Reach
What is reach?
Reach is the number of different people who saw a post or an ad at least once in a given period. It is not the same as impressions, which count every showing, including repeat showings to the same person. A reach of 10,000 against 30,000 impressions means roughly three showings each; that ratio is called frequency.
Example
A €400 campaign collects 148,000 impressions and a reach of 52,000 people. Frequency is 2.8 (148,000 ÷ 52,000) and a thousand impressions cost €2.70 (400 ÷ 148). Of those 52,000 people, 1,100 visit the site and 34 leave an enquiry — €11.76 each (400 ÷ 34).
Reach explains how widely the message travelled. It does not explain whether the message worked; that is what the last number is for.
Why it matters for a business
Reach is the denominator under almost everything else. Frequency is impressions over reach; engagement is usually calculated over reach as well. When reach is small and the budget keeps growing, frequency climbs and the same people see the ad eight times. Results fall; the spend does not.
The organic reach of a page is a small share of its followers, and posting more does not buy it back. So reach is a sensible objective only when a message has to arrive in front of many people at once: an opening, a short promotion, a campaign in one town. For everything else it is context around the engagement rate, not a target.
What to ask
- Over what period is this reach — a month’s reach is not the sum of four weekly figures?
- What is the frequency, and at what point do we cap it?
- How many of the people reached are new, and how many already know you?
- Are Facebook and Instagram figures added together, or is one person counted twice?
- Which action follows the reach, and how is that action measured?
In the monthly report for social media management, reach sits next to frequency and to the result, because on its own it is hard to read.