Engagement rate

If you've been managing a social network or website for a while, you've probably come across the basic concept of engagement rate. For those new to this area - it is a basic calculation of user engagement with content. Literally translated from English, "engagement" = "engagement". This engagement rate tells us how good the content we share is. That is, how many users, of those who have seen our content, are interested in it.

Frankly - engagement rate is not just for social networks. On a website, it can be any action that leads to engagement with the content, such as watching a video, reading a blog article, signing up for a newsletter, signing up for a system, etc. Here, engagement rate is slightly intertwined with "conversion rate" - i.e. conversion. Unlike an engagement rate, a conversion is when a visitor takes an action that leads to a business benefit. Engagement rate thus falls under conversion.

Calculating the engagement rate

However, it is much more common to see engagement rate calculations in social media, where the calculation depends on the interaction opportunities. This is most easily illustrated on Facebook, where we have the option to like, comment or share posts. We add these variables and divide them by the number of fans, multiply them and get the % of engagement, i.e. the engagement rate. The calculation looks like this:

((Like+Comment+Share)/Reach)*100 = Engagement rate

This formula tells you how many users have engaged with the content. You'll come across it most often and feel it's the ideal indicator. Unfortunately, it's too simplistic and that's because it doesn't account for certain factors. These are:

• Unique user – one user can respond by liking, commenting and sharing, which in the case of multiple such users will not measure the exact value of engagement.
• Likes – it's easier with instagram because there are only hearts. But on Facebook there are more types of reactions. One controversial one is the "haha" tag, which expresses the user's amusement, but it's not entirely clear what the reasons are anymore. Is he liking the content, or is he laughing at us for bad content?
• Comment – when a user tags another user in a comment, they are indirectly engaging with the content. However, the commenter is no longer included in the resulting pattern.

So there are multiple patterns that show the level of user engagement (engagement rate). Of course, individual social networks offer this calculation in their tools, but it is not always ideal. You should always think about the content itself, the nature of the social network, the community on the network or blog and adjust the formula accordingly. The concepts of reach and actual views may differ.

The key is to test what is the best indicator by content. Because no pattern is wrong. However, everyone says something different and it's important to stick to one pattern for a really long time, as this is the only way to get really telling values about the quality of the content.