Reach and engagement are two very important social media metrics for businesses to measure on their social media. But looking beyond the buzzwords, what do they really mean? And what should your business be prioritising? Here, Social and Email Marketing Manager Kate Jaggers breaks down everything you need to know.

What is reach?

Simply put, reach is the amount of people who have seen your content on that social media platform. Posts that prioritise reach tend to be more informative about who you are and what you do.

Measuring your reach helps to identify both the size of your audience and how effective you are at putting your content in front of them.

Reach can be both organic or paid, depending on if you are running a paid advertising campaign. And the figure can become exceptionally high should your content go viral.

There are various factors that can affect your reach, varying from the type of content you post through to the time of day it goes live.

All social platforms will include metrics on reach in their own analytics tools.

What about engagement?

Engagement is all about interacting with your audience. That could be encouraging them to answer questions in the comments section or to share your content. It can even be as simple as achieving likes or other reactions.

Building that engagement helps retain an existing loyal customer base. This isn’t necessarily about reaching new customers. Encouraging your audience to engage with you involves them with your brand.

Key metrics to look out for include the number of likes your content receives, the amount of times it has been shared and how many people are commenting.

An engaged audience can be so much more important to your business than simply a big one.

Which is more important?

Whichever metric you choose to prioritise is all dependent on your aims. But overall, the two work together as the perfect pair – it is not always the case that one is more important than the other.

Those looking to increase brand awareness should prioritise reach, and ensure the content they post has the potential to be seen by the masses.

For those looking to build a stronger, more unified audience, posting content that is valuable to your audience is key to boosting engagement.

Every good social media campaign incorporates both.

How can Unity help?

The Unity team are experts in all things social media. We work with you to get to the very core of your brand – who you are and what your customers value.

We use that information to deliver successful campaigns that boost your reach, increase traffic to your website and drum up sales. That is real return on investment.

We understand businesses can struggle to find the time to manage their social media – but they can rest assured we will help unleash their potential online.

Get in touch today to learn more about how we can help you.