A Guide to Common Acronyms and Slang for digital content creators and Influencers

What Does Reach Mean On Instagram? 

What does Reach mean on Instagram?

If you are new to creating content online and are just beginning your journey of becoming an influencer, you may not quite know all the slang and terms. 

When you hear people talking about their “reach” on Instagram, or any other social media platform, they are generally referring to the number of unique viewers your post or story has received. This is different from impressions, which is the total number of clicks a post has gotten.

Both reach and impressions are easily mixed up, which is why it’s important to know the difference. 

How to Learn What your Reach is On Instagram

How do you discover what your reach is on Instagram? You must first make sure you have a business profile set up. This is how you see all your engagement data, and is one of the most important things about being an Instagram content creator.

You’ll know you have a business profile if, when you click on your profile, you see ‘professional dashboard’ listed below your bio. Below is an example of what this will look like.

Once you click on that, you will have access to a large amount of data that can help you with your Instagram career. 

This includes viewing all your impressions and engagement data, including the location, age, and gender of your viewers, your most popular posts, as well as impressions and total reach. 

Below are some examples of different information you could see. 

Remember, your reach is important because these are the unique visitors to your content. Someone could click on your story 1,000 times and your impression could be 1,000 — but that is all from one individual. While both reach and impressions are important, you must remember they are not equal to each other. 

It may be better to have a large number in your Reach category because then you know your account is reaching multiple people.

It’s especially important to look at where the views and clicks are coming from – if they are mostly from your profile or home, this is likely consistent followers and your most engaged audience.

But if your clicks are coming from others, that could mean they are finding your account from the Explore page or from people sharing your content. These are important clicks to pay attention to, because you always want to widen your audience. 

Viewing Engagement Insights From A Post

How do you view your reach from an individual post?

You can also view your reach on individual posts and stories. To do this, open your stories and click the graph icon. Here is where you can see the accounts reached, engaged, and profile activity with the story. 

You will also be able to see all of the interactions the story  got, including if people shared, replied, or visited your profile after viewing.

If there is no number there, that means the information has yet to load or the story isn’t being engaged with. This can help you understand what you are doing wrong if you are not seeing large amounts of engagement with your work.

Remember, engaging with your audience is extremely important. You should have a relationship with your followers that allows them to want to comment, share, and reply back to your posts and stories. Encourage your followers to share your content with their friends and followers in order to increase your reach across new people and even other platforms. 

Why Should You Know What Reach Is?

It’s important for all influencers and digital content creators to understand what reach is, and how it’s different from engagement and impressions. When speaking to brands about potential sponsorship and deals, you need to have a solid understanding of your audience. 

You should be able to say what your average reach is per post, and for your account as a whole.

 Perhaps you’ve had one viral Instagram Reel that reached millions of people – your account average Reach will go up, and you may be able to reach out for new opportunities. But if the rest of your content reach is lower, you need to be able to report that back to brands and managers.

What slang terms and digital content would you like to learn about next? Let us know down below, and be sure to read our article on Impressions to get the full picture.