How to Calculate Your Instagram Reels Engagement Rate in 2024
Instagram Reels, the short-form video feature, has quickly become one of the most popular and engaging types of content on the platform. As a creator or social media manager, measuring the performance and success of your Reels is crucial for refining your strategy and growing your audience.
One of the most important metrics to track is your Reels engagement rate. In this guide, we‘ll cover everything you need to know about Reels engagement rate—what it means, how to calculate it, benchmarks to compare yourself to, and tips to improve your performance. Let‘s dive in!
What is Instagram Reels Engagement Rate?
Engagement rate measures the level of interaction your Reels receive relative to your follower count or reach. It indicates how well your audience is responding to and connecting with your Reels content.
Engagement includes metrics like likes, comments, and shares. The more engagement your Reels get, the more the Instagram algorithm will favor them, meaning your content will be shown to more users. High engagement rates also build social proof and credibility.
While Reels view count is important too, engagement rate is a better way to gauge performance, as it puts your engagement in the context of your follower count. 1,000 likes means something very different for an account with 1,000 followers compared to one with 1 million.
How to Calculate Instagram Reels Engagement Rate
The formula to calculate the engagement rate of an individual Instagram Reel is:
Reels Engagement Rate = (Likes + Comments + Shares) / Followers x 100%
For example, let‘s say your Reel gets 500 likes, 25 comments, and 50 shares, and you have 10,000 followers. Your calculation would be:
(500 + 25 + 50) / 10,000 x 100% = 5.75%
So in this case, your Reels engagement rate would be 5.75%. Feel free to use our handy Reels engagement rate calculator:
Reels Engagement Rate Calculator
Number of likes: [ ] Number of comments: [ ] Number of shares: [ ] Number of followers: [ ] [CALCULATE]
Your Reels engagement rate is: [ %]
A few important things to note about the engagement rate formula:
Only public interactions are included. If someone views your Reel but doesn‘t engage with it, that won‘t show up in your analytics.
When counting likes, comments, and shares, use the numbers shown directly on the Reel. These may differ from what‘s shown in your Insights.
For shares, only count direct shares from the Reel, not if someone shares the Reel to their story from the feed.
Divide by your follower count, not your Reels view count. Views can include non-followers, so engagement rate based on followers is more accurate.
What is a Good Reels Engagement Rate on Instagram?
So what is considered a "good" engagement rate on Instagram Reels? The honest answer is—it depends. Engagement rates vary widely by account size, with smaller accounts typically seeing much higher engagement rates than large or mega accounts.
Here are the average Instagram Reels engagement rate benchmarks by follower count, based on a 2022 study:
As you can see, average engagement rate ranges from over 6% for nano influencers to under 2% for mega influencers. So don‘t get discouraged if your engagement rate seems low compared to others. A "good" engagement rate is a relative term.
Instead of worrying about hitting a specific number, use your own past performance as a benchmark. Calculate the engagement rate for several of your recent Reels and find the average. Then try to maintain or slowly improve on that over time.
5 Tips to Improve Your Instagram Reels Engagement Rate
Looking for ways to boost your Reels engagement rate? Here are some of our top tips:
1. Hook viewers in the first few seconds
Reels are short and people have limited attention spans. You need to make the first 3-5 seconds of your Reel extremely compelling and attention-grabbing to stop people from scrolling past.
Use movement, text overlays, and your hook or value proposition right at the start of your Reel. Give people a reason to keep watching!
2. Keep Reels short and to the point
Instagram allows Reels up to 90 seconds in length, but we recommend keeping them under 15 seconds for the best engagement rates. People tend to drop off the longer a Reel goes on.
Focus each Reel on one central point, tip, or topic. If you have more to say, create a series of Reels rather than making one long one.
3. Add on-screen text
Many people view Reels with the sound off, so including text overlays is crucial to getting your message across.
Use text to emphasize key points, add context, or even provide a sort of narration. Just keep it concise—a few words per screen is plenty.
4. Encourage engagement with CTAs
If you want people to engage with your Reels, you need to ask them to! Include calls-to-action in your Reels, like:
- "Double tap if you agree"
- "Let me know in the comments if…"
- "Share this Reel with a friend who needs to hear it"
Ask questions, encourage discussion, and make your audience feel involved. The more you can get them to interact, the higher your engagement rates will be.
5. Post consistently at peak times
Like all social media content, posting Reels consistently is important for maximizing engagement. Create a Reels content calendar and aim to post at least a few times per week.
Also pay attention to when your audience is most active on Instagram and post your Reels at those peak times. Instagram Insights can show you your follower activity by day and hour.
Account-Level Instagram Reels Engagement Rate
So far we‘ve focused on calculating the engagement rate of a single Instagram Reel. But you can also calculate the average engagement rate of all your Reels to get an overall view of your account‘s performance.
To do this, use the same formula as above, but add up the engagement and followers across several of your recent Reels (we recommend at least 10). Here‘s an example:
Let‘s say your last 10 Reels had a total of 5,000 likes, 250 comments, and 500 shares. If you have 10,000 followers, your calculation would be:
(5000 + 250 + 500) / 10,000 x 100% = 5.75%
So your account‘s overall Instagram Reels engagement rate would be 5.75%.
Calculating this account-level engagement rate is a good way to measure your Reels performance as a whole and track it over time. Aim to either maintain or slowly increase your account-level engagement rate each month.
Comparing Instagram Reels Engagement Rate to Other Platforms
If you‘re active on multiple social media platforms, you may be wondering how your Instagram Reels engagement rate stacks up to other short-form video formats, like TikTok or YouTube Shorts.
While the basic formula for engagement rate is the same across platforms, it‘s difficult to make an exact comparison for a few reasons:
- Follower counts may vary widely between platforms.
- Platforms calculate views differently.
- Some platforms have other engagement metrics, like TikTok‘s "favorites."
That said, here are the average engagement rates for short-form video on other platforms, according to recent studies:
- TikTok: 5.96%
- YouTube Shorts: 3.73%
As you can see, Instagram Reels tends to have slightly lower engagement rates on average compared to TikTok, but higher compared to YouTube Shorts.
But again, take these comparisons with a grain of salt. It‘s more important to focus on your own performance and growth over time, rather than worrying about how you stack up to other platforms.
Putting Reels Engagement Rate in Context
While tracking your Instagram Reels engagement rate is certainly important, it‘s just one piece of the puzzle. To get a complete picture of your Reels performance, you also need to look at other key metrics like:
- Views
- Watch time and drop-off rate
- Reach
- Saves
- Shares
- Profile visits and new followers from Reels
And don‘t forget to put your Reels metrics in the context of your overall Instagram performance. Calculate the average engagement rate of your regular feed posts and Stories as well.
If your Reels engagement rate is significantly higher than your other content, that‘s a good sign that your audience prefers short-form video from you. If it‘s lower, you may need to adjust your Reels strategy or stick to other formats.
Conclusion
Monitoring and improving your Instagram Reels engagement rate is one of the keys to success on the platform. By understanding how engagement rate is calculated and what counts as a "good" rate, you can effectively measure your Reels‘ performance and make data-driven decisions.
Use the tactics we covered to engage your audience and boost your Reels engagement rate over time. Remember, Instagram Reels is still a relatively new format, so focus on progress over perfection. As long as your engagement rate is staying steady or increasing, you‘re on the right track!
How do you plan to improve your Instagram Reels engagement rate? Let us know in the comments below!
