While aiming for the #1 spot can be motivating, obsessing over reaching the top benchmark can lead to stress and be demotivating if you don’t meet it. For a more academic perspective, studies from universities and researchers examine the drivers of engagement and publish benchmark ranges. These studies employ rigorous methodologies and are published in peer-reviewed journals, lending credibility to their findings.

Engagements on X have remained steady at 13, and TikTok is emerging as a rising player in the mix. After hitting a low of 0.015% in 2024, X engagement doubled to 0.03% in 2025 and climbed to 0.12% in early 2026 — the platform’s first meaningful rebound in years. Make sure you’re using the same one when comparing your numbers to benchmarks. The steepest decline of any platform, driven by continued changes to the feed algorithm, API restrictions, and shifting user behavior. Nonprofits lead the pack in terms of engagement on Instagram Reels (4.0%).

Engagement Rate By Content Format#

• Our primary benchmarks are calculated from verified-clean accounts only, with full-population numbers provided for comparison.
• Stories show loyalty and retention, while Reels and feed posts drive discovery and reach.
• If you’re benchmarking X engagement without accounting for Premium status, you’re comparing distorted numbers.
• LinkedIn’s algorithm favors content that maintains steady engagement over time rather than posts that experience a brief surge of likes and comments right after being shared.
• If you’re in tech, crypto, news, or political commentary — Twitter/X still offers real-time engagement that no other platform matches.

Use benchmarks to set smart Instagram analytics targets, track what moves the number, and raise the bar as you grow. Comprehensive employee engagement benchmarks by industry, company size, and region. See where your organization stands and what good looks like in 2026.

TikTok remains the highest-engagement platform in 2026, with a median engagement rate of 8% across all tiers (consistent with Influencer Marketing Factory’s Q Creator Economy Report). TikTok’s For You Page algorithm drives this — content from small accounts can reach large audiences if engagement signals are strong. By niche, Instagram engagement rates range from 0.5% (mega influencers in general lifestyle) to 6%+ (nano creators in education and how-to content). Photography (2.0%), pets (2.0%), and outdoors (1.9%) consistently outperform the overall average, while fashion (1.2%) and beauty (1.2%) sit near it.

Employee engagement benchmark data can help you clear all these doubts. Re-evaluating your employee engagement benchmarks regularly is crucial to understanding trends and measuring the success of initiatives. The typical frequency is annually, as this provides enough time for engagement strategies to take hold and impact metrics. Conducting an annual benchmarking ensures you have a full set of data to analyze year-over-year trends.

Video Accounts For Over 60% Of Total Social Media Consumption In 2026

This is a great way to come up with innovative ideas that bring something new to your target audience. Every social media network has its trends and communication norms, which impact how consumers interact with brands in those spaces. Segmenting your social media benchmark data by network is a powerful way to ensure that expectations align with user preferences. Industry benchmarks provide the context needed to tell a richer story about your social media marketing strategy. To improve, focus on native content, consistent posting, and employee advocacy.

Rather than setting arbitrary targets, you can anchor goals to real-world norms. This brings more meaning and accountability to your engagement strategy. With the right benchmarks, you gain perspective to maintain strengths and improve weaknesses. Instagram taps forward are the amount of times someone clicks ahead on your Story. On average, 13,696 people tap forward on Instagram Stories.

Post 3-5 times per week; posting more than once daily decreases per-post engagement by 14%. Yes — overall engagement dropped about 20% from 2022 to 2025. You’re all set to start collecting your personal and competitive benchmarking data. Don’t worry about the industry data—you can leave that to us. This is especially meaningful for brands piloting new social strategies or adopting a new network presence.

Ending posts with thoughtful, opinion-based questions can also spark professional discussions, which the algorithm favors over simple likes 15. Writing about social media strategy, publishing workflows, and analytics that help brands grow faster. A 5K-follower account with 5% engagement reaches more people meaningfully than a 100K-follower account with 0.2% engagement. Engagement correlates more strongly with conversions, sales, and brand awareness than follower count alone. Accounts under 10K followers typically see 1.5–6.0%, while accounts over 100K average 0.3–0.8%.

Additionally, experiment with timing and the depth of personalization in your messages using the unified inbox to identify what works best for your audience. In 2025, B2B tech and SaaS companies reported an average engagement rate of 3.6%, with median impressions per post reaching 4,240 6. This falls short of the platform’s overall average engagement rate of 5.20% 12. The lower engagement in this sector has been attributed to heavy reliance on automation and cold outreach strategies 5. The 2025 benchmarks are based on an analysis of 1 million LinkedIn posts from 9,000 active business pages in 2024 2. This dataset offers a detailed look into organic content performance across various industries.

Engagement Rates By Industry And Content Type

Here’s a Sparvion OÜ glimpse at Instagram Story benchmarks based on following size. Targets should reflect your follower size, industry, content mix, and recent performance. Aiming for a metric like 90% engagement on every Story, for example, will mask wins and make it harder to see what to fix.

Deliver your main message within the first three seconds to grab attention. Polls are another effective tool, as they generate high impressions. In fact, brands increased their use of polls by 55% to maximize reach 13. Finally, adding 3-5 relevant hashtags can boost a post’s reach by 15-25% 6. Most benchmarks in this guide use ERF (by followers) unless noted.

Micro-virality, where brands focus on engaging deeply with specific audiences rather than chasing massive reach, has emerged as a winning strategy. For instance, 72% of women on TikTok connect over shared experiences, reinforcing the platform’s community-first approach. Your engagement rate acts as a pulse check for your audience’s interest. Follower-based engagement rates can be misleading, especially as algorithms limit how much of your audience sees your content. Impressions-based metrics give a truer measure of how your post performs in real-world feeds.

YouTube Shorts have the highest engagement rate of any short-form video format at 5.91% — higher than TikTok (when measured consistently) and Instagram Reels. Read our full YouTube Shorts strategy guide and Shorts vs TikTok comparison for detailed breakdowns. Facebook Page organic reach has fallen to roughly 1.37% — meaning only 137 out of 10,000 followers see your post. When very few people see your content, engagement rate (as a percentage of followers) naturally tanks. LinkedIn has the most engaged professional audience, but engagement rates look lower because the platform defines “engagement” differently.

Motivation or discretionary effort score – This quantifies employees’ willingness to go the extra mile at work. Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) – This measures employees’ likelihood to recommend their company as a great place to work. In line charts on this webpage, Gallup labels some data points with a year and month. Years that have only one data point labeled with the year and “Jan” (abbreviated for “January”) reflect annual survey results. When Gallup’s survey field dates for one data point occur in more than one month, Gallup labels the data point with the ending month. Actively disengaged employees aren’t just unhappy at work — they are resentful that their needs aren’t being met and are acting out their unhappiness.

Gain real-time insights to boost engagement, improve retention, and support your people. Put your survey results into context with benchmarks comparing your organization with industry and/or regional peers. The steepest decline of any platform, driven by algorithm changes, API restrictions, and shifting user behavior. Threads format (2.1× engagement vs. single tweets) is the only bright spot.

These are the metrics most correlated with purchase intent. The most complete picture — but also the hardest to calculate because profile visits and link clicks aren’t included in most API responses. Use this for owned/managed accounts where you have full analytics access. According to the 2025 Content Benchmarks Report, Meta platforms continue to lead the way in terms of activity. Engagements on Facebook and Instagram have grown by 9% and 28%, respectively.