In September 2025, the total social media reach of the Samsung Galaxy S25 was 591 million. The reach was powerful in the first half of the month. Why? Apple launched the iPhone 17, and several videos comparing the two flagship smartphones went viral, especially on TikTok.
What’s your social reach? And what events impact it?
You can measure it precisely. I’ll show you how.
Quick summary:
– Social media reach tells how many social media users have seen content containing a specific keyword.
– It’s important to measure it because it shows how effective your marketing activities are and if they are performing as planned.
– To monitor your progress, you need to continuously track reach, as it helps you assess how well your content is performing and how widely it is being seen over time.
In this article, you will learn everything about social media reach – one of the most important metrics that will deliver you many insights.
What is social media reach?
Social media reach is the estimated number of unique users who have potentially seen your content, brand mention, or campaign across social media platforms. For example, if you post something and 500 unique users see it in their feeds, your reach is 500.
In simple words: It shows how many individual social media accounts were exposed to a post, story, ad, or page, not how many times it was viewed (that would be impressions).
Why does it matter?
- Helps evaluate brand visibility.
- Shows if your message spreads widely (especially during campaigns, PR events, or crises).
- Helps refine posting schedules, formats (video, carousel, story), and ad targeting
- Useful for calculating cost per reach.
- Sudden spikes in reach may signal a viral moment.
Example of a social media reach chart
Related metrics:
- Reach = unique viewers
- Impressions = total views (including repeats)
- Engagement = interactions (likes, shares, comments, clicks, etc.)
- Sentiment: = positive, neutral, or negative mention
- Share of Voice = your reach vs. competitors’ reach in the same industry
- Organic reach = unique users who saw your content without ads
- Paid reach = unique users who saw your content via advertising
Social media reach vs impressions
In a nutshell: Reach helps you understand how many individuals your content gets in front of. Impressions help you know how often people are seeing it.
ReachImpressionsThe number of unique people who saw your contentThe total number of times your content was displayedEach person is counted once, no matter how many times they saw itOne person can generate multiple impressionsIf 1,000 different users see your Instagram post, your reach = 1,000If those 1,000 people each saw your post 3 times, your impressions = 3,000
In practice:
- High reach, low impressions = many people saw it once, but didn’t return.
- Low reach, high impressions = fewer people saw it, but they saw it many times.
Reach vs engagement
In a nutshell: Reach shows how many people viewed your content, while engagement metrics measure how many interacted with it.
Social media reachEngagementThe total number of unique people who saw your content.The number of interactions people have with your content (likes, comments, shares, clicks, saves, etc.).Helps measure brand awareness and potential audience growth.Shows content effectiveness, community building, and customer interest.If your Instagram post appears in the feed of 10,000 different users, your reach is 10,000.If 800 people liked, commented on, or shared your post out of 10,000 people reached, then you have 800 engagements.
In practice:
- High reach + low engagement = People see your brand but may not care enough to interact. It’s time to review your messaging and get more engagement.
- Low reach + high engagement = Your content resonates with a small group of engaged users. Great! Now amplify it.
- High reach + high engagement = Ideal situation. Your content is reaching many and sparking conversations.
Check your social media reach!
What is non-media reach?
On the other hand, there’s non-social reach.
Why measure non-social reach?
Non-social reach can be really helpful in estimating the overall reach of a topic, brand name, product name, campaign name, hashtag, or any other keyword on the web.
Non-social reach is the estimated number of people who could have contact with your content outside of social media platforms.
Why does it matter?
- Helps brands measure total impact, not just social media performance.
- Especially relevant in public relations, nonprofit campaigns, government outreach, and grassroots marketing, where much influence happens outside traditional media.
- Ensures broader competitive impact.
Typical sources of non-media reach:
- News sites (e.g., online newspapers, press releases)
- Blogs
- Discussion forums
- Review sites (like Trustpilot, G2, Capterra)
- Podcasts
- Video sites (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.)
- Other websites with public content
Non-social + social media reach = total online reach.
For some brands, non-social reach is even bigger than social reach, especially in industries like tech, healthcare, or finance.
Check and increase your social media reach with Brand24!
How to measure social media reach?
Well, there are three main ways you can pick:
- Use native analytics tools
- Calculate the reach by yourself
- Use third-party tools
1. Use native analytics tools
Each platform has its own quirky way of talking about reach, but the idea is the same: how many real humans actually saw your stuff.
Here’s where to dig it up on the big platforms.
