How to Boost TikTok Engagement Rate + How to Calculate It Sotrender Blog

Analyzing your TikTok profile is essential to understand engagement metrics like followers, views, likes, comments, and shares, and to measure how your audience interacts with your content.

Just look around the app. TikTok marketing is booming these days. And every marketer’s motive is quite clear. As of early 2025, TikTok reached 1.59B monthly active users, proudly occupying the fifth place among the most browsed social networks after Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Yet, it still remains the ultimate, unrivaled champion among all in terms of short-form videos specifically, even with Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts trying to catch up.

That’s why we’re zealously e-knocking on your screen with this TikTok engagement guide. It contains the tried-and-tested tips, examples, tools, and everything else you need to supercharge your social media engagement strategy for TikTok. So, let’s do this!

What Is TikTok Engagement, and Why Is It Important for Business?

To keep it short and sweet (and then, metaphorically), TikTok engagement means how much or to what extent people are interacting with your content through interactions such as likes, comments, and shares, rather than just catching a glimpse of it. If TikTok were a house party, this indicator would depend on the people who actually come in (view), chat (comment), express appreciation (like), and invite others (share).

The more engaged users, the better it is for your business. Since this is the algorithm’s favorite “snack” on TikTok, it helps brands grow faster. The engagement rate on TikTok is determined by the number of interactions a piece of content receives, such as likes, comments, shares, and views, typically calculated based on your followers or reach:

More engagement

↓

More visibility

↓

More followers

↓

More leads

↓

More sales

This turns the engagement rate on TikTok into one of the most essential TikTok metrics for marketers to track and improve.

What Are Average TikTok Engagement Rates?

Engagement rates can vary depending on several factors such as niche, audience, and content type. For example, fashion and beauty brands often see an average engagement rate between 2% and 4%, thanks to the platform’s visual appeal and the audience’s appetite for lifestyle inspiration. On the flip side, the gaming niche typically experiences a lower average engagement, ranging from 0.5% to 2%, as viewers are more likely to watch gameplay than interact with individual posts.

In fact, personal accounts are typically more engaging than business accounts on TikTok: 6.63% compared to 5.15%.

Among eCommerce businesses, in particular, an average TikTok engagement rate falls between 2% and 7%, outpacing the 1–2% estimates on other platforms like Facebook or X (Twitter).

Yet, it fluctuates greatly depending on the industry.

Let’s name a few:

• Higher education → 7.36%
• Non-profit organizations → 3.04%
• Travel → 2.73%
• Sports → 2.68%
• Food and beverage → 2.04%
• Financial services → 1.33%
• Tech and software → 1.21%

The median engagement rate is often used to compare performance against the industry average. For TikTok influencers, a good engagement rate or reasonable engagement rate is generally considered to be between 13% and 18%, though this can vary depending on the specific audience and content.

Understanding these niche-specific engagement rates is crucial for both brands and influencers. If you’re running influencer marketing campaigns, knowing the average engagement rate in your industry helps you set realistic goals and identify the best-performing content types. For instance, a higher engagement rate in the education or non-profit sector might signal that audiences are more likely to comment or share, while a lower rate in tech could mean you need to get creative to spark more interaction.

By analyzing engagement rates across different niches, marketers and influencers can tailor their strategies to what works best for their audience. Whether you’re aiming for higher engagement or just trying to hit the average, keeping an eye on your niche’s benchmarks ensures your TikTok posts are always on trend—and on target.

Platform Comparison: How TikTok Stacks Up

When it comes to engagement rates, TikTok is in a league of its own among social media platforms. While Instagram and YouTube typically see average engagement rates of 2–5% and 1–3% respectively, TikTok’s average engagement rate soared to an impressive 17.5% in 2020. This isn’t just a fluke—TikTok’s algorithm is designed to reward content that sparks interaction, pushing highly engaging videos to even wider audiences.

What sets TikTok apart from other platforms is its focus on short-form, snackable content that encourages users to like, comment, and share in real time. The result? More interaction per post and a higher average engagement rate overall. For marketers, this means TikTok offers a unique opportunity to reach and engage audiences at scale, often outperforming other platforms in terms of both reach and engagement.

By understanding how TikTok stacks up against other social media platforms, brands can make smarter decisions about where to invest their time and resources. If your goal is to maximize engagement, TikTok’s dynamic environment is hard to beat.

How to Calculate a TikTok Engagement Rate

As you might have guessed, you need to count the following to measure TikTok engagement (also known as engagements):

• Views
• Likes
• Shares
• Comments

You can also calculate engagement rate using the number of followers or follower count as the denominator, not just views. This helps you assess how actively your TikTok influencer’s followers interact with your content.

