There was a time when Engagement Rate felt like the golden metric. That neat little percentage was how we measured success. But things have changed.
It was very simple: ER = engagement / followers.
But here’s the problem: we don’t live in a follower-first world anymore. The social graph is pretty much dead. Now everything is built around an interest graph.
And that changes everything.
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Platforms like TikTok, Reels, and Shorts don’t care who you follow. They care what you watch. What you rewatch. And what makes you stick and stop scrolling.
This shift—from the social graph to the interest graph—means your content is more likely to be seen by strangers than by your followers. And that is great. Never before have we had the chance to get discovered and seen the way it is now possible to go “viral” and reach new audiences.
But that new algorithmic world makes the math behind Engagement Rate kinda pointless. If most people engaging with your content don’t follow you… why are we still dividing by followers?
Strategist Jack Appleby said it best on LinkedIn: “Engagement Rate is kind of a terrible KPI. It’s not representative of business goals and it’s too easy to game.” He’s not wrong.
The problem with measuring the wrong thing
As marketers we are always asked to measure the impact of everything we do, whether you specialize in organic, paid or anything in between. Using the wrong metrics means you could be underreporting the actual success of your best performing content or overvaluing the impact of “bait-y” content, just because of an ER that either hit low or promisingly high. That could lead to the wrong strategy being deployed on the wrong channels, promoting the wrong type of content or working with the wrong Creators.
ER is dead. It is no longer relevant to how social media works. For brands, for Creators and for individuals.
So what should we measure instead?
Let’s be real: there’s no easy replacement for ER. It was the ideal metric: simple to calculate, great to benchmark. But there are better ways to measure real performance in today’s feed.
Here’s what forward-thinking brands and creators are tracking instead:
- Absolute Engagement
Raw numbers. Not ratios. Total likes, comments, shares—across the board. - Engagement by Reach (ERR)
How many people engaged after seeing your post—not just followers. - Non-Follower Engagement
If your platform gives you this metric, treasure it. It’s gold. - Shares & Saves & Likes
Deeper signals of value and cultural relevance. - Watch Time & View-Through Rates
Especially for video. This tells you if your content is sticky. - Comment Quality & Quantity
One “this made my day” beats 50 emojis.
In conclusion, ER is a legacy metric from a different era of social. In today’s interest-graph algorithmic world, the success of your content is not longer based on who follows you, but on how relevant it is to someone in the feed. And that’s the real game.
The brands that win today aren’t optimizing for followers. They’re optimizing for curiosity, conversations, and culture.