| Metric name | Reach |
| Standards area | Social media measurement |
| Metric description and application. The question that this metric answers. | Reach addresses the question of how many individuals might have been able to see, read, or hear a communications item.
“Reach represents the total number of unique people who had an opportunity to see an ‘item’ or a valid reproduction of that item across any digital media.” (http://www.smmstandards.com) |
| Status | This interim standard was developed by the Social Media Measurement Standards Conclave (a cross-industry collaboration bringing together many organizations (see http://www.smmstandards.com/about/). This standard was publicized for comment by the industry, submitted to the Coalition customer panel for review, and then adopted as an interim standard. |
| Standard or guideline | Standard |
| Metric type | Count |
| Detailed description.
This is the actual standard, and must include full description of how to use this metrics |
“Reach represents the total number of unique people who had an opportunity to see an ‘item’ or a valid reproduction of that item across any digital media.” (http://www.smmstandards.com
“Reach is typically quantified using social media monitoring tools, social platforms and/or panel based measurement solutions. Each tool, platform, and solution may have a unique method of calculating reach. For this reason it is critical to use the Transparency and Methods table to identify data collection sources. The reach metric assumes an ideal environment where one can quantify individual people across platforms using social media monitoring tools, social platforms and/or panel based measurement solutions. However, in reality each tool, platform, and solution may have a unique method of calculating reach, consequently each might introduce duplication and error.” (http://www.smmstandards.com) |
| Source documents | http://www.smmstandards.com/2013/03/proposed-social-media-standard-definitions-for-reach-and-impressions-from-the-digital-analytics-association/ |
| Academic research supporting this standard. | A more general definition is provided by the Dictionary of Public Relations Research and Measurement (2006). Reach “refers to the scope or range of distribution and thus coverage that a given communication product has in a targeted audience group; [in] broadcasting, [reach is] the net unduplicated (also called “duplicated”) radio or TV audience for programs or commercials as measured for a specific time period.” |
| Validity and reliability of the standard. This should reference formal, preferably published, research demonstrating the validity and reliability of the metric, or, in the absence of such research, the kind of research that should be conducted. | |
| Team leads and contact information | Katie Paine, IPR Measurement Commission and News Group International
Richard Bagnall, AMEC and Metrica Tim Marklein, Council of Public Relations Firms and W2O Group tmarklein@wcgworld.com |
| Version, date, and author |
