A post gets three likes. One of them is from someone on your committee. Hardly a reason to put the kettle on in celebration.
Then an email arrives: “I saw your post. Could our team volunteer with you?”
Meanwhile, the cheerful photo that collected plenty of hearts has produced no enquiries you can identify. Which post worked better?
It depends on what you needed it to do. That is the bit social media dashboards tend to skip while presenting you with another graph.
For charities, CICs and small purpose-led businesses, measuring content should help answer a practical question: is this helping the right people understand us, trust us or take a useful next step?
You do not need to become a data analyst. You do need a better definition of success than “more than last time”.
1. Give each post a job before judging it
A volunteering appeal and a service information post are not doing the same work. Measuring both mainly by likes is rather like judging your kettle on its ability to make toast.
Before publishing, finish this sentence: “This post is here to help someone…”
- Understand: find out who your service is for, what happens at a session or why your work matters.
- Trust: see how you make decisions, use donations or respond to feedback.
- Act: book a place, enquire about volunteering, donate or contact you about a partnership.
Choose one main job. A single caption does not need to explain your entire organisation, recruit a treasurer and solve next year's budget.
Then choose a sign that would suggest the post is doing that job. For a booking post, completed bookings matter more than reactions. For an explanation of your referral process, relevant questions or feedback from referral partners may be useful clues.
Not every valuable result is immediately visible. Someone might read quietly for months before contacting you. That does not make measurement pointless; it means your numbers are a partial picture, not a verdict.
2. Look beyond the dashboard, without dismissing it
Reach, views and engagement can help you understand what is being seen and noticed. They are not silly things to track. They simply cannot tell the whole story.
Try separating your evidence into three layers:
- Visibility: reach or views, using the platform's current definitions.
- Interest: saves, shares, relevant comments, profile visits or link clicks, where available.
- Action: enquiries, completed registrations, donations, volunteer applications or partnership conversations.
These are clues, not a neat ladder everyone climbs. A save does not prove someone trusts you. A click does not prove they completed a form. A share could be supportive, critical or simply someone sending information to a colleague.
Read the context alongside the count.
For a hypothetical community repair project, a post showing which items volunteers can safely assess might receive little public engagement. But if it brings suitable bookings and reduces disappointed visitors carrying things the team cannot repair, it has done useful work.
Some of that evidence will live in your inbox or booking system rather than Instagram. Where appropriate, add an optional “How did you hear about us?” question to an enquiry form. Keep it simple and allow people to skip it.
You will still miss things. People forget, see several messages or hear about you from a friend. Record what you know without pretending you can trace every decision back to one caption.
3. Turn results into decisions, not a beauty contest
A measurement is only useful if it helps you decide something.
Instead of reporting “our reach went up”, ask what you might do differently because of it. Did a plain-language explanation attract relevant questions? Did people click a booking link but struggle to complete the form? Did a volunteer story generate interest from people who could actually make the required commitment?
Use three prompts when reviewing a post:
- What happened? Record the observable result.
- What might explain it? Note a possible explanation, clearly labelled as a possibility.
- What will we test? Choose one sensible change.
For example, plenty of clicks but few bookings might suggest a problem with the booking page. Or the date may not suit people. Before rewriting your entire content strategy, check that the link works and the form is usable on a phone.
Compare similar posts over time where possible. A paid appeal and an unpaid opening-hours update are not fair competitors. Neither are results from different platforms necessarily measuring the same thing.
This discipline also helps with funding readiness. You can show that you listen, notice barriers and adapt. But communication results are not the same as community outcomes. A popular wellbeing post does not demonstrate improved wellbeing. Keep claims proportionate to the evidence you actually hold.
4. Try this this week: follow one post beyond the likes
Choose one recent post with a clear purpose. Not your biggest success or most disappointing flop; just something you genuinely wanted to work.
Spend twenty minutes writing down:
- The person it was intended to reach.
- The one thing it was meant to help them do.
- What the platform tells you happened.
- Any relevant evidence elsewhere, such as enquiries or bookings.
- One thing you would keep or change next time.
If there is no clear next step in the post, that is useful learning already. “Get involved” may sound inviting, but “Email us to ask about Saturday volunteering” gives someone a more concrete route.
If you cannot connect any enquiries to the post, write “unknown”, not zero. Missing evidence and no results are different things.
Keep the review at a summary level. You do not need to copy private messages or sensitive personal details into a content spreadsheet to prove your work matters.
Funding bulletin
Looking for funding? These three research routes can help you build a more relevant shortlist. Check current details, eligibility and application requirements with each funder before investing time in an application.
- Your local community foundation: research funds serving your area and their published priorities. Look for a genuine match with your location, activities and organisation type.
- The National Lottery Community Fund: explore the current programmes for your UK nation. Check what each programme supports and what evidence it asks applicants to provide.
- 360Giving GrantNav: use published grants data to investigate who has funded similar work. Past awards are research leads, not proof that a funder is currently accepting applications or will fund your project.
Build confidence, not just a bigger report
You are allowed to want your content to achieve something without turning every interaction into a sales target. Useful measurement helps you protect your time and serve people better.
If you would like support with that, create a free account for The Community Content Method and explore Module 1 plus a bonus module free. You can get a feel for the approach before deciding whether the full £499 course is right for you.
No need to impress a dashboard. Start by noticing what is genuinely helping.