The importance of impressions on social media

Imagine social media as the busiest high street in the world, but you’re not selling anything. Where are you going wrong?

When someone sees your shop front on the high street it is the equivalent of someone seeing a post or an advert for your business – this is known as an impression. When people walk past a shop without looking up, it is similar to somebody scrolling past your advert without really looking at it on social media.

How do impressions work?

Impressions are used to track the progress of a business on social media, telling us how many people have seen a single post.

NB: for an impression to be counted, 50% of the pixels in a banner must be visible for one second.

Impressions have caused problems with advertisers because people can sometimes mistakenly believe that impressions are an overall total of ad views, not views from individual users. For this reason, many are starting to overlook the importance of impressions and how they liken to the success of your online standing.

There is an old saying that goes “When performance is measured, performance improves.”

So, sticking with the shop analogy, you should consider the following before dismissing impressions (especially if your numbers are low):

1. Who comes through your front door?

A person cannot engage with something they haven’t seen, similar to a shop they do not know exists. Likes, comments and shares are extremely important because it proves that the content you post (your display window) is captivating compared to everything else that is scrolled past. But do not just post simply for the sake of it – be strategic, be consistent, be creative.

2. Opening times

Your posts may not be reaching your audience because of the timing. Adjust your opening times for the customers who love late night shopping. Schedule your posts to coincide with them. You can easily check the peak times of audience engagement if you click on ‘Insights’ and then ‘Posts’.

3. Brand awareness

In 2014, Lidl launched the #LidlSuprises campaign. They re-engaged with their customers by utilising the current marketing platforms like Facebook, Twitter and TV adverts. By doing this, they placed themselves back in front of their customer and people are now familiar with their service. You need to place your business in front of the masses, on every available platform to you, to increase your impression rate. Once people are aware of your brand they’ll remember you when they need what you’re selling.

If you would like to know more about how we can help you on social media, contact Podium today!