Understanding Social Media Reach: What Actually Matters

Social media reach is the first signal of whether your content strategy is working or not.

Digging into reach usually sparks one of two reactions: Excitement or disappointment.

Excitement when you see your content pick up steam, and imagine what’s possible.

Disappointment when you realize not every post will take off, and learning how much reach you’re not going to get.

Some brands are figuring it out and staying visible, but others are struggling, stuck between old formulas and aimless experimentation.

To understand why this happens—and what you can do about it—let’s break social media reach down to the last bit.

What is social media reach?

Social media reach is the number of unique users who see your content.

Worth noting, we’re talking about organic content, and thus, organic reach.

In paid campaigns, reach tends to align with target audience size and the estimates the campaign provides for it (which are in turn determined by factors like location, interests, and other demographic markers).

Unlike impressions (which count every time your post appears on someone’s screen, even if they see it twice, thrice, or 25 times), reach only counts individual people.

To use an offline analogy, think of it like this: If you hand out flyers at an event and one person takes five, that’s five impressions.

But your reach? Just one person.

Impressions vs. reach (and more)

Impressions, reach, and clicks are metrics that get confused all the time (well, maybe not that often, but often enough).

So, let’s set the record straight:

• Reach: Unique people who saw your post.
• Impressions: Total number of times your post was displayed.
• Clicks: How many people acted on your post (clicked a link, opened an image, etc).

Let’s illustrate this with an example. You post a meme on LinkedIn:

• It’s shown 5,000 times → 5,000 impressions.
• 3,000 unique people saw it → 3,000 reach.
• 1,200 people clicked on it → 1,200 clicks.

Reach shows potential exposure, but engagement (i.e. clicks) show who actually cares.

Where to find social media reach figures in each platform

Most platforms provide reach metrics directly. Here’s where to check each social media platform’s reach metric.

Instagram: Insights → Content → Content insights → Accounts reached.

LinkedIn: Analytics → Post performance → Members reached.

TikTok: Creator tools → View analytics → Viewers → Total viewers / New viewers.

X, Threads, and Reddit provide data on views and/or impressions, but not reach as in “unique users reached”.

How to report social media reach: Organic and paid

Whether it’s organic or paid, reach should be analyzed in context to understand its real impact.

Let’s start with measuring organic reach.

Since it depends on the platform’s algorithm, audience behavior, and engagement levels, reporting should focus on trends over time rather than isolated numbers.

So, to effectively report organic reach:

• Monitor fluctuations: Are there patterns based on content type, post time, and type of account?
• Compare post formats: You can do this with past content, or start from scratch.
• Analyze reach vs. engagement: High reach with low engagement = content isn’t resonating. Low reach with high engagement = the algorithm is limiting visibility.

Since most social platforms provide built-in analytics showing reach, tracking these numbers monthly or quarterly gives a clearer picture of whether your content strategy is improving (and remember, reach is just one signal, not the only signal).

Measuring paid reach

Paid reach works differently. Since you’re paying to expand your audience, the focus should be on cost efficiency and impact rather than just the number of people reached.

So, when reporting paid reach, try this:

• Break down reach by campaign type: Brand awareness campaigns will have different reach expectations than conversion-focused campaigns.
• Analyze cost per reach: A good metric is Cost per Thousand Impressions (CPM), which tells you how efficiently you’re getting in front of new audiences.
• Compare paid vs. organic performance: Did your paid posts lead to higher organic reach over time?

Segment by audience: Are you reaching new people or just retargeting existing followers?

Most platforms provide paid reach data, allowing you to measure performance by demographics, location, and engagement levels.

Why reach figures aren’t universal

For a second, we thought about posting average reach figures for each major platform, but then we realized about two things:

First, that organic reach has been decreasing sharply since early 2024. And it’s not us saying so, but also the LinkedIn Algorithm Insights 2024 report, and other industry benchmark specialists like Socialinsider.

In addition, we noticed that platform averages are a nothingburger. What actually matters is how you perform in your niche.

In other words, a B2B SaaS brand will naturally have lower reach than a fitness influencer.

A LinkedIn consultant might get 20% reach, while an e-commerce brand on Instagram might average 5%.

And a brand that exclusively posts algorithm-friendly content like video, reels, and polls will likely reach more people than one that doesn’t.

Our advice here is simple:

Instead of fixating on overall averages, track your own trends over time and compare against competitors in your space using competitive analysis and social listening tools.

Final thoughts: Our perspective on reach and how to increase it

It’s easy to say “just post engaging content,” but let’s be real: If it were that simple, every brand would be crushing it on social media.

Out there, most companies struggle with reach because they don’t have a real strategy.

They either post without a plan, follow outdated advice, or expect organic reach to work like it did in 2018.

Not gonna happen.

So, how do you increase your reach? Here’s what works for us:

1. Create content with a distribution plan (not just a publishing plan)

Too many brands focus on the content itself and forget about how it will reach people.

Before you hit publish, ask:

• Who’s going to share this? If the answer is “hopefully our followers,” you need a better plan.
• Where else can this live? Can it be repurposed into an email, a blog, a discussion in a Reddit thread, a source for an AI answer?
• What’s the post’s second life? If a post does well, how will you keep momentum? Reposting it? Expanding on it?

Be intentional in your distribution strategies rather than going for the old “post and pray”.

2. Optimize for amplification

Reach is driven by content type, engagement (reactions, shares, saves, and conversations), and paid amplification.

So, instead of asking, “Will people like this?” ask:

• Would this spark a discussion in “dark social” aka Slack or WhatsApp?
• Is this “save-worthy” content that people will return to later?
• Can I turn this content into a LinkedIn thought leader ad?

If your content doesn’t get passed around, your reach will stall.

3. Let organic and paid fuel each other

Most brands treat paid and organic as separate silos, but they work best when they feed into each other.

Here’s what we do for our clients:

• Identify organic posts that outperform and turn them into paid campaigns. (If something has traction, ads just give it more oxygen.)
• Use paid reach to find new audiences, then retarget them with organic content that builds trust.
• Design creatives that feel native to the platform—ads that don’t look like ads perform better.

4. Accept that some posts should have low reach (and that’s okay)

Not every post needs to be a reach monster.

Some content is designed for a small but important audience, such as current customers, employees, or niche decision-makers.

As a rule of thumb, try breaking down your content into these categories:

• Discovery posts (high reach, broad audience).
• Relationship-building posts (lower reach, deeper engagement).
• Conversion posts (targeted and direct).

5. When reach actually matters, get expert help

Reach growth comes from understanding the platform, audience behavior, and strategic distribution (and yes, we are good at this).

At Sculpt, we help B2B brands:

✔️ Pinpoint exactly why reach is low and what’s causing it
✔️ Develop a content + distribution strategy that actually works
✔️ Combine organic reach with paid to scale visibility the right way

If you’re serious about reach, let’s talk.