Below, you can find a shortlist of different KPIs and terms used in Social Media Advertising and a brief explanation for each one of them.

Make sure to read the detailed guides for each platform to understand how each of them works and why they are essential.

Performance based KPIs

KPIs

It stands for Key Performance Indicators, and it is a measurement of how well your ads are performing against their goals. They are critical indicators usually measured against a specific target or benchmark, and they can dictate the direction of your advertising strategy.

Outside the advertising space, KPIs are also found in business, where they indicate the overall health of your business or startup, and they can dictate your future strategy.

Impressions

The total number of times your advert (ad) displays on screens

Reach

The total number of unique users who saw your ad at least once - this is different from impressions, which can include multiple views of your ad by the same user.

Frequency

The average number of times that each person saw your ad.

CPM or eCPM

Cost per 1000 Impressions - the average cost per 1000 Impressions for an ad is essentially how much it costs to display an ad on screens 1000 times.

The CPM is different for each platform and is influenced by product type, bids, ad placement, and other factor

CPC

Cost per link click - the average cost per link click

eCPSU

Effective cost per swipe-up - this metric is for Snapchat only, but basically, this is the CPC, the actual cost per click. They call it cost per swipe-up because, on Snapchat, you can’t click on stories; you have to swipe them up.

Outbound Clicks

The number of clicks on links that take users off the Facebook platform to a specific destination

Outbound CTR

Click-Through Rate - the percentage of times that people saw your ad and performed an outbound click.

Results

The number of times your ad achieved an outcome based on your selected objective and settings - purchase, add to cart, page engagement, etc.

Cost per Result

As simple as it sounds, how much it costs you per result - cost per one purchase, cost per video views, cost per add to cart, etc.

This is strictly related to the objective of the campaign you are running; read our guides for each platform to understand this metric better.

Also called Cost per Action

ROI

Return on investment is a performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency or profitability of a marketing campaign or compare the efficiency of several different campaigns or channels.

LTV

Lifetime Value refers to the amount of revenue a business can expect from a shopper (customers or user) during the period over which the business will be of value to the customer.

Simply, how much revenue your business will generate per client over a period of time. This is a critical metric to understand how well your business is doing.

Also called Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV) or Lifetime Customer Value (LCV)

COGS

Cost of Goods Sold - Cost of goods sold is the total amount your business paid as a cost directly related to the sale of products.

Other Terms

Copy

In advertising, copy means text. On Facebook Ads, for example, the copy is the text that you see on top of the image whenever you see an ad.

Creative

In advertising, creative means an image or video. It usually displays your product or service in action or displayed in its natural environment.

A/B Testing

This term is often used in Digital Marketing. It simply means testing different options available to see which one appeals more to an audience; therefore, which is the option that can generate the most ROI.

Content

Content means information can be presented in various formats, including news, video, white papers, e-books, infographics, email newsletters, case studies, podcasts, how-to guides, question and answer articles, photos, blogs, etc.[3]