To calculate your TikTok engagement rate, add up the total number of likes, comments, and shares (engagements) for a particular period (month or year), then divide the result by either total views or follower count (number of followers), and multiply it by 100 to represent it as a percentage. This metric is important for evaluating influencer engagement rate and TikTok influencer engagement rate.

The formula goes like this:

TikTok Engagement Rate = (Total Comments + Shares + Likes) ÷ (Total Views or Follower Count) × 100

For example:

Suppose your TikToks collected 100,000 views, 700 comments, 300 shares, and 5,500 likes in total during the last month. Let’s calculate it: (700 + 300 + 5,500) ÷ 100,000 × 100 = 6.5%. Alternatively, you can calculate engagement rate using average likes per post or by dividing total engagements by follower counts.

Quite engaging, huh?

Pro tip: Try free TikTok engagement rate calculators. A TikTok engagement calculator calculates the influencer engagement rate or TikTok influencer engagement rate for any TikTok account, helping you analyze metrics like average likes, comments, and shares. Let’s take this one from Phlanx to analyze the @Gymshark account from the fitness industry.

Also, you may want to know how engaging each post is separately. It’s pretty easy if you use advanced tools for TikTok analytics. These tools help analyze a TikTok influencer’s followers and provide detailed engagement metrics. For instance, Sotrender automatically sums up the liking, sharing, and commenting activities and displays the number of views for each post.

Plus, it shows your average TikTok engagement rate overall and pinpoints the best days with the top hitters among your posts on the platform.

Remember, relying solely on follower counts can be an incomplete metric. Always check for fake followers to ensure your engagement metric is accurate and not misleading. A comprehensive approach, using multiple metrics, gives a better understanding of your TikTok account’s performance.

5 Best Practices for Boosting Your TikTok Engagement Rate

First Things First: Become SEO-Friendly for Discoverability

How can people ever interact with your posts if they don’t even find/see them on TikTok?

Optimize your content with keywords and hashtags to boost your ranking in TikTok search results, making it more discoverable. Only afterward can you capture more views, likes, comments, and shares.

Keywords

Your first task is to pick targeted keywords for your TikTok captions to achieve effective social media SEO on the platform.

An automatic keyword research tool is a go-to solution to discover and mix short- and long-tail keywords. But you can also try TikTok’s auto-suggest feature to find exact-match keywords coinciding precisely with the searched phrases like these: “skincare routine girls” or “skincare routine aesthetic.”

Hashtags

Your second step is to add relevant hashtags to your TikToks. Make sure to balance and combine the following:

• Evergreen-trendy: #foryoupage, #viral, #lifehack, #learnontiktok, etc.
• Seasonal: #BackToSchool or #Halloween for holiday marketing
• Niche: #[Niche]Tok or #[Profession]OfTikTok hashtag types for specific niches (e.g., #VetTok and VetsofTikTok)

Pro tip: Tap into local SEO (if necessary). This way, you’ll increase TikTok engagement locally, in your geographic area.

For example:

While discussing California debt consolidation, Alia Khan optimized the post for local TikTok SEO with location-driven hashtags like #californiaattorney, #bayarea, and #losangeles.

Create “Action-Required” Posts

What are those?

Your TikTok video or image (carousel or not) should literally call to action to engage with it:

And here are several real-life examples of literally making TikTokers fall in “like” with each post and getting more hearts, even if it’s not Valentine’s Day (but no one is stopping you on this holiday, either!):

• Drop a heart in the comment if you agree
• Like this post and follow us for more
• Share/like this video if you also _____
• Like and comment if you remember this _____ from childhood
• Watch this video and tell me _____

Then, we can’t help but mention the superpower of giveaways as the so-called “action-required” posts with the best TikTok engagement rates. Although they work as highly converting content ideas for Instagram with 3.5x more likes and 64x more comments on average, you can likewise use them on TikTok. Why not?

For example:

Look at this Black Friday giveaway from Domno Vintage.

Trendjack Your Way to More Engagement

Now, what’s that, and how can you build a smooth trendjacking path to climb the highest TikTok engagement peaks?

Trendjacking is capitalizing on the virality of events, topics, formats, sounds, memes, hashtags, and so on. But mind: timing is everything here. The best time to trenjack is the first couple of days, sometimes even hours. However, some trends do last for months, so you may still keep up with them, even if you missed the hour or day they went viral.

For example:

When the #punchingdance trended in mid-2024, a virtual assistant staffing agency leveraged it to engage remote job seekers more effectively on TikTok.

