Instagram has established itself as THE platform for building awareness and generating traffic for both brands and content creators. Understanding and analyzing Instagram insights isn't just useful, it's essential for developing strategies that resonate with your audience and drive engagement. In this comprehensive guide, we explain how to analyse your Instagram insights so you can fine-tune your content, and most importantly, ensure your brand is a success on Instagram.
The importance of KPIs in analysing your Instagram insights
Before we delve into the specifics of Instagram insights, it's crucial to understand the role of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) when it comes to analyzing your social platforms & content. KPIs serve as quantifiable measures that allow you to evaluate the success of your efforts in relation to your objectives. For a an in-depth look at the best KPIs to track to maximise the impact of your content, take a read of our article Which metrics to track to measure how your content is performing.
Understanding your audience thanks to Instagram statistics
Instagram's built-in analytics offer a wealth of information, from demographics to engagement rates. By analyzing these insights, you can gain insights into who your followers are, when they're most active, and what content resonates with them the most. This knowledge is invaluable for adapting your content strategy to suit the preferences and behaviours of your audience.
The good news is that Instagram gives you access to very precise insights and it’s super easy to view them. You can access them via your professional dashboard on your account page, or by clicking on an individual post and then "view insights".
When you go to your professional dashboard, you'll see 4 categories:
- Accounts reached
- Accounts engaged
- Total followers
- Content you've shared
You can then select each item to analyze further. The first thing you can define is the scope of your analysis (i.e. the period of time you wish to analyze). You can filter by time e.g. the previous month, the last 90 days, etc, or select the date periods on which you want view.
Accounts reached
Here you'll find the number of accounts you've reached, broken down by followers and non-followers, along with the number of impressions, you’ve had (impressions are the number of times your publications have been viewed). The more impressions you have, the more you know that your content is circulating. If you're looking to increase your visibility, you want to see this number rise. It's a key indicator for measuring the effectiveness of your hashtags, the time of posting and your content in general.
In this section, you can also see a breakdown of the “top content” you’ve shared to see which type of posts are reaching the most people. You can also see which publication has been the most popular.
Finally in this section, you can find out more about your profile activity: these insights are used to measure the number of actions taken when interacting with your profile. This could be a profile visit, a click on an external link (a link in your bio, for example), or clicks on your company address. Here you will also see percentages based on whether or not there has been an increase or decrease in views.
Accounts engaged
This is where you will see how many accounts have interacted with your content. And by engaged, we mean not just seen it, but interacted with it. You'll be able to find out where this audience comes from (country, city, age range and gender), whether they follow you or not, and what type of content generates the most engagement on your account.
You'll be able to find out the details of these interactions by type of publication and fiter by likess, comments and saves. Instagram also gives you the total number of interactions you’ve had over a given time period, and you can also see which posts have generated the best results in terms of engagement.
A high engagement rate is super important as it means that your content is not just reaching people but it is prompting them to take action. It's a sign that you're on the right track. Remember engagement is a two-way street: if you want your audience to engage with you, you need to engage with them. Reply to comments, take part in conversations, thank them for sharing. Show that behind your account is a real, live person!
Total followers
Here you can find out more about the people who follow you. The first important stat is simply the number of followers you have on a given date, with the percentage change in relation to the previous time period. You'll also find information on your growth with the number of new followers to your account and your unfollows. Instagram also shows you a line graph to help you visualise and track of your growth.
Here you can analyze more about your audience and their location (cities/towns & countries) age range & gender.
Finally, you can analyse their “most active times” broken down by days and time of day. You can see the times when your audience is most active and therefore likely to interact with your content. Plan your posts during these optimal windows to increase your visibility and engagement.
Content you've shared
Here you'll find a summary of all the content you’ve shared on the platform and how it has performed. You can sort your results by type of content, over a chosen time period and by metric (accounts engaged or accounts reached).
As you may have already noticed, Instagram gives you access to view these insights in several ways: it's up to you to decide what you prefer to use.
Individual post insights
You can also analyze a snapshot of the performance of an individual post without having to access the Professional Dashboard, by clicking on "view insights" below each post.
Here you'll see a breakdown of key data such as likes, comments, shares, saves, accounts reached, accounts engaged, profile activity, reach and impressions.
This table provided by Meta, is a helpful reminder of which Instagram insights to follow depending on the results you want to achieve.
Find all these statistics in rapidely
If you use a social media management & scheduling tool like rapidely, you'll also be able to access the key statistics within the platform. Simply connect your account (Instagram but also Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok and X) and let it analyze your online presence to provide you with valuable stats for your brand or clients. You'll have access to key data: number of followers, reach of your posts, engagement rate and you'll even be able to find out what type of content works best. It's a great way to see all your stats as well as managing and planning your content all in one place!
Other Instagram insights to track
Discover trends using hashtags
Hashtags aren't just tools for increasing the visibility of your posts; they're also invaluable for analyzing trends within your niche. By tracking the performance of different hashtags, you can measure the number of times they are used and discover new emerging trends within your community. This allows you to stay ahead of the curve and quickly adapt your content to the changing interests of your audience.
Analyse the competition on Instagram
Another important part of your Instagram strategy and insights to track is evaluating the performance of your competitors. By examining their content strategies, posting frequencies and engagement rate, you can gather valuable insights that can refine your own strategy. This doesn't mean copying what others are doing, but rather drawing inspiration from what works for them (and what doesn’t!) and identifying untapped opportunities in your own content.
Create a content calendar to stay on top of your game
Armed with your Instagram insights, the next step is to plan your content strategically. A well-planned out content calendar is essential for maintaining a consistent and engaging presence on the platform. Our 2024 content calendar shows you all the key dates, holidays and events coming up this year. By aligning your content with relevant themes, events and key dates, you can resonate with your audience and find new ways to boost engagement. And don't forget that you can manage, plan and schedule all your content in one place on rapidely: registration is free!
