Have you wondered recently if you’re losing Instagram followers or getting lower engagement than usual? Do you see competitors with high follower counts and assume they’re better at Instagram than you are? Good news! These are semi answerable questions. The bad news? It involves math. Stay with me.

Engagement is how many people engage with your posts, particularly likes and comments. Instagram is known for having the highest engagement rate. Whereas Facebook and Twitter have 0.5% – 1.0% overall engagement, Instagram has a baseline of 3% - 6%. Ideally, you want a 6% or higher engagement rate on your posts.

So how do you calculate that, and what if you failed college algebra twice? It’s shockingly easy, both failing college algebra twice and calculating your Instagram engagement rate. Take one of your posts, add up the number of likes and comments, then divide that number by your follower count and multiply by 100.

Let’s look at this post of mine from the height of my internet fame, when I rescued a kitten from a dumpster. This post has 171 likes and 68 comments. At that time, I had around 1,100 followers.

171 + 68 = 239

239 / 1100 x 100 = 21.7%

A 21% engagement rate is GREAT. Granted, I was quasi-famous for rescuing a kitten from a dumpster, but also, I’m good at Instagram. *sunglasses emoji*

A nice thing you can do for yourself is look at those big Instagram accounts with more followers than you and calculate their engagement rate. Let’s say you make pottery and have around 4,000 followers, but you’re trying to catch up to the bigger pottery accounts with 12K followers. If you have 4,000 followers and are getting a 6% or higher engagement rate, pat yourself on the back because most times, those big 12K and over accounts get 1% - 3% engagement.

If you’re looking to increase your Instagram engagement and want to pick my brain, schedule a one-on-one consultation!

What do you think? Have you recently increased your follower count and/or engagement rate? What did you do to revive your account?

Let me know in the comments!

P.S. I wrote about the pros and cons of switching to an Instagram business profile.

P.P.S. Overwhelmed? Need a social media sounding board? I can help!