- \n
- Impressions<\/a><\/li>\n
- Reach<\/a><\/li>\n
- Engagement rate<\/a><\/li>\n
- Likes<\/a><\/li>\n
- Comments<\/a><\/li>\n
- Shares<\/a><\/li>\n
- Clicks<\/a><\/li>\n
- Click-Through Rate<\/a><\/li>\n
- Mentions<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Impressions<\/h2>\n
Impressions are the total number of organic, paid, and viral views on your post. When measuring your impressions, don\u2019t forget that repeated views by the same person get counted in the total number of impressions.<\/p>\n
Impressions help answer the ever-present question social media marketers face: is anyone even out there \ud83d\udc7d? Knowing how many people are seeing your posts is an important first step in measuring engagement so you can set your goals accordingly. You can also work to expand your impressions by varying the timing of your posts, content types, which platforms you\u2019re using, and more.<\/p>\n
Reach<\/h2>\n
Reach is the total number of unique users that saw the post organically, virally, and through paid ads. Even if someone comes back to your post a few times, their visit is counted only once for reach. Reach also combines your follower count plus the follower counts of anyone who has shared the post in question.<\/p>\n
Reach helps you get the most accurate picture of who saw your post since it never counts repeat views and therefore can\u2019t be inflated. It\u2019s also an important number to keep in mind when you\u2019re looking at the engagement rates of your posts since it\u2019s one option of the denominator in the equation.<\/p>\n
For a little more context on the difference between reach and impressions, Sprout Social, a social media scheduling tool, has a great write up on their blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Engagement rate<\/h2>\n
Your brand\u2019s average engagement rate is the number of engagement actions (like clicks, likes, comments, and more) a post receives in relation to how many people saw it. Shown as a percentage, this gives a great read on the amount of your audience that\u2019s engaging with your posts and helps you compare your engagement to competitors regardless of audience size.<\/p>\n
While your engagement rate can be calculated by dividing by impressions or reach, we find that dividing by followers gives the most accurate data for competitively benchmarking your rates<\/a> against others in your industry.<\/p>\n
This is arguably your most important social media engagement metric to track because higher engagement rates mean your content is resonating with your target audience.<\/p>\n
To find your brand\u2019s engagement rate per post, add up a post\u2019s total likes, comments, and shares, etc. and divide by your total number of followers. Then multiply that sum by 100 to get your average engagement rate percentage per post. Instead of crunching numbers, you could also use a tool that measures this all for you, like Rival IQ<\/a>.<\/p>\n
![\"social](\"https:\/\/www.rivaliq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/impressionseng.rate_.png\")
Our Rival IQ Twitter boasted an engagement rate of 7.88% from our highest performing tweet last quarter.<\/p><\/div>\n
Benchmarking engagement rates against your industry standard is vital to understanding how you’re really performing on social. Knowing the bottom line of what engagement rates look like in your industry on each particular platform lets you set a bar to strive for. Plus, the competitive insights of industry tracking give your brand a leg up over the competition.<\/p>\n
Likes<\/h2>\n
Likes can vary depending on your platform but are generally low-effort on-platform reactions to content. Emoticon reactions to your Instagram Story, hearts on Instagram or Twitter, and reactions such as wow, care, and laughing on Facebook are all considered likes. With a like, or even a negative reaction, your audience is expressing some form of interest in what you\u2019re posting.<\/p>\n
![\"linkedin](\"https:\/\/www.rivaliq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/linkedin-emoticon-reactions.png\")
<\/a>LinkedIn recently jumped on board with the emoticon reactions with these custom branded and professional-feeling options.<\/p><\/div>\n
Likes not only give a concrete number to track, but the emoticon addition also allows you to parse a sentiment analysis of your audience\u2019s reaction. It\u2019s generally seen as a low-level engagement action to favorite or \u2764\ufe0f a tweet, but scrolling to choose a reactive emoji adds another level of effort. Keep an eye on both the count of likes and the type of like for the fullest picture of engagement.<\/p>\n
Comments<\/h2>\n
Comments are the total number of organic and paid comments and replies to comments on your post and shares of the post. These can look different on different platforms: a \u201creply\u201d on Twitter, for instance, would qualify as a comment.<\/p>\n
A viewer\u2019s comment on your content is a significantly weightier action than hitting like, as it takes more effort to write up a reply than to double-tap and keep scrolling. Depending on the comment contents, your audience is telling you it\u2019s thought-provoking and they either really like or dislike your content.<\/p>\n
Positive or negative, comments on your posting give the social platform an indication that your viewers are highly engaged with your content and want to see more of it. Hefty engagement types like comments can boost your overall reach and impressions.<\/p>\n
Shares<\/h2>\n
A share is when a user broadcasts your content to their social feed, group, or specific individuals. Shares not only signify engagement from your audience, they also significantly increase your posts\u2019 reach.<\/p>\n
Shares, retweets, reposts, and the like are considered more valuable when they contain an editorial note from the sharer, as it adds an increased level of time investment. Take Facebook for example, who recently shared that \u201cmeaningful conversations\u201d in-app are key to success<\/a>. A retweet with a comment or a share on Facebook with a caption takes a little more effort from your audience.<\/p>\n
Similar to comments, social channels will reward that extra effort by boosting your handle’s significance within their algorithms to show your audience more of what they\u2019ve interacted with.<\/p>\n
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Don\u2019t miss the Tweets about your Tweet.<\/p>\n
Now on iOS, you can see Retweets with comments all in one place. pic.twitter.com\/oanjZfzC6y<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Twitter (@Twitter) May 12, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
- Reach<\/a><\/li>\n