Are you up-to-date on your Instagram analytics?
Because the network is regularly releasing updates to help you own your data.
And crunching those numbers should be a top priority for brands and marketers alike.
In fact, a staggering 60% of marketers are increasing their investment in Instagram in 2022.
sales. customer service. community hall. The list goes on when it comes to activities and opportunities to engage customers.
But with so many tasks related to Instagram for Business, there are countless metrics to track.
Overwhelmed by your data? Don’t know how to get started with performance tracking? This deep dive into Instagram analytics will teach you everything you need to know.
- Why Instagram Analytics is Important
- how to access instagram analytics
- Instagram Insights You Should Track
- How to View Instagram Analytics Using Sprout
- Instagram Analytics Tools to Use
Why Instagram Analytics is Important
Hey, fair question.
The idea of being “data-driven” is all the rage in marketing right now, isn’t it?
Here’s the catch, though: Marketers must make decisions based on Real Numbers versus anecdotes alone.
This explains the importance of narrowing down your IG analytics. This is because ownership of your data empowers you to:
- what . Recreate top performing content based on Yours the viewer wants. Consider the challenges of increasing competition and the sometimes fickle Instagram algorithm. Understanding what really resonates with your audience begins with your analysis.
- Spot growth trend (or bearish). This applies to your content strategy, engagement and reach. For example, are reels outperforming your posts? Is the growth of your followers steady? What about your publication frequency? Your numbers can tell you how to access your account.
- Tell teammates, managers and stakeholders about your account growth and performance, Like it or not, marketers today are expected to justify their decisions with hard numbers. thank you instagram
How to access your Instagram Analytics
Now on to the good stuff.
Let’s say you’re new to tracking your metrics. Below is a snapshot of how to check Instagram Analytics (aka “Account Insights”) for the first time:
- Make sure you set up a business profile (or creator account) if you haven’t already.
- From your profile, tap I in the upper right corner.
- Then, tap Selectget infoTap through and confirm.
And boom!
Have you gone through this process before? just tap”Insights“From your profile if you have already set up Instagram Analytics. From here, you can access your audience overview, content summary, and top performing posts. 
It provides a bigger picture understanding of your IG presence and growth. That said, it’s only a taste of what you can get out of your numbers.
Your Instagram Audience Insights is a wealth of data that helps you increase your engagement and grow your account. Well you know what to look for.
Instagram Insights You Should Track
Dozens of dashboards in front of you may seem a little intimidating.
Don’t panic though! Now that you know how to access your metrics, let’s find out what they mean.
From big-picture breakdowns to grainy post performance, here’s a summary of what you can see via the insights.
Audience Insights and Analytics
Again, Instagram’s core analytics are surprisingly powerful when it comes to audience insights. The network highlights valuable customer data including:
- Audience Demographics (Age, Gender, Location)
- follower growth over time
- Audience engagement and interaction over time
- % of engagement from followers vs. non-followers
These data points shed light on whether you are getting in front of your target audience through Instagram.
Think of your Insights overview as a pulse check for your Instagram performance. Here you can see whether your account’s reach is growing and which posts are contributing to that reach. You can also see your top performing post formats based on visibility.
Post insights and analysis
“What’s working and what’s not when it comes to our Instagram content?”
To answer this question you need to dig into your content interactions and personal post data. Thankfully, Instagram makes it a cinch to do both.
With specific post performance data, you can see the big picture trends for your account. It also includes:
- Top performing content formats
- Best time to post on Instagram (Based on actual audience behavior)
- Top performing posts for a specific time period
- Individual post impressions, engagement and reach
And as an added bonus, Instagram allows you to filter your search results by metric.
Maybe you are purely concerned with accessibility. Comments and conversations may be your priority for community-building. Either way, you can track these metrics and then some.
