Meta Metrics, Explained

If you’re new to social media marketing – or even if you’re not – you’ve probably found yourself staring at your performance reports a little bit baffled by which metric is which and how they differ from one another. 

Views, Viewers, Reach, Visits? They all sound so similar! And it certainly doesn’t help that Meta keeps re-defining what these metrics mean, how they’re calculated, and which to prioritize, so just when you think you’ve got a handle on it, something changes. 

Heck, we’re professionals, and we still sometimes get a little mixed up, so we can only imagine how tough it must be for someone who isn’t staring at these metrics all day/every day.

To help, we’ve put together a quick explainer so you’ll have an understanding of what each metric means. 

Let’s get started! 

Views is the total number of times your content has been seen. It’s important to note that this number is not unique, so if someone saw your content 10 different times, throughout the course of the week, each of those times would contribute to your total Views metric. 

For Reels and Videos, a View is the same as a Play. For Stories, Photos, or Text posts, a View is the same as an Impression. 

Example: If your Views is 1,000 for the week, that means your content was seen 1,000 times throughout the week. 

Viewers, on the other hand, refers to the total number of people who have seen your content. Unlike Views, this number is unique. So if the same person saw the same content 10 different times, this would only count as one Viewer. This is a Facebook-specific metric. 

Example: If your Viewers is 100 for the week, that means 100 individual people saw your content. They may have seen the same content multiple times – which will happen if their comment gets replies – but each of these Views only counts as one Viewer. 

Visits refers to the number of times your Profile is viewed. This only happens when someone either clicks through from your content to see your Profile, or if they seek out your Profile using the search functionality. It does not count as a Visit if the user simply sees your content in their Feed but never lands on your Profile. It’s important to note that, like Views, this number is not unique, so if someone arrives on your Profile multiple times, it will count multiple times toward your Visits for the week.

Example: If your Visits is 10 for the week, that means that someone landed on your Profile 10 times. This could mean either 10 different people or one person, 10 times. 

Reach is where it gets a little tricky, because not only does Facebook no longer use this metric (it’s an Instagram-only metric), but the two channels have different names for the same thing. Reach, much like Facebook Viewers, refers to the total number of people who have seen your content. Unlike Views, this number is unique. So if the same person saw the same content 10 different times, this would only count as one toward the Reach total. 

Example: If your Reach is 100 for the week, that means 100 individual people saw your content. They may have seen the same content multiple times – which will happen if their comment gets replies – but each of these Views only counts as one toward your total Reach. 

Interactions refers to the total number of times users have interacted with your content. This includes both comments and any kind of like/love/care/laugh/wow/sad/angry reaction. 

Example: If a user ‘love’ reacts your post, leaves a comment, and then responds to a sub-comment, this would count as three separate interactions toward your total for the week.

Link Clicks is a Facebook-specific metric that is not available on Instagram. This one is pretty straightforward. It refers to each time a user clicks on a link from one of your posts. If you are hoping to drive users to your website, a sign-up form, or a sale, monitoring those Link Clicks is an important way to track your overall success. 

Example: If you post about an item for sale on your website and a user clicks the link to visit the page, this will count as a Link Click. The user does not need to take action on the page in order to count toward this total. 

When it comes to metrics, there’s a lot to know and a lot to remember, but luckily, you have us to guide you! Whether you’re attempting to understand your weekly or monthly report from B-Plot, looking for professional help managing your social media, or looking to become more self-sufficient in your own social media efforts, we’re here to help.

Are there any metrics we missed? Is there anything you’d like to read about in more detail? 

Let us know, and we’re happy to do another blog!