Written by María Navarro
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What is engagement?
The term engagement is used in online marketing to refer to the degree of emotional involvement that a company’s followers have with all its communication channels, such as the website or social networks.
Its goal is to create real fans of your brand who want to buy your products, consume your content and recommend you to friends.
How to measure engagement
Engagement is one of the most important metrics to determine the success of your digital marketing strategy. Therefore, it is important not only to understand the concept but also to know how to measure and improve it.
There are many indicators related to engagement, such as page visits, number of conversions, comments, “likes”, newsletter subscribers, among others. Deciding which KPI to choose will depend very much on the company’s strategy or objectives.
The biggest challenge for companies is to increase the size of the community without decreasing its engagement. After all, having a large community in which the followers do not participate does not make much sense.
How to improve engagement
To improve engagement we must take into account the different channels we are going to work with. Depending on the channel, we will apply one content strategy or another according to the audience profile, age, hobbies, tastes, etc. of that channel.
Some recommendations applicable to all your channels are:
- Surprise your users.
- It provokes and encourages their interaction.
- Always respond to their questions or comments.
- Be interested in their opinion.
- Listen to them and encourage them to participate.
Don’t forget that the concept of engagement goes beyond social networks such as Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. Every communication channel can and should generate engagement.
Remember, engagement is in all your digital marketing actions.
- Generate interest in your company.
- Keep users’ attention
- Take care of the health of your online community
Evangelize your brand, since the success of your company will depend in most cases on recurring users.
The Engagement Rate or interaction rate is the indicator that allows us to measure engagement.
It is a very useful indicator to measure community engagement with the company or brand. The Engagement Rate formula varies depending on the social network, but in general terms it is calculated by dividing the total number of user interactions in a given period of time by the number of publications made in the same period. This figure should then be divided by the number of followers of the company in the social network, and multiplied by one hundred. The interesting thing about this indicator is that it allows us to compare the degree of involvement of users in each of the social networks and even compare different communities, for example, of our brand and the competition. This is possible because the formula takes into account both the publications made and the size of the community.
To know the consolidated Engagement Rate, or in other words, the general engagement of the community, we must add up the Engagement Rate of all the social networks in which the company is present and divide it by the number of social networks. In this way we will obtain an average figure.
Measuring engagement on Facebook
To calculate the Engagement on Facebook we must divide the number of interactions we receive on the page in a given period of time, by the number of posts we have made during the same period. We then divide the resulting figure by the number of fans the page has and multiply it by one hundred.
On Facebook, getting a good Engagement is of vital importance, as the EdgeRank, Facebook’s algorithm, is calculated based on this interaction indicator. To the extent that our page has a good engagement, Facebook will give greater reach to its publications among its followers, that is, the status updates will reach a greater number of fans of the page.
Measuring engagement on Instagram
To calculate engagement on Instagram we must divide the number of “Likes” and the number of comments received in a period of time, by the number of photos published in the same period. We will then divide the figure we obtain by the number of followers of our Instagram account and multiply it by one hundred.
Measuring engagement on Twitter
To calculate engagement on Twitter we must divide the number of mentions and retweets in a period of time by the number of tweets we have made in that period. We will then divide the resulting figure by the number of followers of the Twitter account and multiply by one hundred.
Measuring engagement on Linkedin
To measure engagement on LinkedIn, we must add up the interactions received on this social network, i.e. the number of times we are recommended, the number of times our content is shared and the number of comments. We will divide the total number of interactions received with the number of publications made in the same period. Finally, we will divide the figure we obtain by the number of contacts we have on LinkedIn and multiply it by one hundred.
References on engagement:
What is engagement and what is it for? – Tristán Elósegui
1427 engagement rate a metric you can count on – Socialbakers
How to improve engagement with Instagram Stories – Aurora Maciá
