Find out the truth about the Engagement Rate

In Search of the Perfect Definition of Engagement Rate in Social Media

8/3/2024

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5 min

Today we are entering the wonderful world of engagement rate. Yes, let's see (finally!) everything that has to do with this mysterious metric. Make yourself a good cup of coffee and your best calculator. Warning: if you have a slightly larger cup, the better, this is going to be intense ☕ We will start by exploring the concept of engagement rate, getting to know. Then we'll see, we'll review some affectionately nicknamed calculations such as and we'll finish with one and the ones so that you can hit the right key and be able to see the engagement rate with other eyes (or, rather, with clarifying glasses).

Why is there so much mystery surrounding the ER?

(AKA 'Can anyone explain to me what the hell it is all at once? ')

The first thing I want to make clear is that the E-R, as it is usually defined, means Engagement Rate. “Rate” means ratio, index.

And “ratio” according to the RAE is the quotient of two numbers, and according to the pan-Hispanic dictionary it is the ratio or relationship between two quantities or quantities. I really like this applied definition because one of the keys we will delve into is the difference between the number of interactions and the engagement rate.

On the other hand, the word “Index”, which can also derive from the translation of “rate”, in the meaning that interests us means Numerical expression of the relationship between two quantities. Once again, We are talking about the relationship between two or more metrics. But not only that! But when searching the RAE I found another meaning that fits perfectly with what we consider Engagement rate, and that is what index also means the sign or sign of something.

This is how we have found the two keys from my point of view of Engagement rate. On the one hand must be a relationship between two metrics and, on the other hand, You must have a goal, should seek to be a sign or sign of something, as the RAE told us.

The way we seek to express or materialize that engagement rate is the percentage. In addition to being particularly supportive of this numerical expression, I think it's easier to understand, compare and equalize the measurement.

We seek, therefore, that the Engagement rate be a democratic metric. And what are the characteristics of a democracy?

Returning to the RAE and without entering into political denominations, the term equality and common representation appears. And if we delve a little deeper, we see that it is also related to justice and to the power of decision-making from the people.

And what does this have to do with the Engagement rate? Well, the current trend of this measurement leaves aside the “interest of the people” speaking in quotation marks and focuses on finding the maximum data of Engagement rate taking into account only the objective or data that has been determined in the company and that responds to the result that you want to obtain in the statistics, leaving something aside the objectivity that a measurement of this type requires. This is an unfair and unequal practice and, therefore, anti-democratic. Hence I say that The Engagement rate It must be a democratic metric.

Okay, making this point clear and going back a bit. We were talking about the basis of the approach of Engagement rate What I remember are: 1) having several related metrics and 2) seeking to give meaning to something we want to analyze. This will be our starting point in the search for the perfect definition of Engagement rate.

Why am I doing it wrong?

Fear not, for now it's not a serious crime, but you should be careful... @policiadelER

For years I have been seeing how different types of companies and roles talk about the Engagement rate. On the one hand, the agencies and the demands of their clients and, on the other hand, the marketing, social and digital departments of many large and small brands. What I have concluded is that few people are really clear or well-defined, yes they all agree that engagement must be measured, as a phrase made (and even shouted out) “ENGAGEMENT MUST BE MEASURED” but until then, it doesn't go deeper, in most cases, beyond that. However, this is changing favorably and there are already many more studies and approaches that are professionalizing the metric.

I think that, In many cases it is required or required to know the engagement rate data without knowing what it is. In many cases, this need has been motivated because it has been heard in a certain fashion paper, talk or podcast, but they haven't stopped to analyze well what it measures, why it's important and, as I say, the best way to find it. The reality is that depending on the type of company you are, you should more or less analyze the engagement rate and in one way or another.

In the many careers in marketing, advertising and business, we are taught that engagement is the degree of loyalty, as well as a general concept without applying it to anything specific. And here I want to make an important and at the same time somewhat controversial note, because clearly this is changing and we are learning and improving our definitions, recommendations and uses of the different metrics:

I am not in favor of using the word Engagement as a synonym for the sum of interactions, for very simple reasons:

The first and main one is that the way we grammatically shorten “engagement rate” is to say “engagement”, so if they have different meanings we can get confused more easily. The most correct thing would be to say “total number of engagements”, understanding engagements as synonymous with interactions and “engagement rate” when referring to the relationship between interactions or engagements and another metric, obtaining a grade or index as a result. It's just easier for me to use interactions and engagement rate, to better differentiate them.

