How to Increase Your Instagram Engagement Rate in 2022

While there are various ways to market yourself or your business on Instagram, it’s impossible to do so without first understanding your Instagram engagement rate.

What is Instagram engagement rate?

Instagram engagement rate is a quantitative measure of how users interact with the content on your profile. It takes into account your number of followers, likes, comments, and shares. Engagement rates are typically calculated by dividing an account’s likes and comments by follower count.

Why does your Instagram engagement rate matter?

Instagram engagement rates are significant because they measure an audience’s interest, brand relevance, and social authority.

Audience Interest

If your content appeals to your target audience, your engagement rate will be higher.

If you take the time to review your best-performing content — i.e., posts with the most likes, shares, saves, and comments — you’ll get a feel for what your users want to see.

It’s important to note high impressions may indicate that your content has been viewed a lot, but engagement is typically defined as concrete interactions with your posts.

Relevance

If you have a high engagement rate, it’s likely your audience sees you as a relevant source of information.

They may favor your content over competitors because your content sets you apart. However, if you have a high engagement rate now, will it stay the same in three months? Is it higher than it was last year?

If you aren’t monitoring your engagement rate and using it as a benchmark for relevance, your score can decline.

Social Authority

While you’ve probably already identified your target Instagram audience, it’s never bad to add new followers and fans to the list.

These new users will take notice of your engagement — your followers, likes, comments, etc. — to decide whether or not to follow you.

They’re likely to move on to your competitors if they notice your brand's engagement, a.k.a. social authority is not strong.

What is the average Instagram engagement rate?

There is no one-size-fits-all definition of a "good" engagement rate. It can vary by industry, B2B vs. B2C, and a series of other factors.

However, Instagram does have higher engagement rates than other social media networks.

According to the HubSpot Instagram Engagement Report, posts on the platform generate 23% more engagement than Facebook, even though Facebook has 2x more monthly users.

If you want a numerical value to compare your score to, Rival IQ found that the median engagement rate across all industries is 0.064%, in a 2022 report.

The highest engagement levels are reported in the sporting industry (0.27%) and by influencers (0.23).

Because of this, it’s safe to assume that an engagement rate of around 1% is a good engagement rate.

If you’ve already run the numbers and found that your engagement rate is significantly lower than average, don’t fret. There’s room for improvement — but maintain a healthy perspective.

Assess how your engagement rate has changed over time and begin devising strategies to raise your score.

Start this process by calculating your engagement rate, outlined in the next section.

How To Calculate Your Engagement Rate On Instagram

There is debate among marketers on the best way to calculate your Instagram engagement rate, as different industries define success in different ways.

Your preferred method depends on your goals as a brand or influencer.

Calculating Instagram Engagement Rate for Brands

This formula is best for brands on Instagram because it considers the number of people who have seen a piece of content (impressions) rather than the total number of followers.

Brands typically convert more leads via exposure first, rather than follower count.

When branded advertisements get viewed, engagement rates go up, especially if they follow the advertisements on Instagram profiles and become followers.

Note that Instagram accounts need to be public Business Profiles to see impressions.

Calculating the Instagram engagement Rate for Influencers

Since sponsors often recruit influencers on Instagram based on their likes and follower count, their engagement rates incorporate these two factors.

Since this metric doesn’t require any personal data, it's possible to compare your engagement rates to competitors.