Understanding the true value of an influencer's impact is crucial. Among the myriad of metrics available, engagement rate stands out as a pivotal indicator of genuine connection and influence. At Influencer Hero, we go beyond basics to offer a thorough analysis of an influencer's engagement. This article delves into the methodology behind how Influencer Hero calculates engagement rates, providing you with the insights needed to make informed decisions and maximize your marketing efforts. At Influencer Hero, we also empower brands to identify the engagement rate of influencers with precision using our engagement rate calculator tool
An influencer's engagement rate measures the level of interaction their content generates, such as likes, comments, shares, and saves, relative to their number of followers. It's a key metric to gauge the effectiveness and authenticity of an influencer's connection with their audience. High engagement rates often indicate a more engaged and loyal audience, making the influencer a valuable partner for brand collaborations.
We probably heard from others how micro influencers sold more than a macro influencer or the other way around. At the end of the day the size of the influencer doesn’t always matter. What really counts are the superfans of the influencers who often purchased whatever the influencer recommends. These superfans often engage more actively which is why the engagement rate is such an important metric to look at.
In fact we conducted one of the largest influencer marketing research on this topic to date. With a dataset of 10,325 commercial influencer posts our data scientists looked at the correlation between engagement rate and conversions. Not surprisingly high performing influencers which were able to sell a lot of products had a higher engagement rate compared to influencers which sold less. We now finally have a data backed answer to this question.
To visualise the results of our study better we categorised the 10,325 influencers into the following 3 segments.
In the graph below you can see that high performing influencers which referred over 10 conversions in a single social media post had an median engagement rate of 1.2%, followed by medium performing influencers with an median engagement rate of 0.8% and finally low performing influencers, which achieved 2 conversions or less (of which the majority didn’t make a single sale), with an median engagement rate of 0.7%.
This clearly shows the importance of analysing the engagement rate when working with influencers. Using our free instagram engagement rate calculator you can quickly access the engagement rate of any influencers. Access our free tool here.
Besides engagement rate we also looked at the total number of engagements in our research. Below is an overview of the result indicating a significant correlation between conversions and engagements.
When looking at this metric you have to be careful not to draw the wrong conclusions as total engagement does not take the follower / audience size of the influencer into account. Meaning that typically influencers with a larger audience also have a large number of engagements. Especially as audience size also showed a positive correlation with conversions in our research it is unclear what the underlying metric is which leads to higher conversions. With statistics always remember correlation doesn't equal causation.
As engagement rate takes the audience size into account we generally recommend to look at engagement rate over the total number of engagements.
To learn which other metrics correlate with influencer marketing ROI access our full research report here.
To calculate the Engagement Rate add up all the interactions from all the posts and divide it by the total number of followers.
In order to calculate the engagement rate we take the average engagements across all the influencer posts and divide this by the total number of followers of the influencer.
Example:
Let’s say an influencer has on average 3.2K engagements per post and has 230K followers. The engagement rate would be:
ER = 3,200 / 230,000 = 0.0139 = 1.4%
There are various free tools which let you analyse the engagement rate some of which are:
Data provided by influencer hero’s influencer audit Chrome extension
It even has a dark mode for the night owls among us.
Install the influencer audit chrome extensions for free here.
Data provided by inbeat engagement rate calculator
Data provided by HypeAuditor engagement rate calculator
Data provided by influencer hero’s free engagement rate calculator
We have a detailed review of best instagram engagement rate calculators features, how they work.
In summary, detecting fake followers is crucial for optimizing influencer marketing campaigns and ensuring genuine engagement. Influencer Hero leverages advanced machine learning algorithms to scrutinize engagement patterns, follower authenticity, and activity metrics, providing brands with precise insights into their influencer partnerships. By distinguishing real followers from bots, Influencer Hero helps companies make informed decisions, drive authentic connections, and enhance their ROI. As social media continues to evolve, tools like Influencer Hero are essential for maintaining credibility and fostering genuine online communities.
Schedule a Demo with one of our media experts below.
.png)
.png)
.png)