Why you shouldn’t add up reach across platforms
Adding reach from each platform counts some people more than once. Here’s what to report instead.
Many social media reports add up reach from every platform and show one total. For example: Instagram reached 12,000 people, Facebook reached 8,000 and TikTok reached 15,000, so the report says the brand reached 35,000 people. The real number of people reached is almost always lower.
This article explains why, and what to report instead.
How reach is counted
Reach is the number of unique accounts that saw your content on one platform. Each platform only counts its own users. If someone follows the brand on both Instagram and Facebook, both platforms count them. When you add the two numbers, that person is counted twice.
The same problem happens over time. If you add up four weeks of weekly reach, you don't get monthly reach, because many of the same people see your posts every week.
Why it matters
Clients compare your reports with other numbers, such as website visits and sales. If your reach total looks much bigger than everything else, they may start to doubt the rest of the report. An inflated number also makes future months look worse when you report accurately.
What to report instead
- Reach for each platform, with its own trend over time. These numbers are accurate and easy to compare month to month.
- Impressions, if you need one combined number. Impressions count views, not people, so adding them across platforms is correct. Make sure you call them views.
- The percentage of followers reached on each platform. This shows whether the content is reaching the audience the client has built.
If a client wants one reach number
Some clients will still ask for a single total. If you include one, explain it next to the number: "Combined reach. People who use more than one platform are counted once on each, so the number of different people reached is lower."
Missing metrics are not zero
Not every platform reports the same metrics. X, for example, reports impressions but not reach, and each platform defines engagement differently. If a platform didn't report a number, write "not reported". Don't leave it blank, because a blank can be counted as zero in a total.
How Ogasocial handles reach
Ogasocial reports only add up platforms that reported a metric. Each report shows which platforms a number comes from and marks anything a platform didn't report.
