Hearts on the post.
Higher signal than likes for IG ranking.
Unique accounts that saw the post. Use Followers if you're measuring an account-level ER.
Engagement rate (ER) is the share of people who saw your post and did something — liked, commented, shared, or saved. Every platform uses some flavor of it to rank content. Cross-platform comparisons are mostly noise; the same 2% ER means different things on Instagram than on TikTok.
| (likes + comments + saves + shares) ÷ reach × 100 avg 1.4% · 0.6-3% by account size | |
| TikTok | (likes + comments + shares + saves) ÷ views × 100 avg 5.7% · 4-9% typical |
| YouTube | (likes + comments + shares) ÷ views × 100 avg 1.8% · 1-5% typical |
| (reactions + comments + shares) ÷ reach × 100 avg 0.35% · 0.10-0.50% typical |
TikTok's denominator is views, not reach, and many TikTok views are passive seconds-long auto-plays from the For You feed. Even modest engagement against a huge view count produces a ratio that looks impressive. The math isn't dishonest — it just means TikTok ER and Instagram ER live in different unit systems.
For account-level ER you can use followers as the denominator; that's the “classic” formula. For post-level ER, reach is more accurate because algorithm decay means most posts never get shown to most followers. This tool defaults to the modern, reach-based formula.
High ER is a leading indicator of three things: the algorithm ranking the next post higher; the post earning shares and saves that reach new audiences; and downstream action (clicks, follows, DMs). ER alone doesn't pay the bills — but consistently above-benchmark ER is the strongest signal that distribution is working.
Depends on platform. Instagram: 1-3% is normal, 3-6% is great. TikTok: 5-9% is normal because of the views-based formula. YouTube: 1-5%. Facebook: 0.10-0.50%. Always compare to the platform benchmark, not to other platforms.
Reach is the modern standard — it answers 'of the people who actually saw the post, how many engaged?' Followers is the older account-level formula and tends to penalize larger accounts (because the algorithm shows posts to fewer followers as you grow).
Three reasons: (1) the algorithm fans out new posts to a smaller fraction of large followings; (2) some followers go inactive; (3) early audiences are usually more engaged than the broader audience you pick up later. Drop is normal and expected.
Views are the denominator on view-based platforms (TikTok, YouTube). They aren't counted as engagement themselves — that would inflate the rate to 100%. Engagement is the active stuff: likes, comments, shares, saves.
LinkedIn averages 1-3% organic ER, X averages 0.05-0.5%. We focused on the four highest-traffic platforms first. Plug LinkedIn's formula manually as (reactions + comments + reposts) / impressions × 100. We may add more platforms based on demand.
Branded content from your account averages 0.6-1.5% ER. UGC creators on the same audience routinely hit 3-9%. Same reach, more action. That's what our distribution engine is built around.