Four Instagram Metrics You Should Track and Analyze to Boost Your Instagram Page
Having an Instagram presence is not enough. You should also track and understand the important metrics that are available on Instagram. We’re familiar with likes, comments, and the number of followers, but these are not the only useful metrics on this platform. Check out these four Instagram metrics, and start tracking them to boost the growth of your Instagram page.
Instagram metric: Engagement rate
Having a high number of followers doesn’t always mean your page is engaging. If you like to know how many of your followers are active and engaged, then you should measure your engagement rate.
Instagram doesn’t calculate engagement rate for every post, but here’s a simple formula:
For a more accurate outlook, you could swap the number of followers with reach number.
Engagement rate will help you know which of your content resonates with your followers. If your post last Sunday got a higher engagement rate than the one you created last week, then you must have done something right with that Sunday post. If your engagement rate continues to decline over time, then review what you’re posting or ask your followers what they want to see on your page.
Instagram metric: Average percentage watched
If you want to know if people are watching your IGTV videos from start to finish, then you need to analyze your Average Percentage Watched rate.
It’s basically a percentage of your videos that had been watched. This metric is calculated as:
Average Percentage Watched = (Number of watched videos/Average of Total Plays) x 100
People’s viewing behaviors can then be represented as graphs, and you’ll be able to see the sections where people were mostly engaged or where many people left.
Do not be disheartened if you see the number of viewers dropped at the video’s end; the graph typically declines from start to finish. There are many reasons why this happens:
- Viewers were not interested in your video’s topic, so they left.
- Time ran out, so people left.
- People already got the information they needed at the start of the video, so they left.
By analyzing your video metrics, you will discover what made people leave or stick longer. From there, you’ll know what you need to do to improve your Average Percentage Watched rate.
Instagram metric: Next story
Established Instagrammers do lots of Instagram Stories usually to show an intimate side of them and reach out to their followers on a more personal level. Among several that measure Stories, one that will help you a lot is the “Next story.”
To get this metric:
- Tap your profile photo, and go to one of your Stories.
- Swipe up to reveal Interactions and Discovery metrics.
- The section of Discovery is divided into Impressions and Navigation. You’ll find the “Next story” metric under Navigation.
The “Next story” metric counts the number of people who swiped past your Stories. It will tell you which of your Stories is interesting or not. If you have a high “Next story” value at the start or middle of your Stories, that means people weren’t engaged and chose to skip your post to view somebody else’s. Check the “Next story” data of your popular Stories, study why they’re popular, and apply the elements that made them popular to your future posts.
Instagram metric: From hashtag
If you’re implementing a hashtag strategy, one way to find out if it’s effective is to use the “From hashtag” metric. Pull this metric up with the following steps:
- Go to your page then tap one photo that you want to analyze.
- Tap the View Insights button below that photo.
- A small information bar will appear at the bottom. Swipe this up to pull out various Interactions and Discovery metrics.
- Under the section of Discovery, you’ll find Follows, Reach, and Impressions. There are four metrics under Impressions, and one of them is “From hashtag.”
If you got low “From hashtag” numbers, that means you need to improve your hashtag strategy. As you tinker with your hashtags, continue tracking your metrics. Once you’ve hit a good number, that’s a sign that you’ve used the right strategy to reach your target audience.
Image: @nordstorm hashtag strategy in marketing. Screenshot was taken in August 5, 2019
Note that hashtags don’t need to belong or flashy. Targeted, clear, and relevant hashtags are often enough to boost your brand and your page, just like what Nordstrom did here:
These four Instagram metrics—engagement rate, “From hashtag,” “Next story,” and average percentage watched—will help you find areas on your Instagram page that can be improved. Start tracking and analyzing these metrics to reach your target audience, increase your followers, enhance engagement, and boost your sales.
Date: August 24, 2019 / Categories: Follower Tactics, / Author: Disturbinsilence
