Reach is reported more than any other marketing number, and it is close to meaningless on its own. It is the metric most easily inflated by budget, most weakly correlated with revenue, and most often used to end a conversation that should have continued.
The substitution test
Before a metric goes into a monthly report, ask whether a decision would change if the number doubled or halved. If nothing would change, it is context, not a result — move it to an appendix and stop leading with it.
- Count serious enquiries or actual sales, not how many people saw the post.
- Replace follower growth with returning-audience rate.
- Instead of counting likes, count how many people watched to the end or saved the post.
- Replace cost per click with cost per qualified conversation.
What to keep
Reach still matters as a diagnostic. When conversions fall, knowing whether fewer people saw the work or the same number saw it and responded less is the first branch of the diagnosis. Keep the number. Stop calling it an outcome.
Claim, then prove. If the claim has no number behind it, it is not ready for the deck.