One of the major benefits of understanding Instagram analytics is data-driven decision making. For example, there is a lot of anecdotal data about whether reels and carousels outperform each other. That said, your results may vary depending on your industry, audience, and content strategy.
takeaway? You’ll have to experiment and see for yourself. With better control over your analytics, you can run those experiments with a sense of confidence.
Stories Insight and Analysis
While the reels dominate at the moment, Stories are one of the main features of Instagram.
And while the stories themselves Doing disappear, there is no data attached to them.
Optimizing your Stories strategy may require some trial-and-error. However, your analysis can be a great help. For example, your Stories Insights can give you information about:
- How many stories to publish per week
- Does timing affect impressions and engagement?
- Which content formats perform best (think: reel vs. UGC vs. slideshow)
Reel Insights and Analysis
let’s say 20% of all Instagram activity As happens on the reels, marketers can’t ignore their video performance data. The insights offered by Instagram Analytics here are par for the course.
What is most notable here is the application of the analysis of “followers and non-followers” on the reels. This highlights whether your videos are using algorithms or are being rendered through the Explore page.
IG Live Insights and Analysis
Given the legwork required to pursue a successful Instagram Live, it is essential to assess performance after the fact.
In addition to the metrics you’d expect for video content, the network shares:
- peak concurrent views
- # Live interaction (comments and shares)
- # Accounts reached during broadcast
IG Ads Analysis
The stakes are high for performance data related to your Instagram advertising campaigns.
The platform offers several ways to test Instagram ad analytics, including Ads Manager. From the “Breakdown” menu in Ads Manager, you can see:
- Your campaign performance overview
- Ad Audience Demographics
- delivery data
- Campaign Amount Spent
- cost per result
Of course, there are ways to look beyond Instagram to your ad analytics. Here’s a glimpse of what paid performance in Sprout Social might look like:
How to View Instagram Analytics in Sprout Social
Nothing beats the basic analytics features of Instagram.
As proven by the breakdown above, the network’s data is surprisingly grainy. It is also easy to access.
That said, the network doesn’t hold much of a hand in terms of what what to do with your data. Similarly there are some missing features and functions vs platforms like Sprout Social.
Sprout empowers brands to measure their overall social presence as well as their Instagram analytics. This includes networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Tiktok. Ability to monitor data And Manage assets in one place for all these platforms is a huge plus.
Not only does doing this save serious time, but it also highlights which posts and networks are performing best. Consolidated analytics and cross-posting can be a game-changer for engaged brands. This is because you don’t have to bounce between platforms.
In addition, Sprout encourages brands to take action based on its analytics.
Take a look at our platform’s competitor’s report below. This report highlights the part of your voice along with hashtag performance. These insights provide specific, actionable ways to fine-tune your content strategy and position.
Instagram Analytics Tools to Use
There is no shortage of Instagram analytics tools out there.
and until we Doing Support for IG’s core features, we clearly can’t recommend Sprout enough.
For good reason, though! The fact that Sprout gives you a holistic view of your social media data and marketing presence is a major bonus. Not to mention the ability to publish and cross-post content and messages either.
Sprout’s comprehensive suite of Instagram listening features exceeds that provided by Instagram’s native tools. Our platform lets brands actively track competitors, key terms, sentiments and more.
The dashboards in Sprout are also intuitive and easy to navigate. You can answer your peers’ most important questions at a glance. It also includes:
- Which positions have the most business impact?
- What is part of our voice (and which Instagram hashtags dominate us)?
- Which content formats are driving the most audience engagement?
Is it time to rise above native Instagram analytics?
If you want to grow your presence fast, it’s time to kneel into your Instagram data.
While you can learn a ton from native analytics, a tool like Sprout can uncover more insights that you can translate into action. Our platform provides a collaborative, all-in-one solution to grow your social media presence.
Want to see how the platform can fuel your brand’s Instagram efforts? We invite you to take the Sprout Social Test-Drive today to see for yourself!
The post Instagram Analytics: How to Analyze and Use Your Data first appeared on Sprout Social.
