What is Reach?
Reach is the total number of unique accounts that saw a piece of content during a given period, distinct from impressions which count every view including repeats.
Reach measures unique eyeballs, so it is always less than or equal to total impressions. A post seen twice by the same person counts as 2 impressions but only 1 in reach. Reach is used to measure the actual audience size a campaign touched.
Brands use reach to estimate how many potential customers were exposed to a message. Combined with engagement rate, it helps calculate whether a creator's audience actually responds, not just scrolls past.
Creators should include reach figures in their media kit alongside engagement rate. Platforms like Elev8or let creators showcase these metrics directly on their public profile page.
Related terms
- Impressions
- Impressions are the total number of times a piece of content was displayed, counting every view including multiple views by the same user.
- Engagement rate
- Engagement rate is the percentage of a creator’s audience that interacts with their content, calculated as total engagements (likes, comments, shares, saves) divided by followers or reach, times 100.
- Media kit
- A media kit is a creator’s one-page summary for brands, showing their audience size, demographics, engagement, past partnerships, content examples, and rates.
- CPM (cost per mille)
- CPM, or cost per mille, is the cost a brand pays per 1,000 impressions or views of a piece of content, used to compare the efficiency of creator and ad placements.
- Influencer marketing
- Influencer marketing is a form of marketing where brands pay social media influencers to promote products to their followers, using the influencer’s trust and reach to drive awareness and sales.
More in Metrics
Reach sits in the metrics part of the glossary. These terms come up in the same conversations and are worth reading alongside it.