Many businesses, bloggers, and influencers check their Instagram stats regularly. They have a general idea of their growth dynamics. Not many people, however, really explore the analytical data and make sure that this information will be used in their marketing strategy. Working with Instagram analytics can help you understand how this social media platform and its algorithm work, as well as what role it plays in your general marketing strategy.
People share more than 95 million images on Instagram every day. Using the insights from analytics, you can boost your business’ growth and make Instagram work for you. However, it can be hard to figure out which of many metrics are important for your business and what all these complex terms mean. In this article, we’re going to explain why you need to work with your Instagram analytics, what aspects you should focus on, and how to use analytics to your advantage.
Why you should care about Instagram analytics
There are over 25 million business accounts on Instagram, and the reason why this social media is so popular among businesses is that it works perfectly as an advertising platform. However, if you don’t know how much value your Instagram account drives, who sees your ads, and who visits your profile, it will be very difficult for you to promote your business effectively. The same goes for influencers, as they compete with thousands of other people who post similar content and therefore need to analyze metrics to understand whether their account is successful or not.
If you don’t analyze your Instagram analytics regularly, you might:
- post not frequently enough or too frequently
- post during the wrong time of the day
- target the wrong audience
- miss out on good opportunities to increase brand engagement
- drive an irrelevant audience to your website
- ignore opportunities to create partnerships
Tracking important Instagram metrics allows you to develop an effective content strategy. For instance, if you have an Instagram account dedicated to your eCommerce business, you might want to compare the performance of different products. Evaluating clicks, likes, and comments, you can understand how engaged your audience is and what products are most popular so that you can adjust your marketing strategy accordingly.
You can also determine what type of content your audience is most interested in. For instance, you can compare statistics on your photos of products and other content so that you can provide your followers with the exact posts they’re looking for. Using analytics, you can constantly improve your content so that it will drive more traffic to your website and boost your sales.
Now let’s consider different types of analytics in more detail.
Audience analytics
Targeting the right audience is necessary for the success of your business. Therefore, you should consider your audience analytics so that you can target the right groups of people. Here are the main metrics that you should take into account when planning your Instagram strategy so that you can provide relevant targeted content.
- Location
This is one of the most obvious metrics that is nevertheless very useful. Location may be more or less important depending on the type of your business and your product or service. However, no matter what business you have, the location metric will help you see where you can build a strong community. - Gender
You can also consider your audience’s gender. This metric will help you understand what types of products can be especially successful among your followers. - Age
Successful marketing campaigns are often based on a well-developed customer persona. Age, as well as gender, are the key characteristics of your customer persona. Instagram Insights can help you understand what age range you’re working with. You can also analyze the gender ratio in different age categories. - Active days and hours
You can determine when your posts will most likely be appreciated by the audience. Quite often, this metric is interconnected with others because it depends on the location and age of your followers. Choosing the right time is especially important because your followers are less likely to see your content in a few hours after you post it unless it gets enough views and reactions immediately.
Profile analytics
Although Instagram profiles contain less information than profiles in other social media platforms, you can still consider the three important factors: website click-throughs, follower count, and profile views.
- Website clicks
Instagram only enables you to guide your audience to one link, which you can include in your profile. Given that this link is at the top of your profile, it makes sense to include a link to your website. To check out how many users clicked this link, go to the analytics menu, and swipe through the metrics. - Follower count
This is one of the most important metrics on Instagram because everyone who visits your profile takes a look at your follower count to evaluate your popularity. Of course, getting new followers is difficult because you need to post lots of content. However, it will be easier for you to increase the number of your followers if you target the right audience. - Profile views
Even though not all people who see your content are going to follow you, they may visit your profile. You can check out the number of profile views, and you can also compare views for different periods of time to evaluate your success.
Content analytics
Your audience and profile analytics are important. You shouldn’t, however, forget about the content. Thanks to content analytics, you can understand what posts and stories are the most effective so that you can plan your strategy accordingly.
