Your engagement metric data in post performance reports and social media performance reports may differ because they track engagement in different ways.
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Important: The engagement numbers in Vista Social's reports may not exactly match the numbers you see on Meta's native platform. This is because Meta does not provide third-party platforms with retroactive updates on some metrics (e.g., if a user unlikes a post), and some data is captured at different times. |
Post Performance report
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This report type counts engagement on posts published only within the selected date range.
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Engagement is assigned to the post's original publish date, even if it happens later.
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Includes post-only interactions, such as:
- Likes
- Comments
- Shares
- Clicks
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Example:
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A post published on Jan 1, 2025 gets 2 likes on Jan 1 and 3 likes on Jan 2.
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The report will count all 5 likes under January 1.
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Social Media Performance report
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This report type counts all engagement that happened within the selected date range, regardless of when the post was published.
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Includes non-post interactions, such as:
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Messages
- Shares
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Other profile actions
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Example:
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The reporting period selected is January 1-7, 2025.
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A user messages the profile in January 1.
- A post published outside the selected date range got a like in January 3, 2025.
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The report will count those actions for the selected date period.
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The post’s original publish date doesn’t matter as long as the engagement was received within the reporting period.
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Summary
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Post Performance report: Tracks engagement based on when the post was published, even if actions occur later.
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Social Media Performance report: Tracks engagement based on when the action happens, regardless of post date. It also could include non-post interactions (messages, shares, other profile actions), but PPR does not.
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The difference in engagement metrics between the Post Performance and Social Media Performance reports comes down to how each report defines and calculates engagement.
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Post Performance Report: Engagement in this report includes likes, comments, shares, and clicks only. This provides a focused view on direct post interactions.
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Social Media Performance Report: This report includes additional engagement types, such as private messages. As a result, totals may be higher than in the Post Performance Report.
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If you would like to know more about the other metrics included in these reports for Facebook, you can click here.
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Related Reading:
Social Media Performance Report
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