Impressions
What are impressions?
Impressions are the number of times a piece of content was displayed. If one person sees a post three times, that is three impressions. Platforms count an impression when the content appears on screen, whether or not the person engages.
Reach counts unique people instead, so impressions are always equal to or higher than reach.
Why impressions matter
Impressions are the basis of CPM pricing and show how much exposure a campaign got. High impressions with low reach mean the same people saw it many times.
Related marketing terms
Reach is the number of unique people who saw a piece of content or a campaign at least once, as opposed to impressions, which count views.
CPM, cost per mille, is what you pay for every thousand impressions or views. It lets you compare the price of creators and ad channels.
Engagement rate measures how much an audience interacts with posts: likes, comments and shares divided by followers or views, as a percentage.
Brand awareness is how familiar your target audience is with your brand: whether they recognise it, remember it and think of it when buying.