Instagram has gone through many transformations over the course of the last few years. With the ever-evolving social media world, it is crucial for every worthy marketer to keep up with the pace. In order to boost your company’s Instagram presence, you need to analyze your content and find out what works best for your business.
Knowing how to interpret Instagram metrics in real time can help you find out what content performs best and adjust your marketing efforts while maximizing the undeniable potential of Instagram. The social platform offers a free tool to analyze your photos and videos – Instagram Insights, and we’re here to provide you all that you need to know about it.
How to access Instagram Insights?
- Make sure your Instagram profile is set to public.
- Switch your personal Instagram account to a business profile – you will be asked to connect your account with a Facebook fanpage. If you don’t own any FB fanpage, you’ll need to set one up. Don’t worry, you don’t have to post anything there, all it needs to do is simply exist.
Instagram Insights – Content
Instagram Insights is made out of 3 cards – content, activity, and audience. The content tab is where you will find all your Instagram posts, Stories, and promotions. It’s the best place to check which of your content performs best and how your engagement rates change over time.
Feed posts
Here you’ll find all of your posts from the last 2 years. Top posts are shown by default, but you can filter the list by the type of content, audience activity, and time period.
But of course, you can and you should dig deeper. By clicking on the post’s thumbnail and on “view insights”, you will access detailed statistics for every individual post. You’ll see the number of likes, comments, shares, and even bookmarks. You’ll also see what actions people have taken from seeing your post, e.g. profile visits or website clicks.
Reach vs. Impressions – what’s the difference?
- Reach is the total number of unique accounts who have seen your content.
- Impressions is the total number of times your content was displayed. One person could count as multiple impressions for only one piece of content.
Below you’ll also have the discovery section, which shows where your audience came from:
In the example above, more than 80% of the audience came from the hashtag browser. See our previous article on how to grow your organic reach on Instagram exponentially simply by choosing the right hashtags for your content.
Stories
The content tab is where you’ll also find stats for your Instagram Stories. Similarly to feed posts, you can filter your Stories by people’s activity and time period, although in this case you can only reach as far back as 14 days.
By clicking on a Story thumbnail and then swiping up, you’ll access detailed insights for each and every Story from the last 14 days. The only thing that will look different from posts’ insights is the discovery section. It will be broken down into navigation – the way people moved around your Story. Those who clicked forward or back, exited your Story, or swiped to see the next person’s Story. These indicators will help you measure your audience’s interest and engagement. For example, a lot of clicks forward or next Story swipes may suggest that your Story was not very appealing for other users. Back clicks on the other hand show that some people may have gotten interested in your content enough that they wanted to see it again.
Promotions
The content tab will also give you insights on any currently running ads. Using this information, you’ll be able to assess your paid campaign results and check whether they lived up to their initial expectations.
Instagram Insights – Activity
The activity tab is split to Interactions and Discovery.
Interactions are insights that measure the actions people take when they engage with your account. These can be profile visits, website clicks, emails, calls, etc.
The chart shows interactions over the course of the last 7 days. Unfortunately, that’s as far back as you can reach with Instagram Insights. You can however set a completely custom time range in NapoleonCat, which offers Instagram analytics not only for your own profiles but also for those of your competitors, too. Click here to start a free trial.
Social media analytics
Measure your social media marketing results. Track competitors and improve performance using simple dashboards.
Try NapoleonCat free for 14 days. No credit card required.
The Discovery section is broken down into reach and impressions. The reach metric is an estimate and may not be exact.
Instagram Insights – Audience
The audience tab pertains to user demographic data on your account. Remember that this section only analyzes your followers. You can see where they come from – it’s broken down into 5 most popular cities and countries.
You can also check your followers by the age range and their gender:
Another important chart shows when your followers are most active on Instagram – this is very important when you wish to find the best time to post your content. The average post longevity on Instagram is around 48 hours.
Whether you’re a seasoned pro or you’re just starting your Instagram marketing adventure, it’s mandatory to know all these metrics. While Instagram Insights is a free tool, you can always expand your analytical skills by using different social media softwares.