An example to clarify this is, for example, in the where it is said that “one of the advantages of Content Marketing actions [...] is the fact that it produces a high degree of engagement between brand and consumer”, but then uses the term engagement as a synonym for interactions, explaining social engagement as “the one that is based on the concept of interaction. In the case of Facebook, interaction is considered to be any of the actions that a user can perform with content: reactions (like, love, dislike, etc.), comments and sharing. To measure engagement on Twitter, we use the same concept of “interaction” as on Facebook.” Within that same White Paper, the word engagement is used to refer to the relationship between the brand and the consumer and as a synonym of interactions.

The most traditional and general definition of engagement rate is the degree of loyalty of your audience. A degree is a value within a scale, and a sum goes from 0 to infinity. That is, “to what degree are you satisfied with your company?” , because it will be a value from 1 to 10, or from 1 to 100 or a percentage, or whatever, but it is not from 0 to infinity. That's why I see that it can cause errors to use the word engagement as a synonym for the sum of interactions, because it's relatively easy to confuse it with engagement rate.

Ok, after this note, I continue the search for the definition of Engagement rate perfect.

Like everything in data analysis and specifically in the analysis of social network data, we must contextualize and review the formula used to make a definition. In other words, an engagement rate that divides interactions between followers will not have the same definition as an engagement rate calculation that divides interactions between impressions, because both metrics have completely different interpretations. Different things are being measured and with different objectives.

We therefore enter the wonderful world of strange calculations of Engagement rate that I found myself. I will call this section “The FrankerSteins”:

Strange engagement rate calculations

Or, as I like to call them, “The FrankerSteins”.

First I want to make clear some considerations that I have seen and that are directly wrong:

Mix pears and apples. It's the typical thing they told us in math class, but it's true. The numerator and the denominator must refer to the same thing. In other words, if I am taking interactions between organic and paid content in the numerator, I must take organic and paid impressions in the denominator, not just one of the two. In the same way, if I want to analyze the engagement rate of video content, I must take in the numerator only the interaction data of posts that are videos and divide it by the total impressions of those same posts, not of all those published.
Averages of Engagement rate calculated with the averages of the percentages. It is mathematically incorrect to average percentages and the calculation error that is being included in the analysis is not usually taken into account.

Apart from these common errors that I have encountered, which are directly invalid calculations, I also wanted to comment on another practice that I have seen and that I consider to be not well calculated, based on what I consider to be a good engagement rate formula. And it is Use the number of followers in the numerator.

The numerator is where interactions, the active part of users, are included. So, if you use audience data in the numerator and add it to that interaction data, then divide it by impressions or reach, what is this data teaching us? If, for example, it is 2%, does it mean that 2% of impressions have had interaction, including the number of total followers in the definition of interaction? It doesn't make sense.

Another thing is to include the number of fans won, there it may make more sense to include it as an interaction, because it is an action that the user performs. However, when using this calculation, you must bear in mind that the actions of raffles and contests that require you to follow the account, distort the comparison with other content whose call to action is a link or other type of interaction.

In short, the technique is to know well what you are measuring and to interpret it accordingly. The conclusion I wanted to reach is that you use the engagement rate that I am going to recommend here or any other that is better suited to the measurement of your actions on social networks, you must be aware of how it could vary and keep in mind that the comparison is fair and reliable.

For example, if you make a lot of videos and your competition doesn't, it wouldn't be fair if you included views as one more interaction in your sum of interactions to calculate ER, because you wouldn't be comparing correctly, you would be benefiting (greatly increasing your number of total interactions by including views). In that case, you would have to make another ER without reproductions to make the comparison and then “get the hang of it” to have more reproductions showing the reproduction metric separately, for example, or with a specific ER for your brand that includes them in the numerator.

**Ok, but what types of Engagement rate should they be used?**

I have to tell you that if you have come directly to this section you are a very boring person...

To recap, we must mainly consider two things: 1) it must include several related metrics and 2) it must respond to something that we want to analyze. And, following the recommendations of the previous point, we must be very clear about what we want to use this engagement rate for.

