Influencer engagement rate: what is good and how to check it
A good influencer engagement rate is one at or above the middle creator of the same platform and size. In a September 2026 vendor study (IQFluence) of Instagram creators, the middle rate was 2.79% for accounts with 1,000 to 10,000 followers. For accounts with 10,000 to 100,000 followers it was 0.97%. There is no single number that is "good" everywhere.
Engagement rate is how many people react to a post, as a share of an audience. This guide gives the sum, a table of medians by size, a worked example you can copy, and three checks for numbers that have been padded.
How do you work out an engagement rate?
Add the likes and comments on a creator's last 10 posts. Divide by 10. Divide that by their follower count. Multiply by 100 to get a percentage.
The IQFluence study used a similar sum: average likes and comments on recent posts, divided by follower count. It left out saves, shares and views (IQFluence, updated 25 September 2026, checked 9 November 2026).
Not every study divides by followers. That is why quoted numbers clash. The table shows how three studies differ.
| Study | What it divides by | What it counts |
|---|---|---|
| IQFluence, 2026 | Followers (subscribers on YouTube) | Likes and comments |
| Socialinsider, Instagram, 2025 figures | Followers | Likes and comments |
| Socialinsider, TikTok, 2025 figures | Views | Likes, comments, shares and saves |
Socialinsider's TikTok page reported an average of 4.20% for 2025, but that is per view (Socialinsider, checked 9 November 2026). Do not set it beside a per-follower number. Pick one method and use it on every creator.
What is a good engagement rate by follower count?
Nano accounts score highest, and medians fall as accounts grow, with small bumps above 100,000. The table shows the IQFluence figures for every active creator it counted in September 2026. Each row has the median, the rate of the middle creator when all are lined up. It also has the p75, the rate that one creator in four beats.
| Follower tier | Instagram median | Instagram p75 | TikTok median | TikTok p75 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nano (1,000 to 10,000) | 2.79% | 6.62% | 2.29% | 4.78% |
| Micro (10,000 to 100,000) | 0.97% | 3.20% | 0.62% | 2.07% |
| Mid-tier (100,000 to 500,000) | 0.87% | 2.72% | 0.50% | 1.93% |
| Macro (500,000 to 1 million) | 0.89% | 2.55% | 0.56% | 1.81% |
| Mega (over 1 million) | 0.83% | 2.24% | 0.54% | 1.55% |
These come from a vendor, IQFluence, and its own database of public profiles. It counted 23,886,910 Instagram nano creators and 5,278,062 Instagram micro creators. It counted only accounts that posted in the last 30 days. The study says to read the median. A few outliers pull the average up. It also says accounts that hide like counts stay in the data, which lowers Instagram numbers slightly.
Two points follow. Our reading is that a 3% rate is strong for an Instagram micro creator, since it sits near the p75. And the same 3% is only a little above the median for a nano creator. For the size bands themselves, see what a micro-influencer is and nano influencers.
Does the niche change what is good?
Yes. The same study splits medians by industry. The gaps are wide, so check your own niche. The table shows six niches a Shopify brand might sell into.
| Niche | Instagram nano median | Instagram micro median |
|---|---|---|
| Fitness | 3.34% | 1.49% |
| Fashion | 3.15% | 0.63% |
| Beauty | 2.69% | 0.93% |
| Pets | 1.24% | 0.95% |
| Health and wellness | 1.16% | 0.40% |
| Home and decor | 0.84% | 0.35% |
Most of these niches sit below the all-niche medians in the tier table, so use the niche row when you compare within a niche. A home and decor micro creator at 0.5% is above the middle for that niche, though still under the all-niche 0.97%. A fitness creator at 0.5% is well below. The study says to compare segments within one platform. A creator can sit in more than one segment, so treat the niche figure as a guide.
Brand accounts run lower still, though the studies use different methods. Socialinsider put the average Instagram rate for brand accounts with 1,000 to 1 million followers at 0.48% for 2025, using 67.5 million posts (Socialinsider, checked 9 November 2026). Rival IQ's February 2025 report, which samples a set of companies per industry, found health and beauty had the lowest engagement of the industries it covered (Rival IQ, published 25 February 2025, checked 9 November 2026). Both studies cover brands, not creators, and both are vendor data. They show that brand accounts run low, not a target for creators.
