Glossary
Impressions vs Reach: What's the Difference?
Two key metrics that measure how many people see your content — but they're not the same.
Impressions
The total number of times your content is displayed.
If one person sees your post 3 times, that's 3 impressions.
Reach
The number of unique users who see your content.
If one person sees your post 3 times, that's still 1 reach.
Key Difference: Impressions ≥ Reach (always). If impressions are much higher than reach, people are seeing your content multiple times.
Which Metric Matters More?
Reach tells you how many unique people you're connecting with — important for brand awareness.
Impressions show how often your message is being seen — important for brand recall and retargeting.
Example
Your Instagram post has:
- 500 Reach — 500 unique people saw it
- 750 Impressions — it was displayed 750 times total
- This means some people saw it more than once (7 days rule, stories rewatch, etc.)
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