The engagement rate of an influencer is a crucial metric to consider while shortlisting influencers for a campaign. It is an indicator of how active and responsive the influencer’s audience is, and a measure of the potential reach and impact of your campaign. Here’s why:

1. Quality Audience Interaction: A high engagement rate signals that the influencer frequently interacts with their followers. These interactions can strengthen the relationship between the influencer and their audience, making the audience more likely to trust and act upon the influencer’s recommendations.

2. Organic Reach: An influencer with high engagement likely has a strong organic reach. When followers actively engage with content, the platform algorithms can push this content to a wider audience, enhancing the reach of any partnered content.

3. ROI Potential: Engagement rate can impact campaign ROI. The more an audience interacts with the influencer’s content, the more likely they will act on the influencer’s endorsements, leading to better conversion rates.

However, engagement rate should not be the sole determining factor. It’s important to also consider if the influencer’s audience aligns with your target demographic, their content style aligns with your brand identity, and if they carry a positive reputation.

Tools like Flinque can help you identify influencers with high engagement rates and matching demographic fit. However, it should be noted that different platforms may calculate engagement rate differently – some use likes and comments while others might also include shares or saved posts in their calculation. Therefore, it’s advisable not only to compare the engagement rates but also to understand how they are calculated.