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Custom Analytics gives you a more flexible view of your social performance across Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, and Threads. On eligible Scale accounts, you can also compare organic and paid performance for Facebook and Instagram posts that you’ve boosted through Meta.
You can filter by platform, profile, post type, and time range, build comparisons that aren't available in standard analytics, and turn the results into reports your team can act on.
Custom Analytics Overview
The dashboard pulls performance from all your connected platforms into one view, so you can move between Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, and Threads without switching tools. Filter by platform, profile, post type, and time range to match how your team reports on performance.
If you connect a Meta Business Account, Custom Analytics can also display paid and organic growth metrics for eligible Facebook and Instagram posts that you published and boosted. This lets you filter by date range and compare how organic and paid performance changed during a specific period.
Note: To view paid performance, the Meta Ad account associated with the boosted post must be connected to Later.
Compared to standard analytics, Custom Analytics gives you deeper filtering, broader comparisons, downloadable reports in multiple formats, scheduled chart deliveries, and conditional alerts.
Watch the following tutorial to learn more about how to use Custom Analytics to build social media reports:
Filter Options
Use the dropdowns at the top of the page to adjust the following:
- Analysis Period: the date range filter option you can use to sharpen your analysis and reporting
- Handle: the name of a social profile
- Social Platform: which platforms to include out of Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Threads, or TikTok
- Post Tags: flexible labels you apply to content to track themes, formats, or products
- Campaign Tags: labels for grouping content that belongs to a specific campaign
Select the filter icon on the right side of the screen to show or hide additional filter options.
Engagement Rate
Custom Analytics displays two types of engagement rate.
Channel-Level
Channel-level engagement is calculated as a percentage of impressions aggregated at the profile level. Later takes the sum of engagements across all posts in a channel and divides it by the sum of impressions for those posts. Use it to compare how each channel is performing overall.
Post-Level
Post-level engagement is calculated on a post-by-post basis, then averaged across all posts in a platform. Use it for a more granular view that highlights how individual posts perform relative to their impressions, and to spot content trends or outliers.
Engagement Rate Formulas
The formula for each platform:
- Facebook: (Comments + Shares + Clicks + Reactions) ÷ Impressions
- Instagram: (Likes + Comments + Saves + Shares) ÷ Views
- TikTok: (Likes + Comments + Shares) ÷ Video Views
- Pinterest: (Likes + Comments + Repins) ÷ Board Followers
- Threads: (Likes + Comments + Reposts + Quotes) ÷ Views
Paid & Organic Growth Performance
If you’ve connected a Meta Business Account, the Growth Performance table shows eligible Facebook and Instagram posts that you published and boosted, along with their organic and paid performance.
You can adjust the date range to compare organic and paid growth during a specific period.
Keep the following in mind:
- Later can display eligible boosted posts from up to 90 days before you connected your Meta Business Account.
- Growth metrics are only available from the date your Meta Business Account was connected onward. Growth data is not backfilled for the previous 90 days.
- Only boosted posts for which Later can access the original organic metrics are included. Boosted content published by other creators, including collaborator posts, won’t appear in this view.
- Data from a newly connected Ad account can take up to 24 hours to begin appearing, and historical boosted-post data may take longer to fully backfill.
Metrics and Definitions
| Metric | Definition |
| Page Post Engagements | Number of times people have engaged with your posts through reactions, comments, shares, and more |
| Comments | Total number of people who commented at a post level |
| Impressions | Number of times your Page's post entered a person's screen (statuses, photos, links, videos, and more) |
| Post Clicks | Number of times people clicked anywhere in your posts without generating a story |
| Unique Impressions and Unique Clicks | Approximate number of unique users who performed a specific action |
| Page Likes Daily | Total post "Like" reactions of a Page |
| Post Likes | Total "Like" reactions of a post |
Profile Summary
| Metric | Definition |
| Total Posts | Total number of published posts |
| Followers | Total number of Instagram users following the profile |
| Following | Total number of Instagram users the profile follows |
Profile Growth and Discovery
| Metric | Definition |
| Followers | Followers gained or lost over time |
| Growth | Followers gained or lost between the date filters selected |
| Growth Rate | Rate at which followers have grown or shrunk between the date filters selected |
| Views | Total times all your posts and stories have been seen |
| Reach* | Unique accounts that viewed your posts |
*Reach is different from views, which can include multiple views of a reel by the same account.
Performance Metrics
| Metric | Definition |
| Engagement | (Likes + Comments + Saves + Shares) ÷ Views |
| Followers | Number of followers when a post was published |
| Views | Total times a post was seen |
| Reach | Unique accounts that saw a post |
| Likes | Likes a post received |
| Comments | Comments a post received |
| Saves | Unique accounts that saved a post |
| Shares | Number of times a post was shared |
TikTok
| Metric | Definition |
| Shares | Number of shares of the video |
| Comments | Number of comments on the video |
| Likes | Number of likes on the video |
| Video Views | Number of times someone started playing your video (replays aren't counted) |
| Reach | Estimated number of unique users who viewed the video at least once |
| Total Time Watched | Total play time in seconds |
| Engagements | Total likes, comments, and shares combined |
Export and Send Reports
Export a Report
- Hover over the metric you'd like to export
- Select the vertical 3 dots icon
- Select Download
- Enter a file name, select a file type, choose whether to apply data formatting, and set a row limit
- Select Download
Deliveries and Alerts
In addition to downloading charts, you can schedule recurring deliveries and set up alerts that send only when specific conditions are met.
Schedule a Recurring Delivery
Use this when you want a chart sent on a regular cadence, regardless of what the data shows.
- Open the chart you want to schedule
- Select the vertical 3 dots icon, then Schedule delivery… to open the New delivery panel on the left side of the screen
- Under Schedule, set the sending cadence (for example, every 24 hours)
- Select Chart to customize the chart itself
- Select Email to add recipients and, optionally, content for the email body
- Select Test now to send a one-off test, or Save to finalize the schedule
Set Up an Alert
Use this when you only want an email if the data crosses a threshold you've defined.
- Open the chart you want to monitor
- Select the vertical 3 dots icon, then Alert… to open the New delivery panel
- Under Schedule, set the results to check, the conditions that trigger the alert, and the sending cadence
- Select Chart to customize the chart itself
- Select Email to add recipients and, optionally, content for the email body
- Select Test now or Save
Limitations
A few additional limits to keep in mind:
- Custom Analytics covers Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, and Threads. LinkedIn, YouTube, and Snapchat aren't included
- Paid and organic growth comparisons are currently limited to eligible Facebook and Instagram posts that you published and boosted. Growth metrics begin accumulating when you connect your Meta Business Account and aren’t backfilled for earlier dates.
- Filter selections can't be saved and reset when you refresh, exit, or sign out
- Post data updates every 24 hours, so the latest day may not be fully reflected
- The Instagram engagement rate formula applies to in-feed posts and Reels, not Stories
If you're on a Scale plan or higher and don't see Custom Analytics in your account, reach out to our team. To compare what's included on each plan, see Choose a Later Social Plan. To upgrade, see Change Your Later Plan.