Reach is the number of different people (or accounts) who saw a post, while impressions are the number of times it was shown, counting the same person again each time.
Impressions are always at least as high as reach, because one person can see a post several times. Reach tells you how far a post spread; impressions tell you how much it was seen.
Platforms name and count these differently and change their labels: Instagram's Insights now report Views (the number of times content was shown) and Viewers (the number of different accounts that saw it) instead of impressions and reach, while X and LinkedIn still count impressions. Check what a figure actually counts before comparing it with another platform's.
A carousel reaches 800 accounts, and 300 of them swipe back to it later in the day, so it records about 1,100 impressions.
The photographer's reach is 800 people; the 1,100 is how many times it was on someone's screen. An engagement rate based on impressions will look lower than one based on reach for the same post.
Related terms
Related terms