The difference between Impressions and Reach
These terms may sound similar and they both have to do with measuring social media efforts but there are some important differences.
Reach is used to count the total number of people who see your post or ad. For example if your ad showed up 300 times on Facebook and 220 people see your ad, then your reach would be 220.
Impressions is the total number of times that your ad showed up on social media platforms. So in the above mentioned example, 300 would be the total number of impressions.
Facebook Impressions
Facebook impressions are the same concept only measured slightly differently than other platforms. If a Facebook user sees an ad, scrolls past it, then scrolls back up, this counts as 1 impression. If that ad shows up during another session for this user within 24 hours, then that will count as 2 impressions.
Instagram
Instagram measures impressions as the number of times a user sees a post. Reach is defined as the number of unique users that interact with your post. If your impressions are higher than your reach, it could be that your audience is seeing your posts every couple of times that they open the app.
Twitter
Twitter impressions are slightly different in how Twitter works. If a tweet earns 200 impressions, and a reply to that tweet earns 100, then your total would be 300 impressions.
Which is more important?
The short answer is they both are important, but it depends on your goal. If brand awareness is more of your goal with your advertising efforts, then impressions may be more of your concern. The number of times your ad shows up is sure to help with brand reinforcement. If you are selling something then reach may be of more interest as you want to have your ad show up in front of a certain number of people with potential of being a buyer.
