Instagram is no longer just a photo-sharing app. It has evolved into a multi-faceted media platform with frequent updates, drawing in billions of users to discover what everyone is posting and what conversations are being exchanged. The allure of Instagram has grown beyond personal accounts as businesses realise the potential to reach audiences far and wide with online marketing.
One of the first steps you should do is to convert your Instagram page. Found in the settings of your account, it takes just one switch to transform into a professional account. Then, you can access tools in your Instagram insights. Instagram Insights is a great tool for everything you need to know about your followers and content. However, with the vast metrics available, many are still confused about how to use the data to their advantage.
Peeking into the performance of your post, reel, and story can only take your social media engagement so far. So to maximise this tool, you can use it to improve your social media strategy. In this guide, we'll cover everything from tracking social media analytics to interpreting the output for your marketing strategy.
What is Instagram Insights?
Essentially, Instagram Insights is the platform's dedicated in-house analytics tracker. As mentioned, only professional and business accounts can access this insight tool. You'll be able to check who follows your account and, most importantly, the performance of your content. The analytics will show which post or reel is performing the best and attracting new followers. With the information provided, you can then use the data to improve your social media strategy.
Instagram Insights explained
To access Insights, click on the professional dashboard tab at the top of your Instagram profile. Click the 'See All' button in the upper right corner to access insights. Here, it provides summarised information about how many accounts you've reached, the number of accounts you've engaged, and your total followers. You can also check each post's insight by clicking 'View Insights' just below the photo. For reels, click the three buttons on the lower right side of the screen. Get started with Instagram Insights by looking out for these key analytics...
Accounts Reached
Accounts Reached refer to the number of unique users that viewed any of your content. It also provides a graph that shows how many of your followers and non-followers you've reached. To learn more, let's break the 4 parts into sections:
Content Reach
The insights on this page are dedicated to which type of content reaches your audience best. You can also pick a period range to see statistics covering the last seven days to the previous two years. It will reveal which reel, post, story, or live video performed best and can filter the top content.
Reached Audience
Reach Audience breaks down the top towns/cities, countries, age ranges, and genders of all the unique accounts your content has reached.
Impressions
Find out the total number of views on each piece of content, including repeat views.
Profile Activity
These analytics are important for accounts with buttons, such as a call button, business address button, and website button. It shows the number of taps on the following buttons made by visiting users.
Accounts Engaged
Accounts Engaged shows the number of followers and non-followers that engaged with your content. Take your nights a step further by viewing "Content Interactions"— this section presents the number of accounts who liked, commented, shared, or saved your content, whether it be the post, reel, or story.
Total Followers
As its name provides, it shows your total number of followers. It also shows the number of follows, unfollows, your followers' top locations, age range, gender, and active times.
Using analytics to improve your social media strategy
Instagram insights offer more than just numbers and statistics, they are your roadmap to a more engaged Instagram audience. By learning to analyse the data provided and use it to inform your social media strategy, you'll see improvements to your level of audience engagement and, hopefully, your client conversion rate too. Ready to get started? Use your analytics to inform the following areas of social media management...
Posting schedule
Track your social media analytics and note the times when your audience is most active. You can schedule posts so you don't miss your follower's prime-time activity.
Content performance
After you identify when to post, you can highlight posts that receive the best engagement. For example, if multiple 'behind-the-scenes' vlogs receive the best engagement, you can pin that as successful content production. From there, your strategy can branch out to include tutorials of your work. If the tutorials do well, they are a successful part of your content production strategy. Growing a successful strategy comes from understanding how you did and then trying new ideas from there.
Understanding your audience
Appreciating the love and support from social media is one thing, but targeting the right audience is another. Let's say your business caters to women in their 20s to 40s who love handmade accessories, but your social media tracking shows males in their 40s and 50s to be the main audience watching your content. Perhaps it might be time to revisit the drawing board or change your target audience.
