Understanding your social media performance starts with a grasp of the social media language used to measure it. Engagement rate, CTR, CPC and organic reach are just some of the terms regularly used when discussing social media performance. But what do they actually mean? And, more importantly, what can they tell you about your business’ social media success? This social media glossary should help.
Breaking down the social media jargon
It’s easy for social media reporting to feel overwhelming because it is filled with technical jargon, abbreviations, and platform-specific metrics. Marketers also regularly use shorthand terminology such as ROAS (Return on Ad Spend), which can make performance reports harder to interpret for business owners and non-specialists.
Whatever your role, understanding these metrics is essential because they can help your business to measure return on investment (ROI) and to determine whether your social media efforts are contributing to meaningful outcomes.
Different social media metrics give different information
It’s important to remember that not every metric tells the same story.
- Reach and impressions measure visibility
- Engagement metrics show how the audience interacts with your content
- Conversion rate and ROAS reveal the impact your social media activity has on your business
Looking at a single metric on its own doesn’t give a complete picture, to gain a comprehensive understanding of social media performance. All performance indicators should be considered.
In this social media glossary, we’ll break down some of the most commonly used social media terms, and explain what they mean, why they matter, and what they can show about the success of your social media.
Social Media Glossary
Reach
Your reach is the total number of unique people who view a piece of content, such as a post, a story, or an ad. As reach is made up of unique viewers, each person is only counted once, no matter how many times they view the content. In terms of brand awareness, if your brand has high reach, it means that your content is being introduced to a large audience.
There are three different types of reach:
- Organic reach – s the total number of unique users who see a post naturally without any paid promotion or advertising. Good organic reach means views are earned purely through the platform’s algorithm, user shares, searches, or profile visits.
- Paid reach – the number of different users who see your content because you paid to promote it, via an ad or boosting the post
- Viral reach – this counts the people who view your content because someone in their network shared or interacted with it
Remember – reach counts the number of individual people that saw the content – not to be confused with impressions.
Impressions
An impression is the total number of times a piece of content such as a post, video, or ad is displayed on a social media platform.
An impression doesn’t require an interaction with the post, it counts the moment the content is displayed on the screen. The viewer does not have to click, like, or read it.
Users may see the same post more than once because the algorithms serve it to them multiple times. Impressions include repeated view count. If one person sees the exact same post three times on their feed, it would equal three impressions.
Engagement
A social media engagement is any action your audience takes to interact with your social posts or accounts. This includes likes, comments, shares, saves, and direct messages.
Engagement measures active interaction as opposed to passive viewing. And just like real-life interactions, it’s a two-way street. So, engagement refers to not only how viewers respond to your post, but equally importantly, how you respond to your viewers.
Common types of engagement include:
- low-effort actions – such as likes, reactions, and clicks
- high-effort actions – such as comments, replies, shares, and saves
- private interactions – such as direct messages
Social media engagement matters because it signals to the algorgithms you’re your content is valuable. The social media platforms will then push more engaging content to more people. Higher engagement equals larger reach.
Community is also built on engagement. It shows your potential followers and fans that there is an audience which already has an affinity with your brand. And that you’re present on your channel and interacting with your followers.
Engagement rate
Engagement rate on social media is a percentage that measures how actively your audience interacts with your content, rather than just viewing it.
To calculate the engagement rate of a post (or series of posts) there are three formulas you can use.
- Engagement by followers – divide the total number of engagements by total followers and multiply by 100. This is best for tracking overall audience health and comparing accounts.
- Engagement by reach – divide the total number of engagements by total reach figure and multiply by 100. This is best for seeing how content performs with people who saw it.
- Engagement by impressions – divide total number of engagements by total number of impressions and multiply by 100. This is best for measuring repeat interactions per view.
Engagement rate provides better context than raw engagement numbers because it measures interaction relevant to size or reach.
It’s important to note that audience size differences matter. Large accounts naturally will collect more raw interactions simply due to scale.
Click through rate (CTR)
The CTR measures the rate at which users clicked the link in your social post. Social media platforms use CTR to measure how relevant your post, ad, or page is to users. A higher CTR can mean your posts are shown to more users, and can lower your advertising costs when running paid social campaigns.
- To calculate click through rate – divide clicks by impressions and then multiply by 100. (Clicks are the number of times people clicked on your ad or link. Impressions are the total number of times your ad or link appeared on a screen.)
High click through rate shows that your title, headline, or description match user intent. It means the audience finds the topic valuable or interesting enough to take action.
A low click through rate signals a disconnect, your content preview may not target the right audience, or the headline fails to address what the user is looking for.
Cost per click (CPC)
Cost per click (CPC) on social media is a term used within social media advertising campaigns or ‘boosted’ content. CPC is used to track performance by effectively measuring how an ad driver website traffic rather than just passive viewing.
- To calculate the CPC of a social media ad – divide the total ad cost with the total clicks.
Marketers often compare the CPC across different ad creatives and target audiences to see which version generates the cheapest and most efficient traffic.
Cost Per Mille (CPM)
CPM is the price you pay for every 1,000 ad impressions on social media, regardless of whether they click of engage. It is a social media metric that helps measure the cost of visibility and awareness at a large scale.
CPM monitoring also supports budget planning, as it helps marketers understand how much money they need to spend in order to get their brand in front of a specific number of people.
Conversion rate
Your conversion rate tells you the number of people who take a desired action (whether that means signing up to a newsletter, visiting your website, contacting your business, making a purchase etc.) after seeing or clicking with your content.
- To calculate conversion rate – divide the number of conversions by the total number of visitors or sessions and multiple by 100.
Conversion rate acts as the bridge between social media activity and the businesses outcomes.
Mentions
Mentions of your brand on social channels act as a brand awareness indicator. They show that people know, remember, and talk about your company outside of your own official channels. When people talk about a brand on social media, blogs or forums without being paid or tagged, it proves the brand is memorable.
A high volume of brand mentions means your name travels farther into wider online communities.
Share of Voice (SOV)
Share of Voice (also referred to as Social Share of Voice – SSoV) measures how much of your industry’s online conversation is occupied by your brand, compared to other competitors. The ‘loudness’ of your brand’s voice shows your visibility and influence in social media discussions.
SOV matters because it tracks actual engagement and real-time consumer chatter.
- To calculate your SOV – need to divide your brand mentions by total category mentions and multiply by 100.
A consistently high SOV often leads to future growth in overall market share, but volume alone is not enough. You must track whether the conversation is positive or negative.
Audience demographics
Audience demographics in social media marketing are the statistical and measurable characteristics of a specific group of users or consumers. These factual points are used to understand who interacts with your content/brand.
Audience demographics include age, gender identity, geographic location, income level, education and occupation. These demographics matter as they allow companies to choose the right platform(s) for their content.
Individual social media posts can also be targeted specifically to relevant demographics only, such as users in a specific country only.
Return on ad spend (ROAS)
ROAS in social media marketing measures the amount of revenue your business earns for every dollar or pound spent on paid social campaigns. ROAS shows which social platforms drive real sales, helping you move money away from underperforming ads into campaigns that work.
- To calculate ROAS – divide your total revenue generated from ads by your total ad spend.
Talk to a social media expert
Need help making sense of your social media performance? Molokini can help you understand the numbers that matter, and create social media strategies that deliver measurable results.