To access reach data on Instagram, you need a Business or Creator account.
How to check:
- Open the Instagram app and go to your profile.
- Tap Professional Dashboard → then Insights.
- In the Overview section, tap Views – this shows how many unique accounts have seen your content in the selected time range.
Want to check reach for a specific post or Reel?
- Go to the post → tap View Insights.
- You’ll see Reach listed along with other metrics like interactions and profile visits.
For Stories:
- Open your Story before it expires.
- Swipe up to view Story insights – reach is included there too.
Bonus: Instagram breaks down your reach into followers vs. non-followers, which is super useful for understanding who your content is really reaching.
TikTok
TikTok doesn’t call it “reach” directly, but you can find unique viewers, which is essentially the same thing.
How to check:
- Make sure you’ve switched to a Business or Creator account.
- Go to your Profile → tap the three dots (“more”) → Business Suite → Analytics.
- In the Overview tab, you’ll see key stats including:
- Video Views (total plays)
- Profile Views
- Reached audience (this is your reach)
- Tap into each post for more detailed metrics – TikTok provides individual post analytics including unique views and audience demographics.
On LinkedIn, there are two key metrics to pay attention to:
- Impressions – the total number of times your post appeared on someone’s screen
- Members reached – the number of unique users who saw your post (no duplicates)
Looking at both together can help you answer questions like: Am I reaching new audiences? Or am I mostly staying visible to people who already follow me?
How to check:
1. For personal posts: go to your profile → click Show All Analytics → view Post Impressions.
2. For company pages: open your Company Page → click Analytics → view Impressions.
3. You can also see Impressions for each post. These are unique and reflect your reach.
That’s also where you’ll find the Members reached metric.
Pro tip: You can track those metrics over time and export reports if you need to analyze trends.
Facebook offers detailed insights via the Meta Business Suite or Professional Dashboard.
How to check reach:
- Go to your Facebook Page.
- Open Professional Dashboard → click Insights.
- In the Overview, you’ll see:
- Page Reach (unique users who saw any content from your page)
- Post Reach (unique users who saw a specific post)
To see reach per post:
- Go to Content → click on a post → check Post Reach.
Pro tip: Facebook splits reach into organic and paid, which helps you track your ad performance separately.
2. Calculate Reach
If a platform doesn’t display reach directly, you can estimate it:
Reach = Total Impressions ÷ Average Frequency
Example: If a post has 10,000 impressions and the average person saw it 2 times, the estimated reach ≈ 5,000 people.
Frequency is often shown in analytics dashboards; if it isn’t, you may need to estimate it using surveys or engagement ratios.
3. Third-party tools
Social media tools provide consolidated reach data. These tools allow tracking overall reach across multiple channels in one single dashboard, often featuring audience segmentation and detailed reach charts.
Why use third-party tools?
- Cross-platform visibility: Instead of checking each native dashboard separately.
- Competitor benchmarking: See how your reach stacks up.
- Custom reporting: Branded reports for clients or stakeholders.
- Trend analysis: Track growth, decline, and campaign impact across different social channels over time.
- Hashtag tracking: Monitor and measure the reach of popular and relevant hashtags in real time.
- Influencer discovery: Find influencers that match your business needs.
What kind of tools can you use?
Social media management & analytics platforms
These provide dashboards to track reach, impressions, and engagement across multiple accounts, such as:
- Hootsuite – Tracks reach, impressions, engagement, and audience growth.
- Buffer – Provides post reach analytics for Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.
- Zoho Social – Tracks reach along with engagement rates and audience insights.
Social media monitoring tools
These tracks not just your accounts but also mentions and visibility across social media.
- Brandwatch – Measures potential reach of mentions, hashtags, and campaigns.
- Brand24 – Tracks brand mentions and calculates audience reach across channels.
- Talkwalker – Estimates reach from social mentions and campaigns.
Take control over your reach!
Influencer marketing platforms
These calculate influencer reach and campaign visibility.
- Upfluence – Reports reach and impressions of influencer campaigns.
- Traackr – Tracks influencer content reach and resonance.
- Aspire – Measures influencer audience reach and campaign results.
Which approach to choose?
Use native tools for the most accurate, platform-specific reach.
Use third-party tools if you want a consolidated, cross-platform view (handy for reporting).
Calculating the reach yourself is the most complicated and time-consuming method; use it only if there is no other way to measure it.
