Measure is a powerful reporting tool that allows you to collect performance data across multiple networks and channels, to organize that data into customizable dashboards, and to share dashboards with internal teammates or external stakeholders. Measure offers a selection of over a hundred social media metrics, including paid metrics for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X (Twitter).
In this article, learn how you can use Measure to build your own professional reports.
Tip:
New to Social Media Management? Don't forget to check out our course on Developing and measuring your social listening strategy to get up to speed with Listen and Measure.
In this article:
What is Measure?
Measure is a powerful reporting tool that collects data from your connected social media channels, which you can then organize into customizable, cross-network reports called dashboards. Measure offers a wide range of features, including:
- 100+ metrics across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), TikTok and YouTube, including paid metrics for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X (Twitter)
- 10 widget types
- 16 dashboards templates
- Cross-network reporting
- Customization and filtering
- Collaboration and sharing
- Unlimited dashboards per user
- Unlimited widgets per dashboard
- Dashboard exports (PDF, CSV)
- Scheduled email reports
All users, regardless of user role, can use all features in Measure. However, please note that non-Admin users will only have access to data from their own Teams' channels. Channel connections must also remain active for data to be collected.
What are dashboards, widgets, and metrics?
Dashboards, widgets, and metrics are the three basic building blocks of the Measure module. A dashboard is made up of one or more widgets, which in turn display data from one or more metrics. We'll review each of these components below, starting from the bottom and working our way up.
What is a metric?
A metric is any unit of measurement that can be used to assess performance. Social media networks use metrics like "reach" (how many people viewed your posts) and "engagements" (how many people interacted with your posts) to measure the impact of your content.
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Metrics are also sometimes referred to as "key performance indicators" (KPIs) or "insights." For our purposes, these terms are all interchangeable.
The most important thing to understand about social media metrics is that there are two types: channel metrics, which measure your entire account's performance during a specific time period; and content metrics, which measure the lifetime performance of specific posts. It's not possible to view how specific posts did during a specific time period—you will always have to measure along one axis or the other.
Depending on the network, metrics may also be paid (showing data from promoted posts), organic (showing data from non-promoted posts), or combined. Metrics can be displayed as either a total or an average of their value.
For an overview of which metrics are available for each network, along with definitions, please visit our network hubs. Please note, however, that some networks may offer more metrics than others:
- Facebook Data in Measure
- Instagram Data in Measure
- LinkedIn Data in Measure
- X (Twitter) Data in Measure
- TikTok Data in Measure
- YouTube Data in Measure
What is a widget?
In Measure, a widget is a visual representation of the data from one or more metrics. For example, the Time series widget turns your data into a line graph, while the Geographics widget highlights hotspots on a map.
Widgets are highly customizable and can be resized and reordered freely within a dashboard. Depending on the widget, you may also be able to view multiple metrics at a time, change the chart type (bar, donut, etc.), or apply filters based on promotion status, post type, and more. There is no limit to the number of widgets you can add to a dashboard, and all widgets can be edited, duplicated, or deleted.
Please note that widgets never mix channel metrics and content metrics. The Content performance and Label performance widgets offer content metrics only, while all other widget types only offer channel metrics.
To learn more about how to create and customize widgets, please see our other guides in the Help Center:
What is a dashboard?
In Measure, a dashboard is a report built from one or more widgets. A dashboard's data is refreshed automatically. You can share dashboards with your teammates, build dashboards collaboratively, and send dashboards to external stakeholders as regularly scheduled emails.
When creating a new dashboard, you will be asked to select one of over a dozen templates. These determine which widgets and metrics are included in the dashboard by default. However, you can still add, remove, and edit components freely, or you can select the blank Build your own template to create a dashboard from scratch.
Dashboard templates are designed to help you organize your data intuitively while still getting the most out of Measure. For example, if you want a comprehensive breakdown of your Instagram performance, the Instagram overview template provides over 30 widgets with over 50 metrics, including Content performance widgets that have already been set to filter for Reels and Stories. On the other hand, the Fans overview dashboard focuses on only a handful metrics, allowing you to quickly review trends in your fans data across all networks.
To learn more about how to create, customize, and share dashboards, please see our other guides in the Help Center: