Influencer reach is only useful when it guides choices.

Most teams still total impressions and call it reach, which inflates results and hides waste. This playbook turns reach into a decision metric you can plan, optimize, and defend. You’ll count people once with Net Unique Reach, set Effective Frequency so messages stick, and track CP1K-U so cost reflects real people, not repeats. With a simple formula and a compact reporting format, you’ll compare creators fairly, grow a net-new audience, and show outcomes a CFO will trust.

What Influencer Reach Actually Means (platform-native, not folklore)

Reach is the number of unique people who saw your content at least once. Social platforms label it differently. The idea is the same.

• Instagram: Accounts Reached
  
  
• TikTok Ads: Reach
  
  
• YouTube: Unique viewers (proxy for reach)
  
  
• Google Ads / CM360: Unique Reach across devices and formats
  
  

When you want a cross-platform total, you cannot add platform reach blindly. People overlap across TikTok, Reels, Shorts, and across organic and paid. You need a deduped total.

Net Unique Reach (the number that rolls up honestly)

TL;DR: Count people once.

Why this makes “reach” meaningful again

• Truth over inflation: Raw totals double or triple count the same people. Deduping turns a big blurry number into a real audience number.
  
  
• Smarter optimization: Net-unique lets you chase new people, not repeats. You can cap frequency and waste less.
  
  
• Cleaner decisions: Compare creators, platforms, and flights on equal footing. Identify areas where overlap is high and where incremental reach is still possible.

Note: If you have a report that already removes duplicates, use it as the source of truth. Examples include Google’s CM360 Unique Reach or Meta Reach & Frequency and Experiments. If you do not have deduped reports yet, label overlap as an estimate for now and replace it with measured numbers after the flight.

Efficiency metric:  CP1K-U = Spend ÷ (Net Unique Reach ÷ 1,000)
This is more honest than CPM because it reflects different people reached, not repeats.

Engagement rate vs reach: what matters more for awareness

Bottom line: For awareness, optimize to Net Unique Reach + Effective Frequency. Use Engagement Rate to choose what to amplify, not as your headline number.

What each metric is good for

• Net Unique Reach (NUR): awareness scale to different people
  
  
• Effective Frequency (EF): memory building; aim about 2–3 views per person per week
  
  
• Engagement Rate (ER): creative quality signal to pick winners to boost
  
  
• Save/Share Rate: early indicator that content will travel
  
  
• CP1K-U: cost per 1,000 unique people; efficiency truth metric
  
  

How to use them together

1. Find winners: sort posts by Save/Share Rate, then Engagement Rate (ER) as a tie-breaker.
   
   
2. Scale winners to new people: boost from creator handles; target incremental audiences; cap Effective Frequency (EF) near 2–3 per person per week.
   
   
3. Prove efficiency: report CP1K-U.
   
   
4. Stay honest: headline NUR; show EF next to it; keep ER in “why we boosted.”

Paid vs organic influencer reach: how to combine for Net Unique Reach

Bottom line: Use organic to find winners. Use 'paid' to scale winners to new people, while capping frequency so you don't pay for repeats.

When organic wins

• Strong creator–platform fit
  
  
• Share and save friendly hooks (GRWM, quick fixes, before/after, reactions)
  
  
• Timely or cultural angles that invite replies and reposts
  Signals to watch: Save/Share Rate, 3-second holds, completion rate. If these pop, it's a candidate for a boost.
  
  

When paid wins

• Guaranteed scale into a precise audience (age, geo, interest)
  
  
• Frequency control to land memory near 2–3 per person per week
  
  
• Incremental reach beyond the creator’s followers
  Efficiency metric: CP1K-U = Spend ÷ (NUR ÷ 1,000)
  
  

Best-of-both workflow (three weeks)

• Seed (Week 1): commission 3 to 5 creators, two variants each. Same hook; different opening second, angle, pacing, or setting.
  
  
• Select (48 hours): choose winners by Save/Share Rate; use ER as a tie-breaker.
  
  
• Boost (Weeks 1–2): run from creator handles. Cap EF near 2–3 per person per week.
  
  
• Refresh (Week 2–3): ship new hooks or new first frames if NUR stalls or saves/shares fade.

Tiered creator mix: why portfolios unlock incremental reach

One post cannot carry awareness. A tiered creator mix takes the same idea through creators of different sizes so you reach new pockets of people instead of the same followers twice. That is how portfolios raise Net Unique Reach while keeping Effective Frequency in the sweet spot.

What each tier adds

• Celebrity / Top Macro: big, fast spikes and the cultural “moment”
  
  
• Macro: reliable distribution into adjacent sub-audiences
  
  
• Micro / Nano: tight communities, higher comment quality, cost-efficient testing
  
  

Portfolio pattern: Anchor → Amplify → Swarm

• Anchor (1): a celebrity or top macro sets the hook and first frame
  
  
• Amplify (5 to 10 macros): the same idea adapted for distinct sub-audiences

• Swarm (20 to 50+ micros/nanos): practical demos and reactions that travel on saves and shares
  

Net Unique Reach ≈ 300K + 480K + 420K − (90K + 45K + 84K) = 981K
This portfolio adds about 681K net-new people versus the 300K anchor alone.

Why this works: different tiers sit on different audience graphs, so overlap is lower between clusters. Using multiple creators also allows you to rotate openings and hooks to refresh frequency without bombarding the same people.

Platform by platform: find “Reach” fast and use it for Net Unique Reach

Pull these numbers first. Then dedupe to report Net Unique Reach.

• TikTok: Ads Manager Reach
  Use it: boost posts with high Save/Share Rate; cap EF near 2–3 per person per week.
  
