As a small business owner, determining the value of the time & effort you put into your Instagram can be tricky. Especially when, sometimes, there seems no obvious or direct uplift to sales from your organic posts.
Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & TikTok are often slow sales tools. But at their most basic, they allow businesses to build a community with whom you share common interests. Allowing you to build a fanbase of potential customers.
Here we show how to get Instagram Insights & use it to understand how effective your posts & stories are. To get more likes from your posts & ultimately build a larger community of soon-to-be customers.
How can I get Instagram Insights?
Instagram has 3 types of account set ups:
Personal - everyday users
Creator - those hoping to monetise from their accounts e.g. influencers
Business - those representing a business
Your account will be one of these. To check your Instagram account go to Settings > Account. You’ll see ‘Switch to…’ options in blue at the bottom of this list. As a business, you want to be a business account.
Both creator & business accounts have access to free insights. You’ll find Instagram Insights on a button (only you can see) on your profile page. You’ll also get there via the navigation panel top right.
How do I use Instagram Insights?
On the Instagram Insights home screen you’ll see top line stats on how effective your social media has been in the last 7 days. A comparison to the 7 days previous.
From here you can dig a little deeper into:
Accounts reached - the number of people seeing your posts.
There's other account activity here too, like how many people visited your website, emailed or called you from your page. Plus the number of people who have visited your profile.
These are all strong indicators at how influential your posts are at inspiring fans to find out more about you. The longer your fans spend interacting with you the more of an emotional bond you are forming.
Content interactions - the number of likes, comments, shares or saves your posts have inspired.
Any kind of reaction to your post is proof of an emotional response & of brand interaction. Indicating that those who saw what you shared found it entertaining or informative. Not only is this important in building brand love, but also essential to get your posts seen.
The Instagram algorithm is what influences the order posts are served on every users feed. It means you only see what Instagram thinks you’ll like, using data from what you’ve liked in the past. Instead of a chronological order, Instagram has adopted an individualistic likability order. It’s so you enjoy & keep using their platform.
As a business, it means that sharing content your fans will engage in is essential to get your posts seen. We’ll come back to this.
Total followers - the number of new followers or unfollows you received that week.
Plus demographic information like where your total followers live, by city & country. Their age & gender splits. Even the days & hours your followers are most active on Instagram.
Use this information to influence the type of content you share, for example, hit share on posts on the days & times your followers are most likely to be on Instagram.
Is reach important on Instagram?
Absolutely. Having 3,000 followers means nothing if your posts are only reaching a couple of hundred people. But remember, content interactions (likes, comments, shares or saves) equals reach. The Instagram algorithm means only posts with high levels of engagement will be served to a higher proportion of your followers.
From the Instagram Insights home screen you’ll see ‘Content You Shared’. This section enables you to dig deeper into individual posts, helping you to determine which ones have the highest reach.
To begin with, play around with the time period by tapping the drop down on the top navigation bar that says 'Last Year'. Select ‘Last 7 Days’ then ‘Last 3 Months’. You’ll see your most seen posts in those different time periods.
Notice any patterns? Photography style or length of caption perhaps? What about the type of content you were sharing in these posts; are they announcing news or providing a little inspiration?
Next, tap the middle drop down on the top navigation that says 'Reach' to adjust your metric. From the drop down select ‘Post Interactions’. Here you’ll see your most engaged in posts. Repeat the same analysis; can you spot any patterns in the type of posts you’re sharing that are generating a high level of engagement?
What are other important metrics on Instagram?
By regularly digging into your Instagram Insights you’ll soon develop an understanding of good & bad stats. Once you’re familiar with the average number of people who see & engage with your posts, dig a little deeper to gain an even better understanding of what your fans inspires your fans.
As well as the super important ‘Reach’ & ‘Post Interactions’, you’ll see a number of other metrics you can use to determine what is working well. Here's which other ones to look at & why:
Profile visits - an indicator of the type of posts that inspire your fans to visit your full profile after seeing your post in their feed & therefore spend more time immersing themselves in your business or brand.
Follows - the posts that showed enough value to a potential fan that after coming across your post they want to make sure they see your future ones
Saves - indicating that your post is worth keeping on file to refer to at a later date.
Website taps - the posts that inspire your fans to take action & visit your website; perhaps to view a product & buy online or view a menu & book a table.
Shares - digital word of mouth. Your fans seeing something in that post they think their friends would also like to see.
In summary…
Instagram Insights is free for business accounts & allows you to better understand the impact of your social media posts on your fans behaviour. From what inspires your fans to hit like & leave a comment, to what gets them visiting your full profile & going through to your website.
By dedicating just 15 mins a week to digging around in Instagram Insights, you’ll soon develop a feel for what works & what doesn't. Influencing the type of content you create in order to get more likes & grow your fanbase.
For a free live demo to understand even more about Instagram Insights, email michelle@narrativeagency.co.uk. She’ll shed even more light & help you better reach & connect with your potential customers.
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