5 Instagram Metrics You Should Be Tracking
When building your following or partnering with Influencers, the key to success is monitoring your metrics. Instagram is constantly evolving their features though, so you really have to stay on top of it.
Don't worry, we are here to help! These are the five new Instagram metrics you should be tracking, especially if you’re using Instagram Stories!
1. Instagram Saves
A user’s Saves are private—only he or she can view these pieces of content, but what he or she is saying is... “I care about this. I don’t want to lose this content/information, and I want to return to it later.”
Knowing which brand content gets saved most gives you an additional layer of social performance data.
- Saves are a high indicator of intent to buy.
- Saves are a high indicator of quality content. High engagement as a general metric indicates that your post was effective enough to make followers pause in their feeds and pay attention. But Save data takes this journey one step further... Your audience didn’t just tap the Like icon or tag a friend; they chose to save the content to revisit later!
- Saves are a high indicator of “heart-hitting” content. Instagram users save posts that are meaningful to them, like places they want to visit, places they’ve been and loved, inspirational quotes, or people they admire.
Experiment with creating different types of content and see if/how your Instagram Save data changes. Over time, viewing this data can give you some very clear guidance on which Instagram content resonates (and converts) with your audience. Look for the patterns and trends!
2. Instagram Stories Views
Stories are a great way to introduce flexibility, spread awareness about events and product launches, encourage audience interactivity, keep your brand top-of-mind (and top-of-feed), and even drive conversions to your site!
Build a strategy around Instagram Stories, and include your Instagram Stories view data in your total engagement numbers when you’re running analysis and reporting up.
3. Instagram Engagement Rate
The best way to calculate Instagram engagement rate is total engagement (views and post engagement) divided by total impressions (number of times posts were seen). This will give you an accurate depiction of how many times per view you received interactions on your content.
By tracking this rate over time, you’ll be able to make engagement-driving improvements to your content, using this number as a baseline.
4. Instagram Stories Exits
So you’re investing in Instagram Stories, and you know your Stories are being watched—but do you know how frequently they’re being exited? What does that ratio (views to exits) look like for your brand? How can you improve the ratio? A high number of exits means:
- Your Instagram Stories are boring
- Your Instagram Stories promise something they don’t deliver
- Your Instagram Stories don’t align well with your brand
- You’ve chosen the wrong influencer(s) or brand(s) to partner with
- You haven’t dialed in your visuals yet
- You haven’t found a way to frame your product in a way that resonates for Instagram Stories
A high number of exits might also mean that you don’t have a strong enough understanding of what your target audience wants to see on Instagram. Listening can help with that.
You can add polls to your story and ask your audience what they want to see. People love to give their opinions! You can also have a competition to get audience generated content. This will also give you a good idea about what your audience is looking for.
5. Instagram Stories Tap-Backs + Tap-Forwards
Maybe exits aren’t your problem. Maybe your followers are interested in some Instagram Stories you put up, but bored by other Instagram Stories you put up.
Don’t you want to know which content your followers love so much they want to watch it again (Tap-Back), and which content makes followers roll their eyes, ready to move on to the next thing (Tap-Forward)?
This information will help you create more effective content in the future, and, especially in your longer Stories, hone in on exactly what is driving rewatches and exactly what is causing fast-forwards.
If you're working with influencers, don't forget to check their audience demographics, average engagement/reach, and growth rates. You can find growth rates on sites like SocialBlade etc. to see what the trends of the Influencer's account are. Never be afraid to ask for an influencer packet, press kit, or influencer summary to justify their prices. Influencers should be willing to share their numbers and past results if they expect to be paid.