It's no secret that Instagram is one of the most powerful ecommerce platforms out there. In fact, 79% of marketers are already using it to market their brands. That percentage makes a lot of sense: there are over 120 million active Instagram users in the US alone. But if you don't track the right metrics, you're not utilizing the platform to its fullest potential. By monitoring your brand's Instagram performance, you can make sure you're meeting your objectives and adjust your marketing efforts where you need to.
In this post, we'll cover what Instagram metrics you should be tracking and why. Let's get started!
Why Should You Track Instagram Metrics?
Instagram metrics are measurements that track the performance of your brand on the platform and let you show off the impact of your Instagram marketing.
Understand your audience
Instagram helps you to understand your audience better by showing what they look at and respond to. Metrics track how people interact with your posts, so you can see which types of content suit them best. When you know your audience well, you can create content that resonates with them, increasing engagement and growing your following.
Compare and optimize campaigns
Tracking Instagram metrics can help you compare how well different campaigns are doing. Comparing campaigns allows you to learn what works and what doesn't. Then you can adjust your content or marketing efforts accordingly to double down on successful content initiatives and stop wasting time on posts and ads that aren't effective.
Show the impact of your Instagram account
If you're responsible for marketing in your company, it's important to be able to show the impact of your work. Tracking Instagram metrics is an easy way to measure success and demonstrate the value of your team's efforts. By analyzing metrics that show you're expanding and engaging your audience, you can connect your work to company-wide objectives.
How to access Instagram metrics
There are several ways to see Instagram metrics. The most straightforward approach is to use the professional dashboard within the app itself. To do this, you need to first make sure you've converted your account to an Instagram business profile. Alternatively, you can use a third-party analytics platform to get more in-depth insights about your account's performance.
Instagram Analytics Tools
7 Instagram Metrics to track for Instagram insights
Instagram metrics provide marketers with valuable insights into how their brand is performing on the platform. Brands should track a variety of metrics in order to get a comprehensive assessment of their Instagram content and its impact. Here are the most important Instagram metrics.
Reach
Reach is one important Instagram metric to pay attention to. This metric tracks how many people have seen your content. Tracking reach is important because it gives you an idea of how many people are seeing your content and how far your posts are reaching. If your reach dips, that means fewer people are seeing your posts, and you may need to adjust your content or marketing strategy accordingly. In contrast, if your reach consistently increases, you know your content is on the right track.
Engagement Rate
The engagement rate measures the number of engagements per each of your Instagram followers. Engagement on Instagram refers to any type of interaction with the content posted, such as a like, comment, or save.
To calculate the engagement rate of your posts, divide the total number of engagements by your follower count. This metric gives you an idea of how likely followers are to engage with your content. For example, if you post a photo and it receives ten likes from 100 followers, the engagement rate would be 10%.
Engagement of Instagram Stories
Instagram stories are a way to share photos and videos that last for 24 hours. You can prompt people to interact with your story with polls or link out to products.
Story engagement measures how many of the accounts reached by an Instagram story actually interacted with it. This metric is important because it gives you an idea of how effective your stories are and how many people are actually engaging with them. To calculate story engagement, compare the number of accounts Reached with the number of accounts engaged.
Follower Growth
The follower growth metric tracks the number of new followers you have gained over a specific time period. This metric is important because it allows you to measure your brand's success in terms of building an audience.
To calculate follower growth, subtract the number of followers at the beginning of a time period (for instance, one month) from the number of followers at the end. To calculate the follower growth rate, divide the number of followers gained in a time period by the total number of followers at the beginning of that period. To get a percentage, multiply the result by 100. For example, if you start with 1,000 followers and gain 50 in one month, your follower growth rate would be 5%.
50/1000 = 0.05
0.05 * 100 = 5%
Comments
The comments metric tracks the number of comments made on each post. This metric is similar to the engagement rate, but it just looks at comments rather than all types of engagements. It's important because it can give you an idea of how involved followers are with your content and if they have any questions or suggestions.
Referral Traffic
Referral traffic measures the amount of website traffic that is coming from Instagram. This metric is important because it gives you an idea of how effective your content is in directing users to your online store. This data is not available on the Instagram platform. To find out how many people are arriving on your ecommerce site from Instagram, use a web analytics platform like Google Analytics. In google Analytics, navigate to Acquisition -> Channels to find out the referral traffic from Instagram.
Learn more about web analytics in our guide, Website Analytics 101
Reel Metrics
Instagram Reels are short videos that appear in the main feed of an Instagram account. They can be used to create a variety of content, from tutorials and dance performances to stories and product demonstrations. Reels are an effective way to engage viewers and promote products or services.
On Instagram, you can track a variety of measurements related to Reels. You should pay attention to the reach of each reel compared with the number of 'content interactions' -- this will show you how many viewers took action after viewing the reel.
Combine Social Media with SMS Marketing
Social media and SMS marketing are both effective ways of engaging customers and driving sales. Combining them allows businesses to capture even more attention by reaching customers on multiple platforms. Texts get higher open rates than email, so you can use them to link back to your Instagram posts, allowing customers to get more information and take advantage of special offers in a timely manner.
Emotive is an SMS marketing platform that helps businesses easily launch and manage text campaigns. Book a demo today.