What is Engagement?

Last modified: March 24, 2020

There are lots of different metrics you can use when you’re looking at how content on your site is being consumed. However, the main drive that you want to use is engagement. It covers a lot of different actions from the user, and is, therefore, a great way to compare campaigns which might not have had the same outcome.

What Is An Engagement?

An engagement is classed as any time that a user interacts with content whether it is a page on a site or a social media post. There are several different types of engagement, these are:

Click

This is when the user clicks on the page, link, call-to-action button or image. Clicks are the basic engagement that you need to measure as it often represents the user moving from the current stage in the sales process to the next.

This is when the user shares your content or page with other users in their network, often on social media however it can also be shared via email. Sharing is great for brands because it allows you to reach new audiences that are connected to the original user. This gives you social credibility.

View/Listen

This is when a user watches or listens to some rich content (video/music). It is rarer for some users because the majority of your content will not contain rich content.

How Is Engagement Measured?

Engagement is measured in many aspects by the number of people who have taken action compared to the number of impressions (people who have viewed the content). For instance, if 5 out of 100 people have engaged with some content, then the engagement rate will be about 5%.

Typically speaking, engagement rates can be very low, often less than 3-4%, especially when the brand has a larger following. There are also some industries that experience engagement rates that are significantly different to this average (some much higher, others much lower). There are many factors that can affect engagement rate which can include the type of content, the timing of publishing, the audience and more.

There are plugins, themes, strategies and designs that can help with improving engagement rates. But strategies should always be aligned with your industry and specific audience.

* This button will show the rest of the post and open up an offer from a vendor