<b>"Boost your engagement rate to grow."</b>

<b>"Boost your engagement rate to grow."</b>

"Engagement rate" is a borrowed Instagram metric creators import to TikTok and then optimize blindly. No one asks whether TikTok even computes it the same way.

The mechanism: TikTok distributes on <i>raw</i> signals weighted by predicted satisfaction — completion, replay, share, comment — measured per impression in the test pool, not as a follower-relative percentage. A 5% "engagement rate" on a viral video and on a flop can route completely differently based on <i>which</i> signals fired.

What's true: chase shares and completion specifically — they're the heaviest weighted. "Engagement rate" as a single number is a vanity aggregate that hides what actually moves distribution.