LinkedIn engagement rate

How LinkedIn calculates it

LinkedIn's Page content analytics describe engagement rate as interactions per impression, where interactions are clicks, reactions, comments and shares. A click there means a signed-in member clicking your content, company name or logo; reactions, comments and reposts aren't counted as clicks, and repeated clicks on a document by one member count once.

LinkedIn's advertising reports use their own definitions, so a rate from Campaign Manager isn't directly comparable with one from Page analytics.

Because impressions are the denominator, a post shown to many people outside your usual audience can score a low rate even when as many people engage as before. The rate is most useful for comparing posts from the same Page over time.

A worked example

Post A reached more people, but Post B held its smaller audience better. Both facts are useful; the rate alone would hide the first one. Look at reach and rate together before deciding which post worked better.

Common mistakes

• Comparing your rate with figures from tools that divide by followers or by reach instead of impressions.
• Judging from one or two posts; a handful of interactions swings the percentage a lot on small numbers.
• Forgetting that your own activity counts toward your post analytics.
• Setting a personal profile's numbers against a Page's: the two analytics views don't report engagement the same way.
• Chasing the rate over outcomes: a post with fewer interactions that brings the right inquiries is doing its job.