Impressions

Output

total number of times the communicated content was displayed on the selected social media platform(s)

This indicator measures how often communicated content was displayed on social media. For example, if a post is displayed twice to each of ten users, it records 20 impressions. It helps assess the level of exposure the content received, but does not show how many individual people were reached or whether they engaged with the content.

Determine the indicator's value by using the following methodology:

 

1) Define the content, social media platforms and reporting period you will measure. Decide whether the indicator covers all campaign content or only specified posts, and whether paid and organic content will be included. Apply the same scope consistently across reporting periods.

 

2) Use the platform's own analytics or reporting tools to obtain the number of impressions for the selected content and reporting period. Check the platform's current official definition of "impressions" because the terminology and counting rules can differ between platforms and can change over time. If the platform does not currently report a metric called “impressions”, do not substitute another metric (such as views) unless it is demonstrably equivalent under the platform’s current definition. Report the alternative metric separately and document the change.

 

3) To determine the indicator's value, sum the impressions for the content included in the measurement scope. Where several platforms are included, report impressions separately for each platform. Do not interpret the total number of impressions as the number of people reached, as one person can generate multiple impressions within and across platforms.

This data can be disaggregated by social media platform, and, if relevant and feasible, also by paid versus organic content, content type, campaign or reporting period, and audience characteristics available through the platform's analytics.

1) Do not assume that impressions are directly comparable across social media platforms. Platforms use different definitions and counting rules. For example, as of October 2026, LinkedIn counted how many times a post was shown and noted that its post analytics were estimates. On YouTube, impressions mainly counted displays of video thumbnails on YouTube; a thumbnail generally counted only when at least 50% of it was visible for more than one second, and displays on external websites or apps were excluded. When comparing platforms, check each platform’s current definition and report and interpret results separately by platform.

 

2) For paid content, you can also measure cost per impression by dividing the amount spent by the number of impressions. A commonly reported metric is cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM): amount spent ÷ impressions × 1,000.

3) Do not use impressions alone as evidence that communication was effective. An impression does not show whether a person paid attention to, understood, agreed with or acted on the content. Where these outcomes matter, complement this indicator with measures such as reach, engagement, clicks or other indicators linked to the communication objective.

Also consider using the following indicators:

• Reach (shows how many individual users were reached, complementing impressions which can include repeated displays to the same user)

• Engagement Rate (helps assess whether users interacted with the content they were exposed to)

• Click-through Rate (helps assess whether exposure to the content resulted in users clicking on a link or other call to action)