<style> .mi-tabla col:nth-child(1) { width: 300px; } .mi-tabla col:nth-child(2) { width: 300px; } .mi-tabla col:nth-child(3) { width: 300px; } .mi-tabla col:nth-child(4) { width: 295px; } .mi-tabla col:nth-child(5) { width: 295px; }</style><table style="border:none;border-collapse:collapse;"><colgroup><col width="200"><col width="200"><col width="200"><col width="195"><col width="195"></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height:0pt"><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> </td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">ENGAGEMENT RATE POR IMPRESIONES (interacciones)</td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">ENGAGEMENT RATE POR ALCANCE (interacciones)</td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">ENGAGEMENT RATE MEDIO POR FANS (interacciones)</td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">ENGAGEMENT RATE MEDIO POR FANS (media de interacciones)</td></tr><tr style="height:0pt"><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Objetivo</td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Conocer el rendimiento de tus publicaciones en base a los impactos conseguidos. </td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Conocer el rendimiento de las publicaciones en base a las personas alcanzadas.</td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Conocer el rendimiento de las publicaciones en esa comunidad. </td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Conocer el interés de la comunidad en las publicaciones realizadas.</td></tr><tr style="height:0pt"><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Interpretación</td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Si es un 2% significa que <span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">el 2% de tus impresiones han tenido interacción<span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">. Si esta métrica aumenta significa que tu contenido ahora es más atractivo, ya que proporcionalmente las impresiones están consiguiendo más interacciones.</td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Si es un 2% significa que <span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">el 2% de las personas que han visto tu contenido han interactuado<span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">. Si esta métrica aumenta significa que tu contenido ahora es más atractivo o que las personas a las que has llegado están más interesadas en el mismo. </td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Si es un 2% significa que <span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">el 2% de la comunidad ha interactuado con el contenido<span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">. Si esta métrica aumenta significa que tu contenido ahora es más atractivo para esa comunidad. </td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Si es un 2% significa que, <span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">de media, el 2% de tu comunidad interactúa con cada contenido tuyo<span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">. Si esta métrica aumenta significa que tu contenido ahora es más atractivo para esa comunidad.</td></tr><tr style="height:0pt"><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Comparativa</td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Únicamente se podrá comparar <span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">con otras marcas de las que tengas el dato de impresiones<span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">, para ello normalmente necesitas el acceso a las métricas avanzadas, por lo que podrás comparar con otras marcas de tu grupo, pero no con la competencia.</td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Únicamente se podrá comparar <span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">con otras marcas de las que tengas el dato de alcance<span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">, para ello normalmente necesitas el acceso a las métricas avanzadas, por lo que podrás comparar con otras marcas de tu grupo, pero no con la competencia. </td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Se puede comparar con la competencia<span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">, justificando que aunque una audiencia sea pequeña, puede ser más fiel a los contenidos publicados.</td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Se puede comparar con la competencia<span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">, justificando no sólo, que aunque una audiencia sea pequeña, puede ser más fiel a los contenidos publicados, sino también, que puede no tener relación el publicar más con generar más interés.</td></tr><tr style="height:0pt"><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Fórmula</td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Interacciones totales / impresiones totales * 100</td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Interacciones totales / alcance total *100 </td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Interacciones totales / nº de días del rango de tiempo / seguidores * 100 </td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Interacciones totales / publicaciones realizadas / nº de días del rango de tiempo / seguidores *100</td></tr><tr style="height:0pt"><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Modificaciones / adaptaciones <span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Siguiendo la misma estructura se puede realizar el detalle de cualquier engagement rate, por ejemplo: </td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">ER por impresiones de un post <span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;-webkit-text-decoration-skip:none;text-decoration-skip-ink:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Fórmula<span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">: interacciones de ese post / impresiones de ese post *100<span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;"> <span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Así consigues medir el engagement rate específico de un contenido, posibilitando su comparativa con otras publicaciones de iguales o diferentes características. </td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">ER por alcance pagado <span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;-webkit-text-decoration-skip:none;text-decoration-skip-ink:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Fórmula<span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">: interacciones de los contenidos pagados / alcance de los contenidos pagados *100 <span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Así consigues medir el engagement rate exclusivamente de los contenidos pagados, pudiéndolo comparar con el calculado únicamente con el contenido orgánico.</td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">ER medio por fans (compartidos) <span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;-webkit-text-decoration-skip:none;text-decoration-skip-ink:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Fórmula<span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">: compartidos totales / nº de días del rango de tiempo / seguidores *100 <span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Así consigues el ratio de viralidad alcanzado por tus contenidos, en base a tus seguidores.</td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">ER medio por fans (media de reproducciones) <span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;-webkit-text-decoration-skip:none;text-decoration-skip-ink:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Fórmula<span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">: reproducciones totales / publicaciones realizadas en vídeo / nº de días del rango de tiempo / seguidores *100 <span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Así consigues un engagement rate medio exclusivo de los contenidos publicados en formato vídeo.</td></tr><tr style="height:0pt"><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Puntuación de analista</td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">9/10<span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;"> <span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;"> <span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Este es el mejor ER para medir tu marca y compararte con otras marcas de tu grupo, porque considero que es el más justo. Estás relacionando el número de interacciones que has conseguido en base a cuántas veces ha impactado el contenido, por lo que es el más fiel de los engagement rate para ver si tu contenido es más o menos interesante. La desventaja es que no podrás comparar este dato con tu competencia, por lo que debes buscar otras fórmulas para buscar respuestas en relación a este objetivo.</td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">3/10<span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;"> <span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;"> <span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Parece muy atractivo conocer el porcentaje de personas que realizan interacción con tu contenido. El problema viene en usar el alcance como métrica de referencia, ya que es una métrica aproximada, en muchas ocasiones depende bastante del algoritmo y sus recurrentes cambios y es habitual que se duplique la información de alcance en rangos muy grandes de tiempo. Es por ello que para mi es mucho más precisa la métrica de impresiones, también a la hora de realizar el cálculo de engagement rate. </td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">6/10 <span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Este ER únicamente lo recomiendo cuando los perfiles que vas a comparar tienen unos volúmenes de publicación similares. En el caso de que se vaya a comparar con diferentes redes (que suelen tener diferentes frecuencias de publicación) o con perfiles que publiquen mucho más o mucho menos que el resto del sector, recomiendo el ER medio por fans calculado con la media de interacciones por post (el que aparece aquí a la derecha 👉)</td><td style="border-left:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-right:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-bottom:solid #36024c 0.5pt;border-top:solid #36024c 0.5pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">9/10 <span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;color:#36024c;background-color:transparent;font-weight:300;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Este es mi ER preferido, porque pone en contexto la frecuencia de publicación de los perfiles, democratizando el criterio y siendo una métrica más justa. Además, te permite contextualizar tus datos con tu sector, haciéndote consciente del interés de tu contenido para esa comunidad. </td></tr></tbody></table>

