What is reach in marketing?

There are many metrics you can use to judge how well your Facebook marketing campaigns work. Traffic is probably the most familiar, but it isn't the only one worth tracking. Before you worry about conversion rate, get to know the Reach metric which is also called range of reach. So what is Reach? What does it mean in marketing, and how does it work? In this article, MONA Media will walk you through it in detail.

What is Reach?

The concept of

When statistics are used to analyse advertising and communication plans then Reach is the range of people reached. It is the number of people likely to come into contact with a touchpoint in communications.

Estimating reach is difficult when you run an ad many times, because one person may see your ad more than once. In Reach, though, you only want to count each person once. There are several ways to estimate how to count Reach which MONA covers below.

Reach counts any viewer who was reached within a given period. Several views from the same person in that period don't increase reach. Reach depends on user behaviour. So keep in mind that a Reach figure means nothing without the time period it covers.

Reach metric on Facebook

Reach on Facebook is the number of times your Facebook posts are reached. Put simply, when you publish a post on Fanpage, Facebook users see it naturally because they follow you, or through Facebook advertising services. These appearances in front of viewers aren't from a planned visit, and they are called Facebook Reach.

Facebook Reach rate for each post (organic reach) is usually around 2 to 6%. That means a public fanpage with about 1,000 likes might reach about 20 to 60 people organically with a post. This only holds when follows and likes are about equal. If your page has fewer follows than likes, your Reach rate will certainly be lower. If it has more follows than likes, Reach per post will be higher.

What does Reach mean in marketing?

You now know that Reach is the metric for how far your content gets. So how does reach affect marketing, and what is the meaning of Reach in marketing (especially on Facebook)?

Meaning

The Reach metric on Facebook is an aggregate figure that makes it easier for running Facebook ads to measure engagement through the number and direction of post reach.

The higher the Reach, the more people your fanpage posts get to, and the more your information is shown. Reach on Facebook also tells page admins where their posts are being reached from.

Related metrics

Each Reach metric has its own meaning and affects how you read and analyse your advertising results. There are 3 Reach metrics to pay attention to: Organic Reach, Viral Reach and Paid Reach.

Organic Reach

Organic Reach is the number of people who reached your post (who saw it in their feed). People who see your post this way are mostly those who have liked or followed your page before.

Viral reach

Viral reach counts the users who interacted with your post. They may have clicked, shared, liked or commented. When a user interacts, the post can appear in their friends' feeds, so when you like a page, your friends may see it.

To get a post a high viral reach, it should be useful, your page should have many followers and shares, or the content should be interesting. Funny posts and posts sharing tips, experience and tricks are usually more popular and get more attention.

→ Reach customers in more ways with well-made marketing videos. Learn about “TV commercial (TVC) production“

Paid reach

refers to the impressions you get when you run ads. Ads boost the reach of your posts, which helps attract more potential customers and raises engagement and conversion rates.

What is the Reach metric based on?

4 important factors affect Reach, including: posting time, how much engagement a post gets, the number of posts on the page, and how your followers and page likers use Facebook.

Posting time

Post timing is the key factor in whether your post reaches many users. You can't just post whenever you feel like it. Choose a time slot that brings high engagement.

Statistics show that on average more than 1,000 different posts appear in a user's News Feed when they log in to Facebook. With a large number of friends, followers or page likes, that figure can go even higher. Without engaging content or a hot trend, it is hard to get engagement and wide reach. That is why you need to find when users are most active on Facebook and post then.

Post engagement

The factor that most affects Reach is engagement. The more engagement a post gets, the more of the engaging users' friends see it. That widens your reach and also raises your chances of conversion.

≫ Read more: How to increase Facebook engagement effectively

Number of posts

Few people like or follow a Facebook page with only 1 or 2 posts. So post often, post regularly and keep the quality good. That attracts more followers and likes, and only then can Reach rise quickly.

How your followers and page likers use Facebook

Different groups of users interact with posts in different ways. That is why Reach differs from one page, industry or organisation to the next. Keep this in mind when you calculate Reach.

How to calculate Reach effectively

Reach is calculated as the total reach of a post, including Organic Reach, Viral Reach and Paid Reach. For posts without ads, the figure is based on organic reach and Viral Reach.

Does more Reach mean more revenue?

High Reach doesn't necessarily mean high sales. Some users only like, view or share a post because they find it interesting. They may not need to buy, or may not really want to yet. So don't be pleased just because Reach is high, or treat it as proof that your business is doing well.

How to increase organic Reach

High Reach doesn't guarantee high revenue, but low Reach almost certainly means low revenue. For customers to view and decide to buy a product or service, they first have to see it and be convinced by you (that is, by your post).

So how do you increase Reach? By increasing your chances of reaching customers, convincing them and improving your conversion rate. Once you know what Reach depends on, improving it becomes much easier.

Useful, up-to-date information

When customers view your page, like it or follow it, they are interested and hope to get valuable content from you. If your content is weak, they will skip it and ignore your posts, and your post reach will drop. Nobody wants to stay with a brand that is boring, predictable and has nothing new to offer.

You can use the Facebook Insight tool to measure and understand which content and topics your target customers care about, and build quality content that appeals to them. You can also start discussions where people join in and share their thoughts and opinions. This approach brings much clearer results.

Bring in traffic from other sites

Your Facebook page address is usually linked with your other channels, so you can bring in customers who already use those channels. When customers search for topics related to your business, your fanpage link can show up in their suggestions. That gives you more chances to widen your reach and build brand awareness.

≫ Learn more: How to increase website traffic effectively

Use hashtags

This is one of the ways to increase organic reach on Facebook without paying for ads. To make it work, you need a well-planned strategy for building and growing your hashtags.

Start with words related to your brand and business. Check whether those phrases have been used before, whether they are easy to understand, and whether they get confused with other things. You can also start from hashtags that are trending on social media to reach more customers and promote your brand more effectively.

Post on a consistent schedule

Once your content and images or video are ready, posting time is the remaining factor that decides whether your organic Reach is high or low. For high Reach, choose the best times to post on Facebook. You can also use Facebook Analytics, in the Page Insights section, to find the right posting times.

Those are some tips on what Reach means. We hope this article helps you understand what Reach is and what reach means in marketing, so you can optimise it effectively. Get in touch with MONA Media if you want solutions to widen your brand's reach through Digital Marketing services such as: Google advertising services, TikTok ads, building a TikTok channel and more. Don't miss the chance to get closer to more potential customers and improve your business's marketing strategy.