Week 6: Facebook - Post Reach vs Post Engagement

Engagement vs. Reach

Simply put, all engagements are reaches but not all reaches are engagements. I believe a Facebook reach means any content that crosses the audiences screen. Reach means it has been seen. Engagement is just as it sounds, the viewer engages with the content. This can be done with a click, a like, comment, share, etc. Once a post reaches its audience the viewer may leave it as reach by doing nothing or choosing to interact with the content in some way, making it a reach and an engagement. Thus, logically, one will have more reaches than engagements. However, the ratio between the two might provide good insight on the effectiveness of the content.
These stats can be viewed in Facebook Insights. If a certain ad is reaching a lot of viewers but has a low number of engagements it is a good indication the ad needs help or is not directed towards the right target audience. The opposite is also true.