What are impressions?
Definition
Impressions are the number of times content was displayed on screen, including repeat displays to the same person. On Instagram and Facebook, Meta now reports this as views.
Why it matters
Impressions show how often your content was put in front of people. Compared with reach, they reveal how often the same people saw it again.
How to do it
- Each time a post appears on someone's screen, it counts as one impression.
- One person seeing a post three times counts as three impressions but one reach.
- Instagram (August 2024) and Facebook (November 2024) replaced impressions with views in their insights.
Example
A post shown 4,500 times to 3,000 unique people has 4,500 impressions and a reach of 3,000.
Impressions vs. reach
Impressions count every display. Reach counts unique people. Impressions are always equal to or higher than reach.
FAQ
Why did my impressions turn into views?
Meta renamed the metric. Views count every on-screen appearance of photo and text posts and every play of videos and Reels.