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LinkedIn Engagement Rate: What's Good and How to Improve It

You posted on LinkedIn. You got 12 likes and 3 comments. Is that good? Bad? Average?

Without understanding LinkedIn engagement rates, you're flying blind. You can't improve what you can't measure, and you can't benchmark without knowing what "good" looks like.

This guide covers everything: how to calculate your LinkedIn engagement rate, what benchmarks to aim for based on your follower count, and 10 proven tactics to improve your numbers.

How to Calculate LinkedIn Engagement Rate

The standard LinkedIn engagement rate formula is:

Engagement Rate = (Reactions + Comments + Shares + Clicks) ÷ Impressions × 100

Some people calculate it against follower count instead of impressions:

Engagement Rate (by followers) = (Reactions + Comments + Shares) ÷ Followers × 100

Both are valid, but the impressions-based formula is more accurate because it measures how engaging your content is to the people who actually saw it. The follower-based formula is easier to calculate since you always know your follower count.

Why Impressions-Based Is Better

If you have 10,000 followers but a post only reaches 2,000 people, calculating engagement against 10,000 gives you an artificially low rate. The impressions-based calculation tells you how compelling your content was to the audience that actually encountered it.

LinkedIn shows impressions on every post (in creator mode or via analytics), so there's no reason not to use this method.

LinkedIn Engagement Rate Benchmarks

Here's what "good" looks like on LinkedIn in 2026, broken down by follower tier:

By Follower Count (Engagement Rate by Impressions)

Under 1,000 followers:

  • Below average: < 3%
  • Average: 3-6%
  • Good: 6-10%
  • Excellent: 10%+

1,000 – 5,000 followers:

  • Below average: < 2%
  • Average: 2-4%
  • Good: 4-7%
  • Excellent: 7%+

5,000 – 20,000 followers:

  • Below average: < 1.5%
  • Average: 1.5-3%
  • Good: 3-5%
  • Excellent: 5%+

20,000 – 100,000 followers:

  • Below average: < 1%
  • Average: 1-2.5%
  • Good: 2.5-4%
  • Excellent: 4%+

100,000+ followers:

  • Below average: < 0.5%
  • Average: 0.5-1.5%
  • Good: 1.5-3%
  • Excellent: 3%+

Why Engagement Rate Drops With More Followers

This is natural and expected. As your audience grows, a smaller percentage of followers see each post (LinkedIn doesn't show your content to all followers). Larger accounts also attract more passive followers who rarely engage. Don't panic if your rate decreases as you grow — focus on absolute engagement numbers alongside the rate.

What Counts as "Engagement" on LinkedIn?

Not all engagement is equal. Here's the hierarchy of value:

  1. Comments — Most valuable. Comments signal deep engagement and trigger the algorithm to show your post to more people.
  2. Shares/Reposts — Extends your reach to new audiences.
  3. Reactions (Like, Celebrate, Love, Insightful, Funny, Support) — Quick signal of appreciation. "Insightful" carries slightly more weight with the algorithm than a basic "Like."
  4. Clicks — Profile clicks, link clicks, "see more" clicks. Indicates interest but doesn't boost distribution as much.
  5. Follows from post — The ultimate engagement. Someone found your content valuable enough to want more.

Dwell Time Matters Too

LinkedIn also tracks how long people spend reading your post. A 2-minute read signals higher quality than a 3-second scroll-past. This is why long-form text posts often outperform short ones — they accumulate dwell time.

10 Tactics to Improve Your LinkedIn Engagement Rate

1. Write Stronger Hooks

The first 2 lines of your post determine whether someone clicks "see more." Your hook must create curiosity, promise value, or make a bold claim.

Weak hook: "Today I want to share some thoughts about leadership."

Strong hooks:

  • "I fired our best salesperson. Here's why it was the right call."
  • "3 years ago, I was $200K in debt. Last month, my startup crossed $5M ARR."
  • "Stop saying 'I'm passionate about X' on LinkedIn. Here's what to say instead."

2. Post at Peak Hours

LinkedIn engagement peaks during business hours. The best times to post:

  • Tuesday through Thursday, 8-10 AM in your audience's time zone
  • Tuesday is generally the highest-engagement day
  • Avoid weekends and Monday mornings (people are catching up)

3. End With a Question

Posts that end with a genuine question get 2-3x more comments than those that don't. The question should be easy to answer and relevant to the post.

Examples:

  • "What's the best career advice you've ever received?"
  • "Do you agree, or am I completely off base?"
  • "Which of these resonates most with your experience?"

4. Use Line Breaks Aggressively

Walls of text die on LinkedIn. Use short paragraphs (1-2 sentences max), line breaks between thoughts, and white space to make your content scannable.

5. Reply to Every Comment Within the First Hour

The first 60 minutes after posting are critical. LinkedIn's algorithm watches early engagement velocity. Reply to every comment quickly — it doubles the comment count (your replies count too) and encourages more people to join the conversation.

6. Engage Before You Post

Spend 15-20 minutes commenting on other people's posts before publishing yours. This warms up your profile in the algorithm and puts you on people's radar, making them more likely to see and engage with your post.

7. Use Carousels for Educational Content

LinkedIn carousel posts (PDF documents) consistently generate the highest engagement rates because:

  • They keep people swiping (high dwell time)
  • Each slide is a micro-hook
  • They're saved and shared more than text posts

8. Tell Stories, Not Lectures

Personal stories outperform generic advice by 3-5x on LinkedIn. People connect with humans, not bullet points. Frame your insights within a narrative: what happened, what you learned, what the reader can take away.

9. Be Consistent (But Don't Burn Out)

Posting 3-5 times per week is the sweet spot for most founders. Less than twice a week and the algorithm forgets you exist. More than once a day and you're competing against yourself.

10. Analyze and Iterate

Track which posts perform best and double down on those formats and topics. Look for patterns in your top-performing content:

  • What format was it? (text, carousel, video, poll)
  • What topic category?
  • What time did you post?
  • How strong was the hook?

How GrowthLens Tracks Your Engagement Rate

Manually calculating engagement rates across dozens of posts is tedious. GrowthLens automatically tracks your LinkedIn engagement metrics and shows you:

  • Your average engagement rate over time
  • Benchmarks against others in your follower tier
  • Top-performing content patterns
  • Best posting times based on your actual data
  • Engagement trend lines — are you improving or declining?

Instead of guessing whether your engagement is "good," you get a clear picture with data-driven recommendations.

Get your free LinkedIn engagement audit → — See how your engagement stacks up and get personalized tips to improve.

The Engagement Rate Trap

One final note: don't optimize purely for engagement rate. A post that gets 500 likes from random people is less valuable than a post that gets 20 comments from your ideal customers.

Quality of engagement matters more than quantity. Focus on reaching the right people with content that demonstrates your expertise. The engagement will follow.

Track your LinkedIn engagement rate automatically with GrowthLens — free audit, instant results, actionable recommendations.