Mirror, mirror on the wall, what’s the fairest social media metric of them all?

Have you ever had a client ask you why the company or project social media accounts don’t have more followers? Have you been asked to include the ‘number of social media followers’ as a performance metric in a social media or communications strategy?

The EngagingDev team has, and our response is always the same - Don’t focus on the number of followers as a sign of success on social media.

Here’s why.

For some, social media seems to be about ‘building’ a following. The more followers, the more people reading our content, right? Not necessarily.

The number of followers is what is known as a ‘vanity’ metric. It looks good on the outside, but beyond ‘good looks’ it doesn’t tell us what is really going on.

There will always be more followers to attract, but fixating on followers reduces each follower to a number. Someone following your account does not mean they are engaged with your content, and disengaged followers are not tapped into your messaging, your brand or your purpose.

What is follower engagement?

Engagement refers to the online interaction between social media users and your social media content.

There are many types of engagement ‘actions’ on social media channels, some include:

Engagement is measured by calculating the engagement rate. Some social media platforms offer analytics and insights that calculate the engagement rate for you, as per this example:

More than a metric, engagement is about building a relationship between your brand and your audience. Relationship-building requires reciprocity, so do not forget to engage with your audience too!

Not all engagement is equal

The engagement rate gives you a picture of the relationship that your audience has with your brand and content, but not all engagement is equal.

Some engagement ‘actions’ are stronger, and more active, than others.

Think of engagement types as sitting on a spectrum, from the weak and passive (low engagement), to the strong and active (high engagement).

The more effort someone puts into engaging with your content, the more valuable the engagement is. For example, a post that attracts comments from followers represents better engagement than one that only received likes, or likes with few comments. A post that is shared by followers represents better engagement again, and a post that is shared with comments means a follower is highly engaged - they appreciate your content enough to share it AND encourage others to engage with it.

A word of caution

As social media has evolved over the years, so have quick growth strategies. One strategy involves buying followers. Outwardly, this would give your account a small boost of engagement which can be tempting, but over time it would be doing your account a disservice. Most of these ‘bought’ followers are in fact bots, and therefore will not genuinely engage with your content in the long term.

Before praising an account with a large number of followers, apply a critical lens, because the number could be misleading.

So what is a good engagement rate?

Not all engagement rate benchmarks are the same, they are specific to the social media platform - but it is typically not as big of a percentage as you may think.

Usually, a quick google can give you a basic idea of the benchmark engagement rate for your chosen platforms. If your account has this rate or greater, then you can be confident that you have strong engagement. Click on the below images to access two resources that delve into industry-specific engagement rates across a few platforms. This data can help you identify a good engagement rate for your field of work. Here we present findings as aggregated across a number of industries.

While these report findings do differ, it is only slightly. Ultimately they serve to demonstrate that the average engagement rate across all industries is not exceedingly high. Depending on your industry, do not expect your engagement rate to be anything greater than 10%.

How to increase engagement?

How to use engagement rate metrics strategically

Spend some time reviewing and comparing engagement rates across your different posts to ascertain which may be resonating more with your audience. It can help you determine the type of posts (photo, video, carousel) to share, topics to address or even the days and times to post. The engagement rate can be a tool that takes the guesswork out of your social media strategy by using data to back your decisions.

🔥 Hot tip for LinkedIn
Within the admin view, navigate to the analytics tab, click the drop-down box and go to competitors. You can select up to 9 of your competitors on LinkedIn to measure your brand’s performance against theirs, which will help you to develop your brand’s benchmarks. To learn more read here.

A final word on engagement

Social media is called social media for a reason. Look past the vanity metrics such as the number of followers and understand who is engaging with your content, and why. Be social. Engage with your audience, build a relationship, and brand recognition, trust and loyalty will follow.

Written by
Holly Sutcliffe-Carey, Communications Assistant and Lisa Ritchie, Director.