· 5 min read
Engagement rate: how to calculate it for your media kit
How to calculate your engagement rate per follower and per view, which one to use, the stats to show next to it and the mistakes that make it look wrong.
Short answer: engagement rate is your interactions (likes, comments and usually shares) divided by how many people had the chance to interact, times 100. Divide by views if video is your main format, and by followers if you mostly post photos. Use numbers from the same channel and the same period, and say in your media kit which one you used.
Engagement rate is the number brands look at to see whether your audience actually cares. Follower count shows how many people pressed a button at some point. Engagement shows how many react now. The problem is that there are several ways to calculate it, and the wrong one gives a number that looks either too good to be true or completely broken. Here are both methods, when to use which, and the mistakes to avoid.
What does engagement rate measure?
Engagement rate is the number of interactions, meaning likes, comments and often shares, divided by how many people had the chance to interact. The result is a percentage. The only real question is what you divide by, and there are two options.
How do you calculate engagement rate?
Per follower
Engagement rate = (likes + comments + shares) ÷ followers × 100
This is the classic metric. It works best when most of your reach comes from your own followers, for example with photo posts on Instagram.
Per view
Engagement rate = (likes + comments + shares) ÷ views × 100
This is the metric that works for video, especially on TikTok, Reels and YouTube, where a large share of viewers have never followed you. It answers the question "of the people who saw the video, how many reacted?", which is what a brand really wants to know.
A worked example
Say your TikTok videos got the following in the last month. The numbers are made up for the example.
- Views: 120,000
- Likes: 6,000
- Comments: 300
- Shares: 200
- Followers: 9,000
The interactions add up to 6,000 + 300 + 200 = 6,500.
- Per view: 6,500 ÷ 120,000 × 100 = 5.4%
- Per follower: 6,500 ÷ 9,000 × 100 = 72.2%
Same account, same month, two completely different numbers. The second isn't miscalculated, but it says more about TikTok showing your videos to people who don't follow you than about how engaged your audience is. That is why you should calculate per view as soon as video is your main format.
Which one should you use?
- Video is your main format: per view. Label it, for example "Engagement per view".
- Mostly photos and carousels: per follower works well.
- Several platforms: calculate it on the platform you want to be booked for, and say which one it is.
What matters most is that the reader knows what the number is based on. A percentage without an explanation can't be compared with anything.
Use numbers from the same period
The most common mistake is mixing periods. Use last month's totals for everything: views, likes, comments and shares. In Instagram Insights, choose "Last 30 days"; on TikTok and YouTube, choose 28 days. Two days' difference doesn't matter in a ratio, as long as every number in the calculation comes from the same period.
If you mix a month of likes with today's follower count, or the year's best video with an average week, the number becomes impossible to interpret.
Mistakes that make the number look wrong
- Thousands separators read as decimals. If the app says 86,089, that is eighty-six thousand, not 86 point something. Type the number without separators if you're unsure.
- More likes than views. That's impossible, so it's always a typo. Check the numbers again.
- Engagement above 100%. Almost always a sign that you're calculating per follower on an account where videos reach far beyond your followers. Switch to per view.
- Only your best video. A record is nice, but an average over a month shows what a brand can expect. If you want to show the record, show it separately and say that's what it is.
- Rounded numbers that don't add up. If interactions and views sit next to each other in your media kit, the percentage should be possible to calculate from them. The reader can check.
What is a good engagement rate?
The honest answer is that it depends. Platform, format, niche and account size all affect the number, and comparing yourself with a single "good level" easily misleads. Three things say more than the percentage itself:
- The trend. Calculate it the same way every month. Rising engagement is a stronger argument than one high number.
- The comments. Questions about products, tips and discussions are worth more than emojis, and you can describe that in words in your media kit.
- Consistency. Steady engagement across many posts shows a stable audience, not one video that happened to go viral.
Which stats should go next to it in your media kit?
Engagement rate is a summary, so show the numbers it comes from beside it. Brands usually want to see:
- Followers per channel, for context
- Views last month, or average views per video, to show your real reach
- Likes, comments and shares last month, the interactions behind the percentage
- Your audience split by gender and age, so they can see who those people are (see how to show your audience demographics)
Take every number from the app's own analytics, from the same channel and the same period.
How to write it in your media kit
Write the percentage, what it's based on and which period it covers. For example: "Engagement per view: 5.4%, TikTok, last month". Then the reader can both understand and trust the number. Which other numbers belong in the document is covered in what to include in a media kit.
When you build your media kit with Mediakitster, the engagement rate is calculated for you from the numbers you enter: per view when you've entered average views, otherwise per follower. Engagement is also a good basis for setting your rates, see how much to charge for a brand deal.