Engagement rate is the quickest way to tell whether a creator’s audience is actually paying attention. Follower counts can be bought, inherited from old viral moments or simply inactive. Engagement shows who still shows up.
The engagement rate formula
The most widely used version measures how many followers interact with a typical post:
Engagement rate = (average likes + average comments) ÷ followers × 100
For example, an account with 42,800 followers that averages 1,152 likes and 63 comments per post has an engagement rate of (1,152 + 63) ÷ 42,800 × 100 = 2.84%.
Use recent posts, and leave out the outliers
- Use the latest 10–12 posts so the number reflects the account as it is today.
- Exclude pinned posts. They are often old, unusually popular and distort the average.
- Skip posts with hidden like counts rather than counting them as zero.
What is a good engagement rate on Instagram?
It depends on audience size. Smaller accounts usually have tighter-knit communities, so engagement naturally falls as follower counts grow. Comparing a 5K-follower creator with a 500K-follower creator on raw engagement rate is not a fair test. These are the typical rates Social Checkup uses as benchmarks:
| Tier | Followers | Typical engagement rate |
|---|---|---|
| Nano | Under 10K | 2.4% |
| Micro | 10K–50K | 2.0% |
| Mid-tier | 50K–100K | 1.6% |
| Macro | 100K–500K | 1.3% |
| Mega | 500K–1M | 1.0% |
| Celebrity | 1M+ | 0.7% |
A useful way to read these numbers is as a multiple: an account at 1.5x its tier’s typical rate has an unusually responsive audience, while one at 0.5x or below deserves a closer look.
Skip the spreadsheet
Social Checkup calculates engagement rate on any public profile automatically, excludes pinned posts and hidden likes, and shows how the account compares with its follower tier, right on the profile page.