  
• Instagram (Meta): Accounts Reached in Insights or Business Suite
  Use it: route boosts to Reels for incremental reach; use Stories to build frequency with warm audiences.
  
  
• YouTube: Unique viewers (reach proxy) plus Impressions and Average views per viewer
  Use it: If the average views per viewer climbs while uniques stall, you are hitting repeats. Refresh the opening second or title/thumbnail.
  
  
• Meta Ads (paid): Reach and Frequency
  Use it: split ad sets by creator cluster; exclude recent engagers to reduce repeats and reveal incremental reach.
  
  
• Google Ads / CM360 (paid): Unique Reach across devices and formats
  
  Use it: treat this as your deduped source to replace estimates in your roll-up.
  
  

Threads can be a light amplify channel. Do not make it central to reach planning.

Measuring overlap: keep it simple

Goal: estimate overlap for planning, then replace with measured numbers from social platform reports.

Rule tip: Apply the overlap percentage to the smaller of the two reach numbers in each pair everywhere. This prevents over-deduping.

Planning ranges to start with

• Same niche and same geo: 30 to 50%
  
  
• Same niche, different geo: 20 to 30%
  
  
• Different niche or distinct geo: 10 to 20%
  
  
• Same creator, organic and paid: 40 to 60%
  
  

Back-out math when you have a deduped total

• Overlap (people) = Reach_A + Reach_B − NetUnique_AB
  
  
• Observed overlap (%) = Overlap ÷ min(Reach_A, Reach_B)
  
  

Keep an Overlap Log
Simple table: Pair, audience and geo, window, Reach A, Reach B, deduped total, overlap people, overlap percent, notes. Your next forecast can use measured priors, not guesses.

TL;DR: estimate conservatively, document the smaller pool rule, then swap in CM360 Unique Reach or Meta Experiments numbers after the flight.

Creative that reaches net-new audiences

Posts do not reach new people on their own. Social media platforms push a post to look-alike audiences when it earns the right signals: strong watch time, saves, shares, and early comments. Reposts, duets, collab posts, and paid whitelisting also place the same idea in other people’s feeds. The tips below focus on creating those signals and removing friction so your best ideas travel farther for the same budget.

Formats that naturally multiply

• GRWM / routines: real life use in context
  
  
• In the wild clips: before to after, problem to solution
  
  
• Reaction / green-screen: reply to a comment or a headline
  
  
• Micro-tutorials (15 to 30s): one tip, one clear visual
  
  
• Challenges / prompts: a pose, a sound, a cut pattern
  
  

Why it helps NUR: copyable formats spread into new networks, not just more impressions to the same followers.

Hook and structure you can repeat

• Hook (0 to 2s): name the payoff or problem
  
  
• Reveal (2 to 5s): show the result or first satisfying moment
  
  
• Proof (5 to 15s): steps, close-ups, side-by-side, or quick tip
  
  
• Signal (last 2s): on-screen cue to save or share
  
  

Example hooks to test

“I tested three mascaras. Only one did not smudge.”
“Five minute desk routine that stops 3 p.m. shine.”
“The twelve dollar gym bag swap that actually works.”

Repurposing map: one idea to many doors

• Long to short: YouTube long form to Shorts cut-downs. Keep only punchy moments.
  
  
• Short to cross-post: TikTok to Reels to Shorts with native captions each time.
  
  
• Short to Stories: one key step plus a poll or DM prompt.
  
  
• Short to static: freeze a proof frame and turn it into a labeled multi slide carousel.
  
  
• Creator to brand: with rights, repost to brand channels and run ads from creator handles to keep social proof.
  
  
  Visual: Long-form → Shorts → Reels/TikTok → Stories → Static carousel
  
  

NUR tip: every repurpose is a chance to reach a different audience cluster. Track per-platform reach first. Then dedupe.

Find winners fast, then scale

• Two variants per creator: same hook; different opening second, angle, pacing, or setting.
  
  
• Select in 48 hours: winners by Save/Share Rate; ER as tie-breaker.
  
  
• Boost from creator handles: cap EF near 2–3 per person per week.
  
  
• Refresh if NUR stalls: change the first frame or flip the angle before you add spend.

One page reporting: Net Unique Reach with EF and CP1K-U

Keep your summary to one page. Show per-platform numbers, show your overlap once, then headline Net Unique Reach with Effective Frequency and CP1K-U.

1) Per-platform inputs

Platform | Spend | Reach (people) | Impressions
TikTok | $___ | ___ | ___
Instagram (Reels/Stories) | $___ | ___ | ___
YouTube (Shorts) | $___ | ___ | ___
Totals | $___ | ___ | ___

If a channel lacks reach, use “Unique viewers” as a proxy and label it clearly.

2) Overlap (single line)
Total overlap (people): _____
If you do not have deduped reports yet, enter your best estimate and label it.

3) Headline box
Net Unique Reach (NUR): _____ people
Effective Frequency (EF): _____ (target near 2–3 per person per week)
CP1K-U: $_____ = Spend ÷ (NUR ÷ 1,000)

One-liner you can put on the slide:
We maximized Net Unique Reach at an EF near 2 to 3 per person per week. Efficiency reported as CP1K-U.

Conclusion

Lead with Net Unique Reach. Show Effective Frequency and CP1K-U alongside it so reach becomes actionable. Post-level reporting helps you pick creative winners; creator-level reporting guides which partners to invest in; and the campaign one-pager proves impact without double-counting. Over time, replace overlap estimates with measured, deduplicated numbers, so forecasts become sharper with each flight. The outcome is simple: more new people reached the right number of times, with less waste and clearer decisions.