All social media networks offer two types of performance metrics: channel metrics, which measure your entire channel's performance during a specific date range; and content metrics, which measure the lifetime performance of specific posts.
In this article, learn when to use channel metrics vs. content metrics, where to find each metric type in Measure, and why channel and content metrics shouldn't be compared.
In this article:
Understanding channel metrics and content metrics
If you've ever used a network's native reporting tools, you may have noticed that it divides your results into at least two categories, such as "account" and "content," or "overview" and "content." This is because there are two types of social media data: data from a specific date range, and lifetime data from specific posts.
It's not possible to view how specific posts performed during a specific date range—you will always have to measure along one axis (when the activity occurred) or the other (when the posts were published). In Measure, we call these axes channel and content:
- Channel metrics show data from a specific date range. This includes activity that occurred during the date range on posts published before the date range. It also includes any account activity that occurred during the date range, such as fan fluctuations or profile views. These results are fixed and will not change over time.
- Content metrics show lifetime data from specific posts. This includes activity that occurred after the date range on posts published during the date range. These results will change over time as the posts receive new activity.
When should I use channel metrics?
Channel metrics are ideal for identifying macro trends and baselines, especially when comparing multiple channels and/or networks. Use channel metrics to help you answer questions like the following:
- How well did our content perform this quarter compared to last quarter?
- How many fans did we gain during our spring campaign?
- Which network saw the most growth this year?
When should I use content metrics?
Content metrics are ideal for identifying micro trends and outliers, especially when looking for posts that over- or under-perform. Use content metrics to help you answer questions like the following:
- Which post type (image, video, etc.) is most likely to generate engagements?
- Which post from our holiday sale had the greatest reach?
- How well did this month's most viral TikTok video perform compared to last month's?
Channel widgets and content widgets
Measure's widgets are also separated into channel widgets and content widgets. Channel widgets only support channel metrics, while content widgets only support content metrics.
Metric availability may vary from widget to widget. Additionally, some networks may offer more metrics than others. Please see our network-specific metrics guides for more info on metric availability and supported widgets.
Channel widgets
The following widgets in Measure are channel widgets:
- Breakdown
- Channel comparison
- Demographics
- Geographics
- Key metrics
- Network comparison
- Time series
Tip:
Metrics that measure account activity (such as fan increase or new DM conversations) are always channel metrics, and any widget that includes these metrics is a channel widget. However, there are also many channel metrics that measure post activity, so please take care not to compare these metrics to their content-level counterparts.
Content widgets
The following widgets in Measure are content widgets:
- Content performance
- Label performance
Please note again that these widgets show the posts' lifetime performance, not their performance during the selected date range. Content data is regularly refreshed with new activity, so your results may change from one Measure session to the next.
Comparing channel metrics and content metrics
Metrics that measure post performance are often available on both the channel level and the content level. For example, Instagram offers both channel impressions and content impressions, while TikTok offers both channel and content engagements.
If you try to compare the channel metric to the content metric, you will likely find that the values don't match. This is because the same metric is being applied to two different sets of posts and data. The channel metric is looking at all posts, but only the data from the selected date range. The content metric is looking at all data, but only from the posts published during the selected date range.
Channel metrics should only be compared to one another, not to their corresponding content metrics.
Why is my content data higher than my channel data?
Because channel metrics show data from all posts to a channel, and not just those published during the selected date range, you might expect your channel-level results to be higher than your content-level results. However, often the opposite is true.
Please bear in mind that channel data may be pulled from more posts, but also from a shorter time period. Content data is pulled from fewer posts but a longer time period.