What is TikTok Engagement Rate?
TikTok engagement rate is a metric that measures the level of engagement your content generates on the platform. It calculates the percentage of people who interacted with your TikTok video out of your total number of views (Keyhole, 2023).
On TikTok, engagement includes likes, comments, shares, saves, follows and any other actions that show users meaningfully interacted with your content. A higher engagement rate signals your content resonates with your audience and keeps them interested. This is important for TikTok’s algorithm, which favors videos that spark engagement.
To calculate your overall TikTok engagement rate, add up all your engagement actions (likes, comments, shares, etc.) across your last 20 videos. Then divide this total engagement count by the total views on those 20 videos. This gives you your engagement rate percentage (The Influencer Marketing Factory, 2023).
Tracking your engagement rate helps you understand what content works best and improve your strategy over time. Aim for an engagement rate between 4.5-18% as a good benchmark (Hootsuite, 2022). The higher your engagement rate, the better you’re capturing audience attention.
Average TikTok Engagement Rate
Typical engagement rates on TikTok are much higher than other social platforms. According to a 2023 report by Rival IQ, the average engagement rate per follower on TikTok is 5.7%1, which is significantly higher than platforms like Instagram. Engagement rates vary based on account size and niche.
Here are some benchmarks for average TikTok engagement rate:
- 1,000 to 5,000 followers – 21.10%
- 5,000 to 20,000 followers – 18.40%
- 20,000 to 100,000 followers – 15.64%
- 100,000 to 1 million followers – 11.39%
- Over 1 million followers – 4.40%
Niche also impacts engagement rate. Rival IQ found dance and talent accounts have the highest engagement at 11.2%, while brands have lower engagement around 2.5%.
Understanding benchmarks for your account size and niche is helpful for evaluating your TikTok engagement rate.
How to Calculate Your TikTok Engagement Rate
Calculating your TikTok engagement rate is simple with just a few steps:
- Add up the total number of engagements on your TikTok post. This includes likes, comments, shares, saves, etc. You can find this engagement data in your TikTok analytics.
- Count the total number of followers you had when you posted.
- Divide your total engagements by your follower count at the time of posting.
The formula is:
Engagement Rate = (Total Engagements / Follower Count at Post Time) x 100
For example, if you got 500 engagements on a post when you had 10,000 followers, your engagement rate would be:
(500 / 10,000) x 100 = 5% engagement rate
The higher the engagement rate percentage, the better. An engagement rate of 3-5% is considered good for most TikTok accounts.
Make sure to calculate the engagement rate for each of your posts to see which content resonates best with your audience. Track it over time to see if you’re improving.
Tips to Increase Your TikTok Engagement
Here are some best practices for creating engaging content on TikTok to boost your engagement rate:
Use Trends and Challenges: Participate in popular TikTok trends, dance challenges, hashtags, and viral sounds. This helps put your content in front of people already engaged with those topics. For example, try the #WipeItDown or #FlipTheSwitch challenges.
Optimize Your Profile: Fill out your TikTok bio completely, set a profile photo and make sure your username and handle are memorable. This gives viewers more context about your brand when they land on your profile.
Engage With Your Followers: Reply to comments, answer questions in your captions using the Q&A sticker and go live to engage directly with your audience. Building relationships leads to more engagement.
Use Captions Creatively: Well-written, engaging captions keep viewers watching and prompt likes, comments and shares. Ask questions, tell stories and use emojis to set a fun tone.
Post Consistently: Posting daily or several times a week helps keep your content fresh and surfaces it to new viewers consistently through TikTok’s algorithm.
Optimize Hashtags: Include a mix of popular and niche hashtags so your content shows up both in trending topics and specific interest areas. But don’t over-tag.
Analyze Your Analytics: Check your posts’ engagement rates in TikTok Analytics to see top performing content. Take note of video length, captions, sounds and hashtags that do well.
Collaborate with Creators: Work with influencers in your niche to tap into their audience and increase exposure. Shoutouts, guest appearances and co-created content can drive engagement.
Leverage Duets: Duet with trending videos and relevant hashtags to put your content alongside popular posts. Add your own twist for a creative, interactive post.
Go Behind-the-Scenes: Give your audience a peek behind the scenes with BTS footage, daily vlogs, and show more of your brand’s personality. The inside access feels exclusive.
Make it Shareworthy: Videos with an emotional component or surprising/dramatic moments tend to be shared more. Think funny, inspiring or informational content.
When to Post for Maximum Engagement
When looking to gain maximum engagement on TikTok, the best times of day to post are between 10am-12pm, 5-7pm, and 8-10pm. These tend to be the times when TikTok users are most active on the platform and will see your content. The highest engagement rates generally happen during weekday afternoons and evenings (3-7 PM) [1].
Certain days of the week tend to see higher engagement as well. The most popular days are Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Friday afternoon in particular (around 5pm) is an especially good time to post [1]. Posting on the weekend allows you to reach users when they have more free time and tend to be more active on TikTok.
Tracking your own analytics within TikTok can also help determine when your particular audience is most active. Pay attention to when your top performing videos were posted to see if there are certain times or days that work best for engagement. Then adjust your posting schedule accordingly. Testing different posting times is key to finding your peak times for engagement.
TikTok Features that Boost Engagement
TikTok has several built-in features that can help increase engagement when used strategically. Understanding how these features work and when to use them can take your content to the next level.
One of the most popular engagement drivers is duets. Duets allow you to record a video side-by-side with someone else’s video. You can duet with influencers, brands, friends, or random viral videos. Dueting with high-profile accounts can expose your content to new audiences. It’s also a creative way to put your own spin on trending content.
Similarly, stitches allow you to clip a section of someone else’s video and incorporate it into your own. Stitches make it easy to participate in trending challenges, memes, and formats. Just make sure you’re adding value by putting your unique twist on the content.
Leveraging hashtags and trends is key on TikTok. Check out trending sounds and hashtags and make content around timely topics. But also use niche hashtags tailored to your audience. The more targeted the hashtag, the more likely you are to show up for users interested in that topic.
Interact with your followers in comments and respond to questions. Asking questions and polls in captions can also spark engagement.
Overall, look for ways to creatively repurpose popular content while staying true to your brand. The more you can make features like duets and stitches your own, the more authentic engagement you’ll drive.
Analyzing Your TikTok Analytics
TikTok provides creators with robust analytics to measure performance and engagement. By regularly analyzing key metrics in the TikTok analytics dashboard, you can gain insights to improve your content and boost engagement.
Some of the most important TikTok analytics to analyze for engagement include:
- Impressions – The number of times your content is displayed to users. This indicates how much reach your videos are getting.
- Likes, comments, shares – The core metrics for engagement. Analyze which videos get the most positive interactions.
- Playtime – The total time users spent watching your videos. More playtime signals engaging content.
- Follower growth – Monitoring steady follower growth indicates you’re building an engaged audience.
- Traffic sources – See where your views are coming from (Hashtags, FYP, etc) to inform content strategy.
Regularly checking your TikTok analytics will highlight top-performing videos to replicate as well as underperforming content to improve upon. You can also identify which types of videos, captions, sounds, and hashtags resonate most with your audience.
By leveraging TikTok analytics, creators of all sizes can make data-driven decisions to boost viewership, engagement, and grow a loyal following.
Examples of High Engagement TikTok Accounts
There are several TikTok accounts that are known for their extraordinarily high engagement rates. By analyzing what these accounts do, we can get ideas for how to boost engagement on our own TikTok profiles.
One example is @willsmith, who as of 2021 had an engagement rate of 13.08%. Smith is wildly popular on the platform, with over 60 million followers. His secret sauce seems to be consistently producing entertaining and upbeat videos that spread positivity. He also frequently responds to comments and incorporates fan suggestions into his content.
Another high-engagement account is @bellapoarch, with an 11.89% engagement rate. Poarch rose to fame for her facial expression videos set to popular songs. Her follower count skyrocketed after one particular lip-sync video went viral. She continues to pump out similar content her fans love, while also cultivating an aura of mystery.
In summary, these TikTok rockstars produce engaging content tailored to what their followers respond to. They also actively engage with fans in the comments. Maintaining consistency and quality is key. Analyzing high-engagement accounts can provide valuable insights for boosting your own engagement.
Tools to Track TikTok Engagement
There are several useful third-party tools and apps that can provide valuable analytics and insights for tracking TikTok engagement and growth:
Exolyt (https://keyhole.co/blog/tiktok-analytics-tools/) – An all-in-one analytics tool that offers trend tracking, campaign monitoring, account management and more. Exolyt provides engagement metrics like likes, comments, shares, views, and follows.
Countik (https://blog.hootsuite.com/tiktok-analytics/) – A free TikTok analytics tracker that lets you see insights for the most recent posts of any account. Get stats like views, likes, comments, shares, audience demographics, top videos, etc.
MaveKite (https://brand24.com/blog/tiktok-analytics-tools/) – Offers a free TikTok engagement calculator to quickly estimate average engagement rates. The paid tools provide in-depth analytics on views, likes, comments, followers, hashtags, and more.
These analytics tools help TikTok creators and marketers track performance over time, identify top-performing content, find new opportunities, and optimize efforts to boost engagement.
FAQs About TikTok Engagement
Here are some frequently asked questions around increasing and calculating TikTok engagement:
How do I calculate my TikTok engagement rate?
To calculate your TikTok engagement rate, add up all of your engagement metrics like likes, comments, shares, follows, etc over a specified time period. Then divide that total engagement number by your total number of followers over that same time period. This will give you your overall engagement rate percentage (https://ads.tiktok.com/help/article/engagement?lang=en).
What is considered a good engagement rate on TikTok?
A good engagement rate on TikTok is generally considered to be anywhere from 3-10%. Top creators often have engagement rates above 10%. The higher the engagement rate, the better (https://www.oberlo.com/blog/tiktok-analytics).
How can I increase my TikTok engagement?
Some tips for increasing TikTok engagement include responding to comments, using relevant hashtags, running engagement campaigns, collaborating with other creators, posting consistently, analyzing your analytics, creating high-quality content, and optimizing your captions and videos (https://www.oberlo.com/blog/tiktok-marketing).