- Likes
Every day, Instagram users like more than 2 billion posts. Likes are the simplest and the most important metric that helps you evaluate the success of your posts. Given that users interact with your content when they tap the heart icon, we recommend that you start analyzing the performance of your posts from this metric. - Saves
Instagram users can also privately save posts that they like. If you see that many people save your post, the chances are that it’s especially valuable so you can learn from it and post more similar content in the future. - Reach
This metric reflects how many accounts have seen your post. If you see that your posts get many views, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have a big reach because the same people might see your posts several times. Thanks to this metric, you’ll be able to evaluate your actual audience. - Impressions
Unlike your reach, Instagram impressions reflect not the number of viewers but the number of views. If anyone sees your post when scrolling their feed, suggested posts, or anywhere else, this is an impression. - Top posts
This metric is based exclusively on impressions. However, you can compare numbers of impressions for different posts and evaluate their success in a more general context. - Comments
Likes help you get some understanding of engagement. However, comments reflect another level of engagement because when people leave comments, they want more interaction. Keep in mind that comments may not appear as soon as likes—you may need to wait for a few hours, or even up to 19 days. We recommend that you track your comments and reply to them. You can also simply like comments, encouraging users to continue to engage with your profile. - Engagement
This is a number of unique accounts that saved your posts, liked them, or left their comments. We recommend that you always analyze the dynamics of engagement because, in social media, this factor is even more important than in other areas of marketing.
How to access Instagram analytics
First of all, you can only access your stats if you have a business profile. If you already have a business profile, you can just visit the Insights tab in the mobile app. Tap the menu icon in the top right corner, and then select the Insights tab from the dropdown menu. After this, you’ll access all the metrics available for your profile.
Keep in mind that, if you’ve just created a business profile, it will take some time for Instagram to generate the data that will be displayed on this tab. Besides, if you switch from a regular to a business account, Instagram won’t display data for your content that was published previously.
How to use analytics for your Instagram strategy
Having data that reflects the success of your account is great. However, you should also know how to use it in practice because otherwise, this data will be completely useless. To develop a successful Instagram strategy, you should determine your goals, measure metrics, and make decisions based on the insights you’ve got from the data.
- Determine your goals
First of all, you should identify the objectives of your campaign because they determine what metrics will be especially important to consider. For example, your main goal may be to drive more visitors to your website, to increase engagement on Instagram, or to build a larger community. When you understand what your goals are, you can not only choose the right metrics but also take the right actions, making sure that you post the right content for the right audience. - Make sure that your goals are specific
You won’t be able to develop an effective strategy if your goals are not specific. We recommend that you stick with the SMART approach, which stands for Specific, Aspirational, Relevant, and Timely. If your goals meet these requirements, you will be able to understand how you can achieve them.
- Choose the right KPIs
Your goals should also be specific so that you can objectively measure your success. To do it, you need to decide what key performance indicators (KPIs) you’re going to use. KPIs are metrics that help you measure the success of your campaign or your content. There are no universal KPIs that would work equally well for any brand and any campaign so you should choose KPIs depending on your objectives.
“For instance, if the success of your business depends on a strong community, you may choose engagement as your main KPI. However, if you want to promote a specific post, you need to consider it in a more general context and switch to measuring your reach,” explains Laura Pope, a digital marketer at a writing services review website Best Writers Online.
You may also launch a giveaway or contest, and in this case, you will benefit from monitoring comments. You can also decide which contests are most popular by comparing comments. No matter what KPIs you choose, the main thing is to provide high-quality content that will be appreciated by your audience.
We also recommend that you don’t limit yourself to a single KPI and individual posts because this way, you won’t be able to evaluate the overall success of your profile. Metrics are important, but don’t let metrics stop you from trying new, creative approaches.
- Record your analytics
Another important thing about analytics is that you should monitor how your metrics change with time so that you can evaluate the success of your campaign in the long term. You can check your metrics every day or every week. The main thing is to check metrics consistently so that you can properly evaluate the effectiveness of your content. - Analyze
Not only should you monitor Instagram analytics, but you should also analyze the data to get actionable insights. You may expect to see some numbers while being completely surprised by others. Ask yourself why. We recommend that you always look for patterns in your data to quickly detect any correlations with your actions.
Analytics is useless if you don’t take action. If you analyze your metrics, you’ll be able to make continuous adjustments to your marketing strategy, getting rid of ineffective practices, and improving your strategy step-by-step.
Final Thoughts
Instagram analytics is a powerful tool for businesses, influencers, bloggers, and marketers. Thanks to analytics, you can learn how to use Instagram to achieve your specific goals, and what you should pay your attention to. We hope that our quick guide will help you understand your metrics and come up with an effective Instagram strategy that will increase your profits in no time.
Melissa Mauro is a freelance writer who creates quality and original content. She is working for the company Best Writers Online writing services review in the translation department and wants to find new platforms for professional growth. She believes that creativity and improvement are things, which distinguish a good writer.