Example of social media reach calculation
According to Brand24 data, in September 2025, iPhone 16 gained one billion social reach.
The reach and mentions chart – iPhone 16
Instagram is the main source of buzz, and video content from YouTube is the second most efficient source.
Sources that generated the most social reach – iPhone 16
As you can see, there is a sudden spike in mentions and reach number on 9th September.
What happened?
We can discover it thanks to the AI Event Detector that automatically groups mentions and investigates their intent.
Anomaly in reach – iPhone 16
The new iPhone 17 was recently released, sparking discussions. Let’s check which iPhone gained more reach.
The clear winner is the latest model, the 17.
The comparison of iPhone 16 and iPhone 17
Why is that?
Well, the premiere of a new product is always exciting, especially when it comes to Apple.
Additionally, I noticed a spike in reach and mentions on September 19th, caused by promotion on TikTok.
Anomaly in reach – iPhone 16
In summary, monitoring reach and exploring the reasons behind its growth or decline is crucial.
Knowing how many users see your posts is one of the most important social media KPIs, but even more important is tracking the audience’s behavior.
How to increase social media reach?
Now, as you already know exactly what social media reach refers to, let’s find out how you can increase it.
Summary: To increase reach, focus on creating content worth sharing, engaging actively, leveraging collaborations, and amplifying with paid boosts. Consistency and smart use of platform features are the biggest long-term drivers. Engagement fuels reach. The more people like, comment, share, or save your content, the more platforms push it into feeds and discovery pages.
Here are the top tips that will help you boost your social marketing strategy:
1. Optimize timing
- Post when your audience is most active (check insights/analytics).
- Each platform has different peak times (e.g., evenings for Instagram, mornings for LinkedIn).
Check: Best Time to Post on Social Media
2. Use engaging formats
- Reels, Stories, Shorts, and Carousels usually get prioritized in feeds because they’re engaging content.
- Interactive posts (polls, Q&A, quizzes) increase visibility via engagement.
- Also, optimize for algorithms:
- TikTok: focus on short, engaging hooks.
- Instagram: use carousels & reels.
- LinkedIn: longer storytelling posts.
- X (Twitter): frequent, concise updates.
3. Leverage hashtags & keywords
- Use relevant, niche hashtags instead of only big, broad ones.
- Optimize captions for SEO keywords (important on TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn).
4. Engage consistently
- Reply to comments and messages quickly.
- Comment thoughtfully on other creators’ posts in your niche.
Example of a social media mention
5. Encourage shares & saves
- Ask followers to share content or save tips/resources.
- Shareable formats: infographics, memes, tutorials.
6. Collaborate & cross-promote
- Partner with creators, influencers, or brands to tap into their audiences.
- Guest posts, live streams, or co-hosted events broaden reach.
7. Tap into trends
- Use trending sounds, memes, or challenges (but adapt them to your brand).
- Platforms push trend-based content to wider audiences.
8. Benefit from ads
- Promote content that already gets organic engagement.
- Use lookalike audiences (based on your best followers).
9. Monitor, analyze, and adjust
- Track reach over time (daily, weekly, monthly).
- Use analytics (native or third-party) to spot what actually increased your reach (e.g., influencer post, viral tweet, trending hashtag).
Monitor how your brand spreads on socials!
FAQ
What’s the difference between paid reach and organic reach?
In short: Organic reach is free, algorithm-driven visibility. Paid reach refers to the visibility you buy.
Organic reachPaid reachThe number of unique people who see your content naturally, without paid promotion.The number of unique people who view your content because you paid for it to be promoted (through ads or boosted posts).It comes from your followers, people who share your post, or others who find it via hashtags, recommendations, or search.It lets you target specific demographics, interests, or behaviors, beyond just your existing followers.
Why is reach important compared to followers or likes?
In short: Followers = potential audience. Reach = actual audience. Likes = reactions from that audience.
Algorithms decide what shows up in feeds, so often only a fraction of your social network sees your content. As a result:
- Not every follower sees your content.
- Reach shows the actual audience size and active users, not just potential ones.
- Likes show engagement after someone has already seen your post.
What’s a good reach rate on social platforms?
Anything above 5–10% is a very good rate. But bear in mind that:
- Reach is about visibility. Engagement, shares, and conversions are also critical to understand how “good” that reach was.
- Smaller accounts (with a few thousand followers) may achieve significantly higher reach rates than larger accounts.
- Videos, reels, carousels, and shareable content often outperform static posts in reach.