‍

A clarification! I see you coming... the modifications and adaptations discussed are examples, not recommendations. For example, the engagement rate by reach I think it's clear that I don't recommend it, but I do recommend comparing the engagement rate obtained by paid vs. organic content (if that's your measurement objective) and then? Well, you can do it by dividing by impressions, rather than by scope. You can also calculate the engagement rate per impressions calculated from the average number of shares per publication, thus obtaining an average virality rate achieved by each of your contents.

If you notice, the formulas of the last two engagement rates include the number of days in the time range, this is because, as we mentioned before, interactions are an incredibly more variable metric than the number of followers and are not directly related to the posts made.

If we don't use the average ER per fan, but the ER per fan (that is, without dividing by the number of days in the time range), we cannot compare with other time ranges. That is, we must always contextualize it in the same number of days. Since there are months of 28, 30 or 31 days, the best way to avoid causing confusion or misinterpretation is to divide it by the number of days and leave this concern aside, besides that it will help you analyze in other periods (for example annually or weekly) and will help you to have a reference number for your comparisons. If you're a mega-geek like me and you want to better understand these calculations, ; if, on the other hand, you are already getting tired of me, I will give you a joy: you are coming to the end of the article.

Help! Which one do I choose?

I'm not going to give you the ideal ER for you because I don't know you. Ma'am, let go of my arm...

As attractive as it is to say that you have an engagement rate of 35%, you shouldn't do it if it doesn't meet the objective you were looking for when you found that data. Trying to make the data as concrete and fair as possible is what will provide you with the professionalism that this metric needs in the sector.

In the face of any possible question you are asking yourself about do I have to choose an ER from those in the table? The answer that your anxious self probably won't like is: no, you'll have to invest a little more time than just reading this article (I can sense your desperate face).

All of the above ERs are correct, but you must adapt them to the nature of your analysis and your brand. Good news is that you can use the table as a basis for building your engagement rate, fine! These formulas must be adapted to: whether or not you want to compare yourself with your competitors, if you make videos, if you want to analyze publications in isolation, if you need to analyze the clicks on the posts, if you want to compare several social networks, etc. Here are some tips that, at the risk of being tired, can help you:

Analyze well what you want to measure the for Engagement rate, maybe you're not interested in analyzing it and you just need an average number of interactions per publication and the total data of impressions, interactions and publications. Consider what you want to know before looking for an engagement rate, don't get carried away by how beautiful and modern the word sounds.
Check if you want to use the metric to compare yourself with other own brands or with the competition. And make sure that you can get the necessary data to perform that calculation of Engagement rate.
Consider what interactions will determine the performance of your posts. The interactions section (numerator) may or may not include reproductions, clicks, paid or organic data or both, fans won, etc. Keep in mind what is going to be included in the numerator. It is very important that if you are going to compare yourself with the competition, this metric is fair for all brands to obtain quality comparisons.

And with this I say goodbye, because when it comes to metrics, analysis and calculations I start writing and I don't stop! As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, everything can change from one moment to the next and we can find other formulas and approaches that better measure what we want to analyze in order to continue unraveling the fascinating world of metrics on social networks. See you in the next one!

PS: A serious question... did your coffee last the whole article? 🤭