I had a meeting with a client yesterday who asked me, “Why is this influencers engagement rate 300%?” I had to explain that their intern was using the wrong math. If you want to know if an influencer is worth your money, you need to stop calculating like it’s 2015.
What is the TikTok Engagement Rate Formula?
To accurately measure content quality on TikTok, you must calculate engagement based on who actually saw the video. This is called ER by Views.
Here is the formula we respect in our agency:
Why this formula? Because TikTok’s algorithm (FYP) pushes content to non-followers. If a video gets 1M views but only 1,000 likes, the content failed to hold attention, even if the creator has 5M followers.
ER by Followers vs. ER by Views: Which is Better?
Many marketers still use the “Instagram method” (dividing by followers). This is a mistake on TikTok. Here is why:
- ER by Followers (The Old Way): Returns misleadingly high numbers when a small account goes viral. It tells you nothing about the video’s “stickiness.”
- ER by Views (The Right Way): Tells you exactly how compelling the content was to the people who watched it. It measures performance, not popularity.
In 2025, smart agencies switched to ER by Views strictly. It’s the only metric that filters out “luck.”
How to Calculate Average Engagement Rate (The 30-Video Rule)
You cannot judge an influencer by one video. You need consistency. To get a real benchmark, you need the Average Engagement Rate of their last 12 to 30 videos.
The manual process looks like this:
- Open a spreadsheet.
- Write down Likes, Comments, Shares, and Views for the last 30 videos.
- Calculate the ER for each video.
- Average them all together.
Why Use a TikTok Engagement Rate Calculator Tool?
Instead of manual math, using a tool like engagementratecalculator.net is faster and more accurate.
The benefits of using an automated calculator:
- Saves Time: Scrapes the last 30 videos in seconds.
- Avoids Bot Data: Manual calculation can’t spot fake likes easily, but algorithms can detect patterns.
- Real-Time Data: TikTok stats change by the second. The tool grabs the live numbers.
Don’t overcomplicate it. Use the tool, get the right numbers, and go focus on your creative strategy instead.