Checklist: benchmark engagement rate against your niche

Checklist: benchmark engagement rate against your niche
Cross-niche median ER is 1.6% — useless without your vertical (n=540 accounts, 30-day window).
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Use ER-by-reach, not ER-by-follower. Follower-based math is inflated 3-5x by dead accounts.
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Pull your niche's median, not the global one:
Fitness: ██ 1.1% | Travel: ███ 1.8% | Education: █████ 3.4%
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Compare against your own size cohort — a 5k account and 500k account share no benchmark.
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Flag saves and shares separately; they predict next-post reach far better than likes.
So what: if you're below your niche median on ER-by-reach, the format is the problem, not the algorithm.