TikTok has secured its position among the social media platforms with the highest traffic. For that reason, it is no surprise that companies and influencers are investing their time and resources to create engaging content in the hopes of gaining increased visibility. However, how do you know if your TikTok strategy is working?

TikTok KPIs are metrics that help you measure how your account is performing. By implementing these TikTok metrics, you will also be able to reach more people. First and foremost, before you start creating content on TikTok, you need to study the platform, how it works, what your competitors are posting, and track their profiles to see what works for them and, most importantly, what does not. However, it is important to have ways that help you better understand your progress and how you compare to your competitors. 

No matter what your niche is or who your target audience is, these KPIs for TikTok can be helpful for all types of content creators on TikTok since they show you how you are performing and what changes you may consider making to better your overall performance.

Why TikTok KPIs Are Important to Track

We have already highlighted that TikTok metrics are important in a general sense, namely that you need to assess your performance. However, the next issue is which ones. There are many KPIs for social media available. So which ones should you consider tracking? Below, we are going to explain to you the 4 most important KPIs for TikTok that you should be tracking following the 2025 TikTok algorithm update. 

Before we list the most important ones, some context about how the TikTok algorithm works will be provided to help you understand why some metrics are more important to track than others. In short, TikTok now employs a micro-niche push approach, which means that new content will show up on the FYPs of specific interest groups, which test videos. These users engagement with content will then be analyzed before potentially pushing your videos out to related communities. Alongside this focus on niche communities, TikTok is pushing content that receives more meaningful engagement. But what does TikTok deem meaningful engagement? According to TikTok, meaningful engagement is reflected in:

1. Watch Time, Completion Rate, and Replays
2. Shares
3. Saves
4. Comments that add value 

The given ranking takes the 2025 TikTok algorithm update into account, which had a substantial impact on the recommendation system. With the TikTok algorithm changing, brands and creators need to clearly understand what TikTok metrics and KPIs are most important to understand and monitor. 

1. Watch Time, Completion Rate, and Replays

Following the TikTok algorithm update in 2025, the time users spend watching your videos has become one of the most important signals indicating the value of content to the algorithm. But what does total play time mean on TikTok? Basically, this just means how long a user spends watching a video. However, keep in mind that the 3-second retention rate as a signal of interest has lost much of its significance, with the algorithm now placing more weight on watch times, completion rates, and if a video is being replayed. It follows that users need to spend more time with a video in order to qualify as potentially interesting for another associated niche community.

TikTok has not released a concrete number of seconds that viewers must spend engaging with the content, which is why many industry professionals assume that there is no set limit. Rather, the proportion of watch time, video completion rates, and replay count are factored into the recommendation system. It is important for creators and brands to keep track of these TikTok metrics, as the updated algorithm changes the way we understand and measure success on TikTok.

2. Shares

TikTok shares are an important metric that shows you how many times your videos have been shared by users. This metric is a strong indicator of the effectiveness of your content. Following the algorithm update, they are also taken to be one of the main signals of meaningful engagement. That is, content that resonates enough with a viewer to cause them to share it with other users. Additionally, when people share your videos, it extends the reach of your content, exposing it to new audiences and potentially increasing your number of followers.

You can see how many shares a video has below your post. You can also use TikTok’s analytics tool to track how many shares you have in a given time frame. However, it may also be helpful to track your competitors’ performance as it relates to this metric so you can see which posts are getting the most shares. This will help you see what type of content is working for you and your competitors so you can apply it to your strategy. You can also learn from what doesn’t work so you can avoid that type of content and/or mistakes.

3. Saves

Saves have become one of the most important TikTok engagement metrics. So far, saves as a KPI have not received much attention and are often overlooked when creators or brands conduct performance analyses. One reason for this is that the value of this KPI is not as immediate and does not translate into higher ROIs or conversion rates. It is, however, important as it signals meaningful engagement to the TikTok algorithm. Saved content is worth returning to or helpful to the user in some way. For TikTok, this is an important indicator of value.

As we have seen before, TikTok now decides whether to push content to a broader audience based on the value of a video. Including saves in your performance analysis can help you identify which types of content are creating value for your niche audience. Knowing that saved content is such a central part of the TikTok algorithm update, it is important for creators and brands to be aware of the effect of such seemingly insignificant metrics since they may affect your reach on TikTok.

4. Valuable Comments

It may not come as a surprise to anyone that comments factor into the success of your video’s performance. However, TikTok is no longer just counting the number of comments under a video but is accrediting value to comments that add to the conversation or ask questions. Spamming comment sections with emojis no longer qualifies as meaningful engagement and will have a much lesser effect on the recommendation system. Comments are one of the main indicators that the message of your video connected with its audience.

Not only is an overview of your comment section important for the algorithm but also for your brand’s community management. The significance of good community management has increased with the necessity of an active core community that provides feedback to the brand and the algorithm.

More Metrics Worth Investigating

Despite TikTok’s move towards meaningful engagement as the main signal of a video’s worth to an audience, there are a few more KPIs that are relevant to a creator’s or brand’s performance. In the next section, we will be exploring some TikTok engagement metrics that brands or creators may want to include in their performance review. We will specifically be looking at the following metrics: 

1. Follower Growth Rate
2. Reach
3. Views (or Impressions)
4. Engagement Rate
5. Post Interaction Rate

1. Follower Growth Rate

This is the total number of followers you gained or lost during a selected time frame. Based on the number of followers you’ve gained, this profile-focused metric measures the rate at which your audience is growing. While you shouldn’t solely focus on followers when measuring the success of your TikTok activities, it does give you a good idea of how many new people are discovering your account and find your content interesting. Growing your TikTok following organically is a good sign that you’re expanding your presence on the platform.

