Keeping track of the performance of your various initiatives is critical for a successful social media marketing strategy, especially on Instagram. This allows you to determine when to change a strategy or implement a new idea.
However, when it comes to drilling down into your Instagram metrics, it is not always clear where to begin.
This article will introduce you to Instagram insights, explain why it's important to measure them, and highlight the top eight Instagram metrics to keep an eye on.
Instagram Metrics Explained
Instagram metrics are performance measurements that show you how your Instagram content is performing and how your audience is reacting to it. Instagram metrics show you how many people saw or interacted with your content.
We'll go over specific metrics later, but some of the most important Instagram metrics to track are impressions, reach, and follower growth.
Why You Should Track Your Instagram Metrics
If you manage your Instagram account without ever looking at your analytics, you will be in the dark about the results of your efforts.
These efforts will almost certainly coincide with company or department goals (or even just your own Instagram KPIs), which will help inform which Instagram metrics you should be reporting on.
As a result, when you respond to the "why," you'll also reveal your key IG metrics to report on. Here are three reasons why you should monitor your Instagram analytics.
1. Instagram metrics keep your strategy in line with company objectives
If one of your current goals is to increase your company's follower count, make sure you're actually doing so. The same is true if you want to increase story views or post engagement. You must be able to check the metrics to measure growth and determine whether you are meeting your KPIs.
2. Instagram metrics help you measure specific campaign success
If you're running a large Instagram campaign (say, for a product launch, holiday sale, or important partnership), you'll want to know how well it's doing. Your Instagram metrics will show you this so you can decide whether or not to change your messaging.
3. Instagram metrics let you know which content your audience prefers
If you're experimenting with different types of content, you should look at your post metrics to see which ones are getting the most attention. Having this knowledge allows you to create an Instagram content strategy that resonates with your audience by posting their favorite types of content on a consistent basis.
How to View Insights On Instagram
You must have an Instagram business or creator account to view insights and metrics on Instagram. There are several ways to access your insights from the Instagram app. (Remember that these are only available on the mobile app and not on the desktop.)
To begin, go to your profile and click the Professional dashboard button. Your account insights are the first option. To access your Instagram metrics, tap See all.
Second, you can access them directly by tapping the hamburger menu icon in the top right corner of your profile and then tapping Insights.
7 Crucial Instagram Metrics for Measuring Performance
1. Impressions
This metric informs you of the number of times your content has been viewed.
Your impressions indicate how many times a piece of content has been viewed.
This is useful because a high number of impressions can indicate that a piece of content was well-liked and people wanted to return to it. When it comes to Instagram ads, however, too many impressions can cause ad fatigue and reduce conversions.
2. Reach
This metric informs you of the number of people who have viewed your content.
You're not alone if you think reach sounds a lot like impressions.
These two metrics are similar but confusing enough that we've gone into great detail about them in Reach vs Impressions and Instagram Impressions (if you're interested in learning more).
To summarize, Instagram reach indicates actual views of your content, whereas impressions indicate that it was displayed but did not result in a click or other form of engagement.
3. Engagements per Follower
What this metric tells you: Engagement with your content in relation to the number of followers you have.
While it may be tempting to compare your Instagram performance to that of the big guns (think Oreo, Starbucks, Nike, and so on), you shouldn't do so unless your audience sizes are roughly comparable.
Why?
Because brands with millions of fans should have thousands of likes. However, if you only have a couple thousand followers, you're obviously less likely to achieve similar results in aggregate, but that doesn't mean you're not performing perfectly.
And this is where engagement rate (or engagements per follower) comes in to ensure you're evaluating your account fairly.
The formula for measuring engagement rate on Instagram looks something like this:
Total Engagements / Follower Count x 100 = Engagement Rate
What this metric tells you: Engagement with your content in relation to the number of followers you have.
Reporting on this metric over time will provide you with an idea of overall performance trends, but you can certainly calculate it for specific posts to get an idea of the types of content that resonate with your audience.
4. Story Metrics
This metric indicates how popular and engaging your Instagram Stories are.
The use of Stories is arguably one of the most important components of current Instagram marketing strategies.
These are beneficial in a variety of ways, the most important being that they add another dimension of content for your audience. The fact that the photos and videos disappear gives you even more freedom and flexibility than your feed does.
There are a few good metrics to keep track of when it comes to Instagram Stories, such as Story Replies, Story Taps Back and Forward, Story Exits, and Impressions.
5. Referral Traffic
This metric tells you Instagram's impact on your website traffic.
Referral traffic refers to visitors who arrive at your website from other websites rather than from search engines. When someone clicks on a link from social media or a website and ends up on your site, Google Analytics recognizes the visitor as a referral.
A common tactic for social media posts is to link to a website's specific landing page, product page, or even just the home page, depending on the type of action you want your followers to take after seeing your post.
However, on Instagram, this can be more difficult because the only place to display a clickable link is inside your bio.
6. Comments Received
This message is self-explanatory.
When it comes to evaluating Instagram performance metrics, there is a significant difference between likes and comments.
Likes are relatively easy to come by, and you can never be certain that a post was truly seen by your followers. It's crystal clear with comments. Whether positive or negative, comments left on your posts indicate that your content had an impact, or at least enough for the individual to go out of their way to provide feedback.
This type of engagement, especially when positive, is a powerful factor in establishing a loyal fanbase and building a community. Anyone can easily double tap, but those who go out of their way to comment are the ones to watch.
7. Follower Growth
This metric indicates whether your follower count is steadily increasing or decreasing.
Context is important when evaluating a growing (or shrinking) Instagram follower count, especially if you're experiencing random spikes or drops due to something like a one-time promotion or paid social ads.
Make sure to track your follower count over time and keep the above context examples in mind so you know exactly what is driving the increase. Ideally, you should see consistent, gradual growth over time, indicating that people like what they see from your content and want to see more of it.
Understanding what is and isn't working is also important in the context of your overall Instagram marketing strategy. You'll want to make sure you know what types of content to keep creating and which may need to be tweaked.
While total followers may appear to some to be a vanity metric, it ultimately represents the potential reach of your content. This affects the performance of other IG metrics such as engagement, so organically growing your audience remains as important as ever.