Instagram Insights Explained
Despite boasting over 2 billion monthly active users, with countries such as the United States projected to have more than 120 million MAU in 2023, many Instagram users are still not fully aware of what the Instagram Insights feature entails! This feature is very instrumental in helping you check whether your friends liked what you talked about in a particular post. Instagram Insights informs you what works best when it comes to your audience. Then, you can use this information to create good content in the future.
These results are critical for knowing how to guide campaigns. Suppose you work with influencer marketing as an advertiser or a company. In that case, you already know that measuring the results of your actions is critical to determining whether you’re target market resonate with your offer. So, whether you’re an influencer, an advertiser, or simply curious about the impact of your Instagram posts, keep reading to learn more about Instagram insights.
What is Instagram Insights, and how do I activate it?
This is a native analytics tool that provides information on follower demographics, actions, and content. Only the Instagram mobile app has access to Insights and it is only available to business profiles or accounts with high engagement. Instagram Insights is an excellent tool for viewing basic analytics about your account, posts, and followers. Instagram stats can help you figure out who is interacting with your business and in what way. Statistics of your audience’s interaction with your IGTV posts, stories, and videos are also available. In addition, you also get access to paid activities.
Instagram Insights can also show you different types of data, such as how many users visited your profile in the last week and the times when your followers are usually online. Thankfully, creating a business profile on Instagram is a pretty simple process. The main disadvantage of this native analytics tool is its limited date ranges. Most metrics only show you how your performance has changed in the last week compared to the previous week.
How to view Insights on Instagram
Accessing your account Insights is simple if you already have a business profile. It’s worth noting that Insights aren’t currently available for desktop users—you’ll be required to have installed the Instagram app on a smartphone or other mobile device to see them.
After you’ve launched the app, simply follow these steps:
- Navigate to your profile by tapping the profile picture in the bottom-right corner.
- In the upper-right corner, tap the menu icon.
- Select Insights from the menu at the top, to the right of the graph icon.
- Insights and analytics about your Instagram account are now available. By tapping on the three tabs (Activity, Content, and Audience), you can switch between them.
What Type of Analytics Can You See in Instagram Insights?
Instagram Insights has three main tabs: Activity, Content, and Audience.
1) Activity is the number of people that have interacted with your content, and it also measures how many accounts your posts have recently reached out to. This tab is divided into Interactions and Discovery.
Interactions include the number of people who have visited your profile, clicked on the link you have provided in your bio, and asked for directions to your business if you have provided an address.
Discovery displays your content’s total reach and impressions over the last week.
2) Content is all about your individual posts and stories’ performance. It is divided into three sections: Feed posts, Stories, and Promotions.
Feed posts tell you how your regular posts have been performing. You get the chance to filter your posts using different metrics like reach, comments, follows, etc. You can also adjust the time frame of these metrics (e.g., the past 7 to 30 days, 3 to 6 months, 1 to 2 years) as well as filter your posts by format (photo, video, etc.).
Stories inform you how your Instagram Stories have been performing in different metrics. However, you can only see these stats for the previous 24 hours, 7 days, or 14 days.
Promotions allow you to see the performance data about your promoted Instagram posts.
Audience refers to demographics and audience behavior. You can read the demographic data of your followers (place of origin, gender, and age), the followers gained and lost, and the times when your audience was most active. This section is an important tool for determining your buyer persona and correctly targeting your branded content. You can make your publishing hours during the busiest times of the day. It also displays your follower count and how it has changed over the last week.
- Under Top locations, you can view the top five cities and countries where your
followers live. - In the age range, you can see the age distribution of your followers. In addition, you also get to see how the age distribution varies between men and women.
- In the Gender, you can see the gender balance of your followers.
- Under Followers, you get to see the hours and days of the week when most of your followers are online. This information helps you settle on the best time to post on Instagram.
Some of the Metrics You Can Read from Instagram Insights
Saved: This relates to how many times a user has saved a post in the saved area. This metric is critical since saved material can be seen again after the original article has been published, effectively extending the life of your postings.
The number of unique persons who have seen your post is referred to as “reach.” It counts as one if the same person sees the post twice.
Impressions: The amount of times that the post has been seen.
Final Take Away
Today, Instagram exceeds 1 billion users! With the stiff competition, analyzing your content well and knowing what works best will be crucial in helping you to discover what your audience likes the most. This is where Instagram Insights comes into play. It is very instrumental in helping you understand Instagram metrics and your followers’ needs. Use it to create great content in the future!
