TikTok was the most downloaded app in 2024 with over 733 million downloads that year. Today it gathers creators and viewers in an interactive, entertaining and informative online space filled with short form videos.
The platform now boasts over 1 million active TikTok creators, with an estimated 100,000 full-time influencers generating income out of the TikToks they upload. One of the biggest factors that separates hobby creators from professional influencers is engagement rate (ER): a key metric in TikTok analytics used by both creators and marketers to measure content performance.
To calculate your ER you have to sum your likes, comments and shares from all your posts and divide that by your total number of followers, and then multiply by 100. As a result, you’ll get a percentage that represents the level of your audience’s interaction.
If you want to grow on TikTok, it’s not just about following trends or posting viral content. In order to become a professional TikToker you need to build meaningful interaction with your audience. Every comment, like, share, and save acts as a signal to TikTok’s algorithm, influencing how widely your videos are pushed on the For You Page (FYP) and your potential for monetization.
In this article, we’ll break down everything you need to know about your TikTok engagement rate, how it’s calculated, why it matters, and actionable tips to increase it and grow your influence on the platform.
TikTok Engagement Rate is a key metric used to measure how your viewers interact with your content.
It’s a core metric that shows how actively your audience engages with your content: likes, saves, comments and shares, all can be indicators of the influencer's effectiveness in connecting with their audience.
In other words, Engagement Rate basically tells you how your viewers are reacting to your content and therefore how much they trust you and your videos.
While metrics like views and followers matter, engagement rate is one of the most telling indicators of how well your content resonates.
Particularly, having high engagement rate matters because it suggests that your audience is genuinely interested and responsive to your content, making your recommendations more impactful.
Having high engagement on TikTok is more than often better than having a big follower count. Here are the reasons why:
Tracking your Engagement Rate (ER) is always going to help you figure out how well your content is connecting with your viewers.
There are two different ways to find out your Engagement Rate: ER by views or ER by followers.
This is the most common method to see how engaging a particular video is, regardless of how many followers are there.
Let’s make this ER formula clearer by using Anna´s TikTok profile as an example! Anna is a US based TikToker with over 478.8 K followers and over 25.4 M likes.
We can take information from her last 5 videos (not including the ones she has pinned) to see her engagement rate in each one of them.
Posted on April 14, 2025. ER Calculated 4 hours after posting.
Posted on April 13, 2025. ER calculated 24 hours after posting.
Posted on April 12, 2025. ER calculated 2 days after posting.
Posted on April 12, 2025. ER calculated 2 days after posting.
Posted on April 11, 2025. ER calculated 3 days after posting.
Considering only these 5 videos, it's safe to say that her ER is very good and ranges between 5.5% and 10%. These videos are all about her lifestyle, but some of them are more focused on things like “Come grocery shopping with me and my boyfriend” or just spend the day with me and other ones are more casual dance moves or just outfit checks.
By looking at these numbers she can easily figure out which videos work best and keep making them to ensure their audience is still engaged.
This method is often used when you want to see the overall engagement potential. It shows how engaged your follower base is, rather than focusing on just one video.
Let’s go back to Anna’s case to see how well her ER is overall her account! We simply have to add the likes, comments and shares of her last 5 videos, divided by her amount of followers and then multiply it by 100.
So in an overall analysis, Anna’s Engagement Rate is lower. The Engagement Rate by Views tends to be much higher than the one based on followers. So, are these formulas right? Yes, what happens with Anna is completely normal.
TikTok is not a platform based primarily on followers. Most users spend more time on the “For You Page” rather than scrolling on the “Following” section. What does this mean for you as a creator? This means that videos can go viral and reach massive audiences regardless of the amount of followers you have. This is why your views often reflect your true reach more accurately than your follower count.
So if you want to see how engaged your viewers are, stick to the ER based on views formula for a more precise figure. If you want to see how your followers are reacting to your content rather than the reactions of your whole audience, stick to the ER by followers formula.
