Creators: Engagement Rate (ER)

In this lesson, you will learn:

• What does engagement rate mean?
• How is it calculated on #paid?
• Why is engagement rate important?
• How can I improve my engagement rate?

When a brand reviews a creator's profile, there are a number of different metrics they may evaluate. Including, but not limited to:

1. Follower count
2. Engagement rate
3. Audience demographics
4. Deliverable prices
5. Cost per engagement

What does engagement rate mean?

Engagement rate (ER) is a quantitative measure of how users interact with the content on your profile. This metric can take into account a creator's follower size, likes, comments, and shares and is typically calculated by dividing an account’s likes and comments by follower count.

How is engagement rate calculated on #paid?

The Instagram engagement rate on #paid is calculated by the average likes and comments from the last 12 Instagram posts divided by the creator's followers times by 100. On #paid, we take the average Instagram ER of the last 12 posts to generate the ER that gets surfaced to a brand.

Why is engagement rate important to a brand?

When a brand is assessing a list of creators they want to collaborate with (typically on an organic campaign), they will usually use a creator's ER as an indication of how active and engaged the creator's social following is. The more engaged the creator's social following is the higher likelihood of a positive return on their marketing investment.

For example, if you as a creator are regularly posting content, but your ER is low, that would be a good indication that your followers are either not active, are not interested in the content being posted, or in some cases, fake followers are amongst your social network.

It’s important to note, that high impressions may indicate that your content has been viewed a lot, but engagement is typically defined as interactions with your posts.

What is the average engagement rate on #paid?

Every creator niche and category is going to vary. With that said, our team did an analysis on all the creators contracted in 2021 and found that the average ER across all creator niches and categories was 3.6% on #paid.

Where can I view my engagement rate on #paid?

Once you have logged into your #paid account, click on the drop-down arrow in the upper right-hand corner of your page and select profile. Once you are on your profile page in #paid, you will be able to view important account metrics including your CPE and your ER.

How to Increase your ER?

Increasing your ER not only symbolizes to the brand that you have an active and engaged social following it will also help to reduce your CPE. And, an increase in your ER will help you stand out as a content creator, not just on #paid, but on any creator marketing platform, you utilize. Below are some tactics that can help you as a content creator to improve your ER.

Understand your Audience

You've worked hard to build up your social following, but how well do you know these folks? Do you know their interests? Ages? Locations? By understanding who your social following is, you will better equip yourself as to what content these folks would be interested in seeing and engaging with.

Here is a great article HubSpot published, that can walk you through how to use Instagram's audience insights to start understanding your social following better today.

Post Regularly

Did you know that in 2022, 59% of all Instagram users logged in daily (sproutsocial)! What does that mean for you as a creator? Post often! But not just at any old time. Check your Instagram insights to see when your following is most active and post content accordingly.

Need some ideas on how you can increase your posting frequency? Check out this article Hootsuite published on creating a Social Media Calendar. It's packed with tips and tricks on planning and organizing upcoming content.

Engage with your Followers

Don't leave your social following hanging! Here are a few tips to stay engaged:

1. Keep commenting ON and don't forget to respond to the comments 😉

2. Repost tagged content to your own stories. This not only shows the person that you appreciate the shoutout, but it's also an efficient way to generate story content.

3. Post polls, questions, quizzes, etc. to activate your following and get them thinking!

4. #hashtags! are a great way for you and the rest of your social following to find relevant information easier.

5. Call to Action: The Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) can be real and a strong Call to Action, can be a great way to drive engagement and cut through the noise on social media

Engaging Captions

Social media today is crowded. Brands are leveraging it. Creators utilizing it. Heck, even grandparents are on social media to stay connected with loved ones.

How do you cut through the noise and make your content stand out? One way is by storytelling! Socialbakers wrote a great article on the essentials of storytelling and broke down three essentials:

1. Know Your Audience
2. Use Your Customers’ Tone of Voice
3. Make your Customers the Hero of Your Story

We highly recommend checking out the full article on How to Use Social Media Storytelling to Skyrocket Your Engagement!

Create Mixed Content

In a recent study by Zenith, they calculated that on average, people spent 84 minutes per day watching videos (!!) in 2020. And that videos also receive about 38% more engagement than images (!!)

While posting photos is definitely not dead, there are now 4 other ways to post content on Instagram, and they are all video-based. So, get creative and try experimenting with more Reels, IGTV, Story videos, Instagram Live, and video posts.

Maintaining a competitive ER is just one piece in the creator assessment process and increasing your ER on social media happens over time! But by actively looking at new trends, experimenting, and seeking feedback, you are setting yourself up for success.

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: Are the situations where brands don't look at ER?

Answer: If a brand is running a Just Content campaign, they may not focus as much on ER because the content will not be posted to your personal social media pages.

Question: Does my ER impact my Cost per Engagement (CPE)? 

Answer: You bet! Typically, the higher the ER the lower your CPE will be. And a lower CPE usually makes you a more attractive candidate for a brand. Here is an article that can walk you through more information on CPE.  

Additional Resources

How to Increase Your Instagram Engagement Rate

Instagram statistics you need to know for 2022

How to Use Social Media Storytelling to Skyrocket Your Engagement