What is engagement rate in Facebook ads?
Engagement rate is a metric used to measure the percentage of interactions your Facebook ad post received.
Engagements on Facebook include – reactions, shares, comments, and clicks on links, videos, and images.
How to calculate engagement rate?
To calculate the Facebook ad engagement rate, first, add up the ‘total number of interactions’ (reactions, shares, comments, and clicks on ad) on the post. Then divide that number by the ‘total reach of the ad post’ and multiply by 100.
Formula for calculating engagement rate
Real-life example of engagement rate
Understand the engagement rate with an example:
You run a home furnishing agency and posted an ad post. The ad post pulled off 5,000 likes, 200 comments, 50 shares, and 25 link clicks. So, the total number of interactions would be 5,275 (5,000 + 200 + 50 + 25). And let’s assume the ad post had a reach of 100,000.
By plugging the figures into the formula, you’ll get an engagement rate of: 5,275/100,000 x 100 = 5.2%
What’s considered a good engagement rate? (benchmark)
A good engagement rate for Facebook ads is 1% - 2%. This is because you have focused your ad on your target audience which means they should naturally be interested in your post.
If your ad received less than 0.5% engagement, it means you are targeting the wrong audience. But, if you’re engaging more than 5% of your audience you’re doing exceptionally well.
“Above 1% engagement rate is good; 0.5%-0.99% is average; and below 0.5% engagement likely means that you need to realign your messages to that of your audience’s expectations and in the process attract more compelling and engaging messages from your community members.” - Michael Leander
Ways to increase your engagement rate
- Don’t sound too salesy: Your target audience definitely doesn't want to see an ad on Facebook. Make sure to teach, entertain, inform, or inspire the user before promoting your product/service, and don’t do it while sounding too salesy.
- Keep the ad short: A whopping 98.3 percent of users use Facebook on their mobile devices. Too much text can shoo away your audience so keep your ad post short to capture their attention and stop them from scrolling.
- Include video content: Every social media platform is pushing video content and so is Facebook. Video posts see higher engagement than photo posts. You need to include video content in your Facebook ad campaign if you haven't already.