Engagement Rate varies not only across platforms but also across creators. On average a good ER on TikTok is between 5% up to 18%, depending on your influencer category.
Quick note: ER can vary based on content quality, audience demographics, posting consistency and niche!
As seen on the table, creators with smaller follower counts have higher engagement rates. There are some key reasons to why this happens:
Taking this table as reference, Anna has a really good Engagement Rate for a creator her size. With almost 500K followers, she sits around the 5% ER when it comes to follower count formula, but surpasses this ER when it comes to number of views (5.5% up to 10%).
This is why she collaborates with different skincare brands, beauty salons, health and gym supplies and makes appealing videos to showcase their products as a way to make money on TikTok.
Brands are more and more willing to partner up with these kinds of influencers because the connection they have with their audiences often translates into more conversions as people trust their creator’s recommendations.
Saves are not officially included in the standard TikTok engagement rate formulas. However, they play a key role in video performance.
If you want to dig deeper into your content analytics and find out what truly makes your viewers want to come back for more later, you can create your own expanded ER Formula, including saves into the education!
This might not be the official way to estimate your engagement, and you should probably stick to the other formulas while working with brands or other TikTokers to maintain the same way of measuring.
Nonetheless, you can still use this approach to internally track your content and find what people crave and find useful and or memorable. If you are exploring different trends, go check out our article on Most popular TikTok Categories!
And remember, whatever formula you choose to use, tracking your engagement regularly is going to help you redefine your strategy, have a better understanding on what videos work best and, last but not least, grow your TikToker presence.
Understanding your engagement rate is key to growing on TikTok. Sometimes the process can be a little bit confusing, especially for beginners, and that's where online tools come in handy.
With our free TikTok Engagement Rate Calculator, you can instantly analyze your likes, comments, views and followers to see how your content is really performing. You can see a clear picture of your actual stats and plan your next growth move with Creator Hero!
You can also try out our free TikTok Money Calculator to get a comprehensive estimate of your potential earnings!
Engagement is every Tiktoker's best ally. If you want to make a living out of TikTok, here are some simple strategies you can try to boost your likes, comments, shares and views on the platform and become famous on TikTok!
TikTok favors creators who post regularly. So aim to post from 3 to 5 videos per week and stick to that content plan. The more you post, the more your videos will appear on the FYP.
The first seconds of your video are everything. Elaborate compelling hooks and add them in the first 3 or 5 seconds. You can use a question, surprising fact or an appealing visual. Something that catches the viewers attention fast.
Pro tip: You can always watch viral videos and look for inspiration there! Going back to our example, most Anna’s viral videos often start with “Spend the day with my and my fiancé” as an invitation to viewers to stay and watch.
TikTok is filled with music viral challenges or new trending songs. When you see an opportunity, get on those trends and add them to your content strategy to boost discoverability.
Always find ways to directly encourage your viewers to interact with your content. “Help me decide my outfit”, “Tag someone who needs to see this” or “Vote down in the comments” are great call to action (CTA) to include on your TikToks.
Collaborate with other TikTokers to expand your reach. It’s a win-win scenario where both creators get their content to newer audiences. Besides, users always enjoy watching crossovers of their favorite creators.
Craft the art of storytelling, especially if you are promoting something. Instead of just showing a new product, create a story around it. For example, when Anna goes to the supermarket, she does not just make a haul of her products, she tells you “Come to the grocery shopping with me” and make a more relatable video.
If you want to become a well known TikToker, you must understand how Engagement works and always be on the lookout for new ways to interact with people watching.
Consistency is key. The more you post, the better. But it is not just posting, it is getting better video after video finding out what works best, implementing it and focusing on high relatable quality content.
Your Engagement Rate may vary over time. Don’t stress about it, just track it down and use that insight to improve your content strategy by crafting entertaining, informative or trending videos to stand out on the platform.
%20(1).jpg)
_logo.svg.png){kind=logo}
%201.png)
