Being in a space where I closely monitor the world of data and analytics, there is one major problem that most of my peers face. Be it in the Fintech space, SaaS, or consumer products, all of them need help with analyzing the impact of their social media campaigns. They need help finding the top Instagram metrics that will help them measure the success of their digital presence.

It is critical to understand that social media only automatically translates into revenue but can produce significant and rapid business results if we can decipher what works well first.

Instagram has a massive user base. With over two billion active monthly users, it is one of the most popular social platforms connecting brands with customers. Your Instagram data can be a treasure trove of insights if analyzed correctly. As a marketer, you must know what Instagram metrics one should look at to perfect Instagram marketing. If you’re confused about where to start, don’t worry; we’ve listed several key Instagram metrics to help you analyze your business performance, increase your brand awareness, and grow your audience!

Why do you need to track your Instagram metrics?

Before we get into which metrics to track, let’s understand why it’s crucial to follow them. If you don’t look at your Instagram analytics, you won’t know how well your efforts are paying off. You don’t want to invest your blood, sweat, and tears into an Instagram marketing strategy without knowing how successful you are and what you can do to improve it. Because numbers measure whether or not your plans genuinely enhance your brand, you should be aware of them before investing in an Instagram strategy. It may seem daunting to analyze all of the numbers and graphs, which is why you should identify which metrics are most important so that you can focus on them.

Top Instagram Metrics or KPIs

1. Reach

On Instagram, one of the most important metrics is Reach. Unlike impressions, which are the total number of views on a post, reach is the number of new or unique accounts that see your posts. It tells you how accessible your content is on the internet and acts as an indicator of growth. 

This metric helps you understand the reach your posts receive, primarily because the increase in active engagement directly correlates to this number.

To increase brand awareness through social media, consider reach an essential metric. 

Reach depends on the following factors: 

• What hashtags are you using 
• What content is trending
• What time your audience is most active 

1. Engagement Rate

The most important metric for any Instagram account is its engagement rate. It tells you how well your audience is interacting with your content. When a follower likes, comments on, or shares your posts, it counts as engagement. Over 80% of businesses consider Instagram engagement as the most critical metric.

The higher your engagement rate, the better it is for your brand. Focus on creating compelling content and provide a clear call to action (CTA) so that people know what exactly to do with a given post. Higher interaction with your posts means people are spending time on your content. To boost your engagement, you can also interact or engage with followers through Instagram stories, comments, and Q&A sessions. 

1. Instagram Story Views

If you use Instagram regularly, you probably know what Instagram stories are. This feature lets you share photos and videos that disappear from your feed after 24 hours. In today’s scenario, short-form content is getting popular. Instagram stories, unlike your posts, are transient or short-lived. This makes tracking engagement difficult. 

If you want to see how people are interacting with your stories: 

• Track the number of story replies 
• Measure reactions (Likes, comments, etc.)
• Monitor impressions, views, and exits 

To access insights about your Instagram stories, you must have a Business Account and pay attention to exits and views. While views help you understand which accounts see your story, exits help you realize how people interact with your story.

1. Instagram Reels Engagement

Reels debuted in the year 2020. Over the last two years, the format of the reels has grown at an exponential rate. This feature provides unparalleled reach for all types of content. You can easily view the likes, comments, saves, and plays the reel has received. The formula to calculate the Reels engagement is: 

Reels Engagement Rate = Number of Interactions on Reels/ Reels Plays x 100

1. Follower’s Growth

The introduction of the followed and unfollowed metrics by Instagram has offered a new way of looking at growth. Everybody wants to grow their social media presence to maximize content reach and translate a follower into a customer. 

The primary purpose of this metric is to evaluate whether your target audience is amongst your followers. 

With the above two metrics, you can quickly gauge the number of followers your brand has gained and lost over a specific period. If you are gaining new followers, the marketing efforts are paying off. If you have more unfollows, rethink your content and try something that resonates with your target audience.

Also read: How to Make LinkedIn Ads Work for You

1. Traffic

Since conversions are the ultimate goal of any marketing campaign, tracking traffic is of prime importance. You can quickly drive traffic to your blogs, videos, and posts by sharing them as a link in your bio or stories. 

Knowing the source of traffic assists you in narrowing down your target audience. You can boost sales by focusing entirely on your target audience. You can also track the number of people who click on your website and Instagram stories links and use that information to determine what kind of content receives the highest clicks.

1. Saves

The Saves metric helps brands analyze the impact of their content.

Users can bookmark a post by clicking the bookmark button in the bottom-right corner. It will save that particular post in the Saved section of the user’s Instagram account.

Tracking the number of saves received by a piece of content allows marketers to identify the type of content that works well.

1. Most Engaged Hashtags

Social media experts often discuss the importance of using hashtags in posts since it aids the discoverability of your content or account. 

But are hashtags still relevant? Yes, they are. 

Despite frequent updates to Instagram’s algorithm, one thing you can still do to optimize your content strategy is to use hashtags. 

Understanding how hashtags drive the most engagement across all posts is known as hashtag engagement. You can easily find the most engaged hashtags by following the below steps: 

• Go to a post on your feed and tap on the insights tab. 
• Swipe up for a detailed breakdown of how and where your post was discovered, including the hashtags people used to find it.

This data can help marketers determine if hashtags are working for them and accordingly fine-tune them for future posts.

1. Branded Hashtags

Another metric that people should analyze is the performance of branded hashtags. A branded hashtag is a tag you create to promote your brand or any campaign. Using a branded hashtag can be a great strategy, especially while running a user-generated campaign.  

One of the benefits of the branded hashtag is its trackability, giving you an idea of how people engage with your brand. Every time someone posts on Instagram with your hashtag, you’ll be able to see them and the results they’re generating. 

Bottom Line

As is evident, social media has turned into a competition for attention. The brands that gather the maximum eyeballs are the ones that use a data-driven approach to analytics. 

When companies have clarity over what metrics matter to them, it becomes easier to succeed on social media. When you know exactly what your audience wants, you can provide everything they need to make life easier.

Jumping into the deep end of analytics can be overwhelming. Hence, you need an analytics solution like INSIA that helps you break down essential metrics in an easy-to-understand manner. 

Track your Instagram KPIs with INSIA 

While Instagram analytics gives you a general picture of your data through KPIs such as impressions, reach, and engagement metrics, it is limited in what it can do for you. Optimize your Instagram marketing strategy by integrating it with INSIA’s advanced AI-powered, self-serve analytics software. Create and customize unlimited dashboards that are suited to your needs. A robust business intelligence tool like INSIA can help your small business grow to its full potential. INSIA is designed for non-technical business users. That integrates your data from multiple sources (like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Excel, MySQL, and many more) and lets you create visually appealing reports through a Google-like search bar. Connect to INSIA in a couple of clicks and monitor your business performance & the ROI on your marketing decisions with pre-built plug-n-play KPIs and automated dashboards. Click Here for a free trial!