With the launch of Business Profiles back in 2016, Instagram allowed us to see behind the curtain and access vital information to help us in our attempts to gain followers, promote engagement, and build our brands.

Currently, there are more than 25 million Instagram business profiles with the potential to reach 200 million Instagram users every day (Source: Wordstream).

However, do we know how to check Instagram Insights? Are we using its full potential? This deep dive into Instagram’s native analytics will help brands embrace the data needed to grow and thrive through Instagram marketing. We’ll also provide a list of resources that you can use to get even more data to power your Instagram marketing machine.

You’ll need an Instagram business profile, then click on the menu and click Insights. Check your Instagram Insights on this screen.  

Under Activity

You’ll see the latest interactions and how many people are finding you on Instagram. You’ll also see reach and impressions for that time period.

Under Content

You’ll see your recent posts, stories, and promotions. Click on the individual pieces of content to see an expanded view of their analytics.

Under Audience

You’ll see a breakdown of your followers. You’ll need at least 100 followers before this module will populate data. Here, you’ll be able to see when your audience is active on Instagram, and what their general demographics are.

With Too Little Data…

For marketers who don’t check Instagram Insights, they risk:

• Targeting the wrong audience with their ads or posts, instead of targeting the people who want to interact with and purchase from your brand.
• Posting at the wrong frequency and showing content to their audience too much or too little. Finding the right cadence for your content will allow your audience to continue to enjoy your posts every time they log in.
• Wasting time on irrelevant visitors. Analyzing your data could help you drive better traffic to your website.
• Missing mentions and interactions from your customers. If your customers are reaching out and mentioning your brand, you’ll want a way to track, interact, and process each message so that you never miss out on an opportunity.
• Getting missed altogether. If you aren’t posting at the right times or with the right content, your audience might not hear from you enough to make a purchasing decision.

How to Make the Most Out of Your Instagram Insights

1. Find your best posting time. Instagram lists when your audience is most active on the platform. A great way to get seen by your followers is to post during that time so that your followers will see the posts at the top of their feed when first opening the app.
2. Check your engagement rate to ensure that your content is resonating with your followers. If you notice a drop in engagement, you’ll want to reevaluate what you are posting and when. Drops in engagement could indicate that your audience is getting bored. Remember, your engagement rate is your total likes & comments divided by your total followers.
3. Sync your Instagram account with your Facebook Business Page. Your Facebook Page Insights will offer additional information about your followers and other metrics that can be used to refine your Instagram strategy.
4. Consider getting an additional Instagram Analytics software. Data is your most valuable tool in creating a successful business strategy on social media.

How to Align Your Data with Your Brand Goals

Your data should be used to align your efforts with your goals on Instagram. Depending on your overall goals, you’ll want to focus on different metrics and strategies.

Goal: Brand Awareness

Brand awareness is an increased knowledge, or warming, of followers toward your brand. This will assist in future conversions as your audience becomes increasingly interested in your brand and what you have to offer. For these campaigns, your focus should be on getting the word out, rather than direct conversions. As your audience becomes more familiar, you’ll see conversions later on.

This is a good strategy for brands just starting out on Instagram, or brands that have noticed a decrease in interest from their followers. Taking a less conversion-focused approach will take the pressure off of sales and instead allow you to focus on creating the content that your audience enjoys most.

Key Metrics: Impressions, Reach, and Total Follower Count

Goal: Engagement and Building a Community Group

Engagement is one of the key metrics that Instagram judges success by, so brands cannot afford to ignore their engagement. Instagram rewards the brands that are able to solicit comments, likes, and other actions from their followers. Building a community on Instagram also helps your brand create buzz around your brand and create loyalty to your brand over your competitors.

This strategy can help position brands as a leader in the industry, and can also create a steady stream of engagement from followers that helps to increase your reach as well. It is the perfect next step after an initial investment in brand awareness, because it will continue to help your reach as Instagram rewards the engagement. It is also an effective strategy to differentiate your brand from other competitors, as many engagement campaigns will help followers feel very invested in your brand and it will boost positive feelings toward your brand.

Key Metrics: Likes, Comments, Story Interactions, Clicks on Bio Link

Goal: Conversions, Leads, and Sales

Conversions, Leads, and Sales are goals that will help you sustain your business and generate revenue. Although the most obvious goal on Instagram, it may not be where you focus when starting your Instagram marketing. Your followers will want to consume great content on a regular basis as they get to know your brand, and may be deterred if your content is too sales-oriented. However, every brand needs to know that their efforts are going to eventually convert, so tracking your conversions and sales is essential to measuring the ultimate success of your Instagram.

First steps for this strategy is to establish a way of tracking your efforts.

Google Analytics

If you use Google Analytics, you can add tracking to your URL so that you can see who is purchasing through your link.

Shopify Analytics

If using Shopify analytics, you’ll be able to see how your social channels are performing directly through your Shopify dashboard.

When using influencers, you’ll want to establish a way for each influencer’s efforts to be tracked online. This could be a coupon code, a tracked link, or you can track the engagement directly on the influencer’s posts.

Once you are able to measure the conversions and sales, you can begin campaigns that will promote sales and lead generation. A few examples of these campaigns are:

• Offering Instagram-exclusive sales, promotions, and coupons
• Promoting a giveaway that captures a follower’s information so that you can follow up with email marketing or social ads
• Having Instagram content point to your link so that you gain additional web traffic. On your website you can capture their information with popups or other enticing content
• Offering customer support through Instagram so that customers or potential customers can reach out for help with their purchase.

Key Metrics: Clicks on Bio Links, Clicks on Call or Email Button, Ad Performance

While some may argue that content is king, the real emperor is data. The more data you use to refine your strategy, the more you will be able to understand your audience. You’ll also be able to optimize your brand’s growth.

Data is a resource that should influence each of your marketing decisions. Don’t fly blind — understanding and prioritizing analytics is the first step to explosive growth for you brand. Remember, you need to check Instagram Insights to turn that data into profits!

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