 Follower growth rate is an important metric to track, since it can show you how fast your profile is growing vis-à-vis your competitors. There are two reasons you want to compare your profile against other profiles. First, to calculate the average follower growth rate in your specific industry. Second, is to study and understand why other profiles may have a higher follower growth rate than your own. Both of these tasks can be accomplished with the right social media analytics and benchmarking tool.

2. Reach

You are probably wondering how to calculate reach on TikTok, so let us give you an overview. TikTok reach is simply the total number of unique user accounts that have seen your videos at least once. To determine your average TikTok reach, add up the reach of each video over a certain period of time. Then divide this number by the total number of video views and multiply by 100 to get your reach percentage.

Reach is, in and of itself, an important KPI to keep an eye on since it shows you how many individual people your content is reaching. However, it can also be helpful to study how your reach changes over time. This requires you to select a particular time period and then compare it to other time periods. For example, you might want to see how successful your account was this holiday season compared to last year. To do this, you can use a social media benchmarking tool that allows you to select a time period you’d like to analyze and compare it to another. By comparing time periods, you can see if your reach or other KPIs have increased.

3. Views (or Impressions)

You might be wondering, what are impressions on TikTok? TikTok impressions and views are both used synonymously. This KPI tells you how many times your posts have been displayed in total. Every time you scroll through TikTok and a video appears on your screen, it counts as a view or impression. To see this metric, open the TikTok Studio dashboard by clicking just below the number of followers and likes on your profile. Then, when you open Analytics, you will see Post Views and Profile Views.

When tracking post views, there are two main types of impressions: impressions of all posts and impressions per post. Impressions of all posts represent the total number of times that all of your posts were shown, giving you a comprehensive overview of your performance on TikTok. Impressions per post, the so-called post views, provide insight into the performance of individual videos, helping you understand what content is resonating the most with your audience. On TikTok, the number of views is displayed right below each video.
Tracking your impressions is essential to optimizing your TikTok strategy. To do this effectively, we recommend that you use a social media analytics tool, allowing you to analyze TikTok KPIs in detail. Tools can be helpful because they allow you to investigate your data more deeply, adjusting for time frames and comparing across time periods. By tracking these metrics, you can identify your most successful posts, understand their impact, and adjust your posting strategy to maximize your performance. As a result, you will improve your presence on TikTok.

4. Engagement Rate

TikTok engagement rate measures the amount of interaction your content receives in relation to your number of followers. It includes likes, comments, shares, and other forms of interaction, providing a comprehensive view of how engaging your content is. Understanding how to calculate your engagement rate on TikTok is important but also can be time-consuming if done by hand. It is calculated by adding up the number of interactions for each post as well as comments, shares, and so on. Then you have to divide the total number of interactions by the number of followers at the time of the post. After that, you add up the values of all the posts, and finally, you divide this sum by the number of days in the given period.

Public engagement rates can be used as a benchmark to compare your performance to your competitors. With a social media analytics tool, you can find the TikTok engagement rate benchmark for your specific niche. This tool can benchmark many different profiles and provide insight into the average engagement rate on TikTok for different industries. Knowing the TikTok average engagement rate will help you set realistic goals and understand where you stand compared to your competitors. 

If you want to know more about how to increase engagement rate on TikTok, you can read about the steps you can take to increase your engagement. Understanding how to find engagement rate on TikTok and using a social media competitor analytics tool can significantly improve your content strategy and overall performance on the platform.

5. Post Interaction Rate

The last KPI we’re going to talk about is post interaction rate. By tracking your post interaction rate, you can get a more detailed analysis of your posts. With this metric, you can specifically track each post and see which ones are working and which ones are not. It shows how successful each post is at motivating users to engage with it. This metric allows you to compare the quality of different posts and analyze how they are working.

Social media analytics tools that allow you to track multiple profiles can help you determine the best times to post and conduct effective hashtag research. This can help you increase your TikTok interactions and even bring more people to your profile. Hashtags are also relevant metadata, which TikTok considers in pushing out content to viewer groups, which is why insights into which hashtags are working can help you understand your first exposure group. With a social media analytics tool, you can track an unlimited number of profiles that are similar to your own. You can either track an account’s post interaction rate to see how it compares to others, or you can track specific posts to analyze the ones with the highest and lowest post interaction rates.

Conclusion

Now that you know the importance of tracking KPIs on TikTok and how to track them, you are ready to start monitoring your TikTok metrics to improve your performance. Keep in mind that there are many different factors that go into creating a successful TikTok profile. These include optimizing your content based on data insights, creating and planning engaging posts, and undertaking effective community management.  

If you want to explore all the potential benefits of using a social media tool for benchmarking and analysis for your various TikTok KPIs, try Fanpage Karma’s tool. Fanpage Karma is an all-in-one social media tool that allows for unlimited profile tracking. Alternatively, you can also participate in the free weekly webinar about how to use Fanpage Karma to improve your social media performance.