As of 2025, some of the trendiest TikToks were hashtagged with:

• #probablyneededahug
• #nobuyyear (A movement for mindful spending and a great chance for finance brands to capitalize on it, by the way)
• #noughtiesnostalgia
• #whatsinmybag
• #ifthatsokwitheveryone or #ifthatsokaywithyou

Pro tip: Add Firefox or Chrome extensions to keep an eye on popular hashtags and trendjack them: RiteTag or TikTok Hashtags Tool, respectively. As a useful alternative, visit TikTok’s Trend Discover Center to know what’s hot at the moment in general: hashtags, songs, creators, and videos.

Level Up Interactivity

If your posts are as dull as rom-coms with neither romance nor comedy, you definitely need more interactive formats and elements like these to improve your TikTok engagement rate:

• Stitch
• Duet
• Live stream
• Comment reply
• Poll
• Countdown challenge (e.g., “You have three seconds to spot the difference—GO!”)

For example:

Gushers is one of the best TikTok marketing examples to learn the ABCs of engaging content pieces, such as duets, stickers, “Find the Gusher!” games, and more.

Pro tip: Consider tapping into augmented reality (AR), especially if you target Gen Z, who prefer more innovative, gimmicky tech. For that, visit the TikTok Effect House, an AR toolkit to create hyper-immersive AR characters or filters for your brand.

Always Satisfy People’s Appetites for Quality Content

Let’s face it—with all the interactivity tricks and hacks for engaging videos, it’s quite easy to lose the “quality” string. It’s worth remembering that 72% of TikTok users come to the platform to learn something new or find information on a specific topic.

That’s why you should cater TikTok content to their search appetites to engage them more effectively on the platform:

• How-tos
• Mistakes
• Lessons
• Myths
• Checklists, etc.

For example:

Let’s see how online doctors deliver high-quality, relevant content by sharing health facts, disease signs, lists of healthy foods, and similar posts, using hashtags like #healthtok or #doctorsoftiktok (or both) to engage with their niche audience on TikTok.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Growing TikTok Engagement

Boosting your TikTok engagement rates isn’t just about posting more—it’s about posting smarter. Here are some common mistakes that can hold you back from achieving high TikTok engagement rates:

• Overlooking Content Quality: Posting videos that don’t resonate with your audience or lack creativity can quickly lead to low engagement. Always focus on creating engaging, high-quality content that speaks to your followers’ interests.
• Ignoring TikTok Trends: Failing to participate in trending challenges, sounds, or hashtags means missing out on a huge opportunity to boost engagement. Stay on top of TikTok trends and incorporate them into your content strategy.
• Not Interacting with Your Audience: Engagement is a two-way street. If you’re not responding to comments or acknowledging your followers, your audience may lose interest. Make it a habit to reply to comments and foster a sense of community.
• Posting Inconsistently: Irregular posting can cause your audience to lose interest and forget about your account. Develop a consistent posting schedule to keep your followers engaged and coming back for more.

By avoiding these common pitfalls and focusing on what truly engages your audience, both brands and influencers can see a significant boost in their TikTok engagement rates and build a more loyal following.

Future Trends in TikTok Engagement

The future of TikTok engagement is bright—and evolving fast. One major trend is the growing demand for authenticity and transparency. Audiences are gravitating toward content that feels real and relatable, so brands and influencers who keep it genuine are likely to see higher engagement rates.

Influencer marketing is also set to play an even bigger role, with brands increasingly partnering with TikTok creators to reach highly engaged audiences. As influencer marketing matures, expect to see more strategic collaborations and creative campaigns that drive both engagement and results.

On the tech side, AI-powered tools are becoming essential for analyzing engagement metrics and optimizing content. By using a TikTok engagement rate calculator or other advanced analytics tools, marketers can quickly identify what’s working, calculate the engagement rate for each post, and adjust their strategies for maximum impact.

Staying ahead of these trends—and regularly calculating your TikTok engagement rate—will help you keep your content fresh, your audience engaged, and your brand at the forefront of the platform’s ever-changing algorithm.

Finally, Monitor and Grow TikTok Engagement with Sotrender

Why guess what works particularly for your business and target audience when Sotrender already knows it? Use Sotrender for TikTok to detect the top performers among your fans. Whether these are hilarious memes or serious insights, you can easily understand that by the watch time or other factors (likes, comments, shares).

Generate detailed reports on followers’ behavior and posts’ performance to create more content your audience craves and expects, and boost your TikTok engagement rate. Ditch the trial-and-error method and start using Sotrender as a flashlight in the TikTok maze.