Engagement rate benchmarks: why yours looks worse (and what to track)

If your engagement rate suddenly looks like a sad decimal (0.48%, 0.15%, etc.), you're not "washed." You're just staring at a metric that keeps changing its definition while your rent stays annoyingly consistent.

And here's the part that should make you a little nervous: a lot of creators are still pitching and pricing themselves off that one number. Even though the platforms have quietly moved the goalposts to stuff you can't always see. ([socialinsider.io](https://www.socialinsider.io/blog/ryanair-social-media-strategy/))

What happened

Fresh benchmark data floating around early 2026 paints a weird picture: TikTok looks "healthy" on engagement, while Instagram and Facebook look... sleepy. One dataset (70M posts, spanning January 2024 through December 2025) pegs average engagement rate per post (calculated by followers) at about 3.70% on TikTok, ~0.48% on Instagram, ~0.15% on Facebook, and ~0.12% on X. ([socialinsider.io](https://www.socialinsider.io/blog/ryanair-social-media-strategy/))

But another big industry report from 2025 says the opposite vibe: engagement rates fell across all the major platforms year-over-year, with X taking the biggest hit, and TikTok also down. Same report calls out that on Instagram, carousels beat Reels for engagement. ([rivaliq.com](https://www.rivaliq.com/blog/social-media-industry-benchmark-report/))

So which is it - up or down?

Both. Because "engagement rate" isn't one metric. It's a family of formulas wearing the same hoodie. Some calculations use reach. Some use followers. Some include saves and shares. Some don't. That's how you get creators panicking over "low engagement" while their content is getting shared like contraband in DMs. ([socialinsider.io](https://www.socialinsider.io/blog/ryanair-social-media-strategy/))

Also: the platforms themselves are telling you what they value now. Instagram's leadership has been blunt that sends (DM shares) matter a lot for ranking. TikTok's own comms keep pointing to how people shape their feed by watching longer, liking, sharing, searching - behavior stuff, not vanity stuff. ([searchenginejournal.com](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/instagram-algorithm-shift-why-sends-matter-more-than-ever/521389/?utm_source=openai))

Why creators should care

Attention: If your "engagement rate" ignores the actions the algorithm loves (sends, shares, watch time), you'll optimize the wrong thing. Congrats, you just trained yourself to make posts people tap once... then forget. ([searchenginejournal.com](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/instagram-algorithm-shift-why-sends-matter-more-than-ever/521389/?utm_source=openai))

Distribution: Public likes are increasingly a weak signal. Private sharing is a strong one - and it's the least visible. That's why your best-performing content might look "mid" in the obvious metrics, then randomly keeps getting reach for days. ([searchenginejournal.com](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/instagram-algorithm-shift-why-sends-matter-more-than-ever/521389/?utm_source=openai))

Monetization: Brands still ask for engagement rate because it's easy to paste into a deck. If you play along without context, you'll undersell yourself on platforms where engagement is fragmented (comments down, shares up, more lurking). You don't need to argue - just bring better receipts. ([socialinsider.io](https://www.socialinsider.io/blog/ryanair-social-media-strategy/))

Workflow: Chasing a single benchmark is how creators burn out. The game now is: pick the right engagement definition for the job, and track one "distribution signal" that actually predicts lift. ([socialinsider.io](https://www.socialinsider.io/blog/ryanair-social-media-strategy/))

What to do next

• Standardize your own definition (so you stop gaslighting yourself).
  Pick one formula and stick to it for internal tracking for 90 days. If you're mostly organic, "engagement by reach" is usually more honest than "by followers." If you're selling sponsorships, keep "by followers" too - brands love it - just don't let it run your creative decisions.

• Add one "dark social" proxy to your weekly report.
  On Instagram: track shares/sends (or whatever proxy you can access) and saves per reach. The goal isn't vanity. It's to measure "people cared enough to pass it along." That's the behavior the platform keeps rewarding. ([searchenginejournal.com](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/instagram-algorithm-shift-why-sends-matter-more-than-ever/521389/?utm_source=openai))

• On TikTok and Reels, treat watch behavior as your north star.
  Not "views." Watch time patterns. Rewatches. Completion. TikTok itself keeps reinforcing that people shape what they see based on watch behavior and sharing - so you should build for that, not for thumb-taps. ([newsroom.tiktok.com](https://newsroom.tiktok.com/tiktoks-new-features-to-help-you-control-your-scroll?utm_source=openai))

• Format test like an adult: one variable at a time.
  If you're on Instagram and you've been spamming Reels because "video," run a clean test: carousels vs Reels, same topic, same hook style, same posting window. There's recent data showing carousels can outperform Reels on engagement in some categories, and you won't know if you don't test. ([rivaliq.com](https://www.rivaliq.com/blog/social-media-industry-benchmark-report/))