gather reactions. Thanks to feed algorithms, they increase the organic reach, but they do not always solve communication tasks. The post "Like if you love your mother" will not help the developer sell the apartment.
Calculating ERR for individual posts will help you track how much your audience liked a given topic and format. This data will tell the SMM specialist and marketer what direction they should go.
How to increase ER and ERR?
The best way is to create interesting content and promote it to your target audience.
Even if your goal is to sell, well-packaged, exclusive, first-hand content can help you get more views, increase engagement, and gain greater organic reach. Here are some tools to help increase engagement:
- Advertising campaigns and competitions.
- UGC publications - user-generated content. People trust real consumers who have already bought the product.
- Posts that are relevant to your audience's interests. Qualitative advice, interviews with customers or company employees. Even traditional construction dynamics will be exciting for those who are waiting for their new apartment.
What other metrics should you keep an eye on?
Analyze not only which posts have the highest engagement rates, but also why this happened. Don't be quick to dismiss product posts because they get less reactions - they also solve business problems.
Pay attention to how campaign goals are achieved:
- Are you acquiring new subscribers and customers?
- Do ads collect leads?
- Are your ads accumulating reach, or is your ad audience exhausted?
To sum up
- ER is a measure of audience engagement that reflects the ratio of the average number of reactions to a post to the number of page followers. This is important for social networks that do not have algorithmic feeds and recommendations like Telegram.
- ERR reflects the ratio of the average number of reactions per post to the number of users achieved. This is useful for analyzing posts that have received additional organic or advertising reach, as well as on social networks with algorithmic output.
- In the case of cooperation with bloggers, ER and ERR will help estimate live viewership and build a forecast of the effectiveness of an advertising campaign. The data can be supplemented with a report on organic and advertising reach.
- Engaging posts such as games and competitions, as well as content that is as close to subscribers as possible, can help increase ER. For example, UGC or product dynamics content.
- Remember that there is no "standard" for engagement - compare your own posts with each other to choose the best ones as objectively as possible. Let ER and ERR be a tool for assessing content performance, not an end in itself.
- When creating reports, focus on achieving the marketing and communication goals set for social networks - let engagement be just an addition to the overall picture.