If you've been following me for a while, you know that my goal is to help you understand the how and why of social media - but the technical terms really aren't important! That being said, I also recommend exploring your settings and insights - but without the technical terms, you don't really know what you're looking at!
So let's have a quick look together.
Likes / Followers / Connections vs Following
Your 'Followers' refers to the people who are choosing to follow your journey - they are the most likely to see your posts. Unfortunately, it's not that simple on every platform. On Facebook, they can choose to 'like' and/or to 'follow' your page - if they only 'like' it, they are publically showing that they support you but actually they will very rarely be shown your posts. On LinkedIn, you also have the option to 'connect' with people - this essentially means that you follow each other.
A lot of platforms also show a 'Following' count at the top of your page - this is actually how many accounts you are following!
Reach vs Impressions
You will often see these two terms used interchangeably - but they are different! In theory, your 'impressions' will always be higher than your 'reach'. If it's not, then your insights are glitching.
'Reach' refers to the total number of accounts that have come across at least one piece of content from you in the time frame examined. 'Impressions' refers to the total number of times your content has been on screens in that time frame.
In other words, if I see your Story and follow that to look at your post, and then later the algorithm shows me that post again; you've received 3 impressions but only 1 reach.
Page / Profile views
Although all the platforms use the same term, they don't all mean the same thing! On Facebook and Instagram, it refers to the number of times your profile was visited - so if the same person visits multiple times, it counts as multiple views. On TikTok and LinkedIn, it refers to the number of people who've visited your profile - so if the same person visits multiple times, it counts as a single view.
Engagement vs Engagement Rate
Your 'Engagement' refers to the total number of actions people have taken on your post - that includes reacting, commenting, sharing, clicking the link, sending via DM to a friend, saving/bookmarking the post and even following you directly from the post.
Your 'Engagement Rate' is the total number of engagements divided by the total Reach and then multiplied by 100. This will give you a percentage - and at first, you might worry that it's really low but a good engagement rate is actually somewhere between 1% and 3%.
Need more help?
Looking through your insights can be fascinating, but what do you do with that information? Check out this mini-course so I can guide you through learning what's working for you right now! This isn't just theory, this is a 'learn as you do' approach!
Thanks for reading! I share a blog like this one every other Tuesday, and if you feel like they help your social media presence, and more importantly, your business - then please consider leaving a tip.
Every time this tip jar reaches £15, I'll run a giveaway on social media so a small business can access my membership group for two months.
Tesni xx