Worked example: score three creators in five minutes
Copy this method. We treat a rate within 10% under the median as close enough to test. For each creator, find the follower count, average the last 10 posts and compare to the median in the table above. Here are three made-up creators on Instagram.
| Creator | Followers | Avg likes plus comments | Rate | Median for tier | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 8,000 | 204 | 2.55% | 2.79% | Slightly under the median. Fine to test |
| B | 60,000 | 576 | 0.96% | 0.97% | Slightly under the median. Fine to test |
| C | 25,000 | 2,115 | 8.46% | 0.97% | Far above p75. Check first |
Creator C looks like a star. Her rate is well above the micro p75 of 3.20%. Now look at her comments. She averages 15 comments against 2,100 likes. That is fewer than 1 comment per 100 likes. This is our rule of thumb, not a published standard. A very high rate with almost no comments is a reason to look closer, not a reason to sign her.
Open her last five posts and read the comments. Real replies mean she is a find. Strings of emoji mean you keep your product.
How do you spot a padded engagement rate?
Three checks take about five minutes. They stack on the routine in how to check a creator is a real promoter.
- Read the comments, not the count. Real comments mention the product, ask a question or reply to the creator. A column of emoji and "love this" is a flag.
- Look at the gap between likes and comments. Our rule: a rate far above the p75 with few comments needs a closer look, as with Creator C.
- Compare the last 10 posts to older ones. A creator whose rate jumps on a few posts and not others may have used a group to boost them.
Groups like this exist. Researchers at New York University and Drexel University collected 1.8 million Instagram posts shared in "pods" on Telegram. A pod is a group whose members agree to like and comment on each other's posts. The study found pods were easy to find with Google, and that using one raised the amount of likely real comment interaction on a user's later posts. Their detection models scored 0.91 and 0.94 on AUC, a score where 1.0 is perfect (Weerasinghe et al., The Web Conference 2020). That study is from 2020 and covers Instagram only. We found no newer open study with the same method. Treat the pod risk as real but unmeasured today.
Fake followers matter too. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rule on reviews and testimonials took effect on 21 October 2024. Its provision on fake social media indicators covers buying fake followers or views that the buyer knew, or should have known, were fake. The FTC's question-and-answer page says a business is not liable just because a third party secretly supplied them (FTC, checked 9 November 2026). That page is about what a business may buy. It does not tell you how to detect fake followers. This is US guidance, not legal advice.
Does a high engagement rate mean sales?
No. Engagement counts reactions. It does not count purchases. We found no public study that links a creator's engagement rate to sales for a Shopify store, so don't pay more for a rate alone.
Use the rate to pick who to test. Then let sales decide. Give each creator a free product and a tracked code or link, wait 30 days and count the sales on each. The guide to measuring influencer marketing ROI shows the sums. To compare size bands before you spend, read micro or macro influencers for a Shopify brand.
Where RecruitAffiliates.ai fits
RecruitAffiliates.ai finds the people already covering shops like yours: websites, blogs, review sites, newsletters, podcasts, YouTube channels, and Instagram and TikTok creators. Each one comes with the page that shows it, so you can judge the fit before you write. It looks up their email and checks what it finds.
It does not score engagement rates for you. Use the table above on the creators you shortlist. AI drafts a personal first email, you approve it, and it sends from your own inbox.
Launch is $79 a month for one brand, with a 7-day free trial and no card.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good engagement rate for an Instagram influencer?
It depends on size. In a September 2026 vendor study, the Instagram median was 2.79% for 1,000 to 10,000 followers and 0.97% for 10,000 to 100,000. At or above the median for the creator's size is a fair bar.
Is 1% a good engagement rate?
For an Instagram creator with 10,000 to 100,000 followers, yes. It is just above the 0.97% median. For one with under 10,000, it is below the 2.79% median.
Is a higher engagement rate always better?
No. A very high rate with few comments can be padded, so read the comments. And a high rate does not prove sales. Test with a code and count.
How do you calculate engagement rate?
Add likes and comments on the last 10 posts, divide by 10, then divide by followers and multiply by 100. Some studies divide by views instead, so keep to one method.
Does TikTok have a different benchmark?
Yes. The same 2026 study put the TikTok median at 2.29% for 1,000 to 10,000 followers and 0.62% for 10,000 to 100,000. Per-view figures from other sources are not comparable.
Sources
- IQFluence, Influencer engagement rate benchmarks 2026 (updated 25 September 2026, checked 9 November 2026), a vendor report
- Socialinsider, Instagram benchmarks and TikTok benchmarks (checked 9 November 2026), vendor reports on brand accounts
- Rival IQ, 2025 Social Media Industry Benchmark Report (published 25 February 2025, checked 9 November 2026), a vendor report
- Weerasinghe et al., The Pod People, The Web Conference 2020
- FTC, Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule: Questions and Answers (checked 9 November 2026)