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Facebook Reach Explained

Improve your understanding of this key Facebook metric. Understand the math behind Facebook Reach

Napoleon The Cat avatar
Written by Napoleon The Cat
Updated over a week ago

"Reach" is a term that gets thrown around a lot in the world of social media, but what does it really mean? ☝️

Reach definition

Simply put, πŸ‘₯ Reach is the number of unique people who have seen your page's content within a specific period.

But here's the catch - Facebook is like a bustling city that never sleeps, constantly growing with new content (posts, images, videos, you name it!). πŸŒƒ

With so much happening, it's impossible for users to see everything, especially with targeted sponsored posts in the mix.

πŸ’‘ That's why the folks at Facebook developed an algorithm that controls what is shown to users based on their previous activities.

Types of reach

In NapoleonCat's Analytics and Reports, you'll find several different ways reach is measured, but the star of the show is Total Reach:

Facebook Reach in NapoleonCat Explained

It's broken down into categories - Organic, Viral, Nonviral, and Paid:

  • Viral 🦠 β€” Your content is shown to Facebook users indirectly. For example, one of your fans liked your post and it's being displayed in their friends' newsfeeds

  • Nonviral 🚫🦠 β€” Your content is shown to Facebook users because they follow your page

  • Organic 🌱 β€” The sum of viral and nonviral

  • Paid πŸ’° β€” Content displayed to your audience through Facebook Ads (sponsored posts etc.)

See reach

πŸ‘€ Here's where you can see your reach (or that of your competitors):

Analytics

  1. Cruise on over to Analytics - pick your own or competitor profile on the left-hand side

  2. Hit the "Reach" tab

  3. Specify the time-frame

  4. Scroll down a tad until you see "Total reach" and select the increment (1-day, 7-day, or 28-day) πŸ‘‡

Reach in NapoleonCat Analytics and Reports

Reports

  1. Hop on over to Reports and create a new report

  2. Select the time range and social media pages for the report

  3. Generate the report

  4. Once done, download it onto your computer and open it

  5. You'll find reach data on the pages "Reach 1-day, Reach 2-day, Reach 28-day" πŸ‘‡

Reach in NapoleonCat Analytics and Reports

Data delivery

πŸ“Š Facebook delivers reach information in 3 different increments – 1, 7, and 28 days.

Picture this: you're keen to check out your reach for the last 2 weeks. You've set the time frame, and now it's time to pick the increment.

Here's where things get a bit interesting - depending on your increment choice, the data will shift. Why, you ask? πŸ€”

  • πŸ—“οΈ Reach is all about unique users. So, if a user sees your content twice on one day and then twice the next day, and you choose the reach in 1-day increments, the user will be counted once on day 1 and once on day 2. It's like they're checking in each day!

  • 🎟️ But if you go for the 7-day or 28-day increment, that user will only be counted once in the 7-day and 28-day period, respectively.

    It doesn't matter how many times they pop by to see your content. It's like they've got a week or month-long pass!

❌ This is exactly why adding up reach metrics is a big no-no.

The results will be off because depending on the chosen increment, the system has a different understanding of what a unique user is.

πŸ“ˆ Now, let's say you're curious about your reach for the previous month.

There’s no way to measure that precisely, but you can set the time frame to the previous month and set the increment to 28 days.

This will give you a ballpark figure of how many different (unique) users have seen your content (at least once).

Recap

  • Reach is based on the content being shown to unique users πŸ™‹β€β™€οΈ

  • Organic reach is not equal to the number of your fans 🌱 β‰  πŸ‘₯

  • Reach can be viewed in 1, 7, and 28-day increments πŸ“…

  • Never try to sum up reach metrics – you'll get false data! πŸš«βž•


πŸ’¬Still got questions? Don't hesitate to reach out to our Customer Success team on chat! Find us purring in the bottom right-hand corner, ready to lend a paw.

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