10 Essential Instagram Metrics to Track in 2022

With approximately 1 billion monthly users, Instagram is a powerful platform for marketers across the world. It presents endless opportunities for brands to reach huge audiences and potential customers if leveraged correctly with a successful Instagram marketing strategy. 

So, how do you know if your Instagram marketing strategy is effective? 

Instagram insights are tools that allow creators to analyze the performance of their marketing efforts and gain a better understanding of their audience.

Measuring your results is the key to successfully growing your Instagram page. Track these 10 important metrics to maximize the performance of your Instagram marketing strategy. 

1. Follower Growth

This one may seem obvious, but it’s important to track the ‘New Followers’ metric in order to optimize your content. Instagram lets you see both how many new followers your account received as well as unfollows on a daily basis. It’s important to note which content resulted in an influx of follower growth. On the other hand, it is also important to note which content caused people to unfollow your account. As you begin to monitor this, you can optimize your content based on what seems to be performing best and bringing your page the most growth. 

2. Reach

To begin, it is important to understand the difference between ‘Reach’ and ‘Impressions’. Reach measures how many different users have seen your content. In short, it can be described as how many unique views your content has. On the other hand, impressions measure how many total views your content has and also counts the repeated views of a single user. Therefore, reach is a better choice in helping you determine brand awareness. 

3. Content Interactions by Post Format

‘Content Interactions’ include actions taken on your post such as likes, comments, saves, and shares. While looking at the amount of interactions your content has received, it is important to note the post format that is receiving the most interactions. Thankfully, Instagram insights actually break this down for you and provide the amount of specific content interactions per post format including regular posts, video posts, reels, IGTV videos, and even stories. Determining which post formats are generating the most interactions will help you improve your marketing strategy by helping you choose post formats that provide the most engagement for your brand.

4. Post Saves

The ‘Post Saves’ metric refers to how many people “saved” your post by clicking the bookmark icon. This metric is important because it helps you determine which posts users find most valuable. In fact, many digital marketers today actually refer to this metric as the “new like” in terms of metrics. Track the types of posts that prompt the most post saves and use this information to direct your future content planning strategy. 

5. Post Shares

A great way to get more people to view your content is through people sharing your posts. More eyes on your content means more potential customers! Therefore, keeping track of the ‘Post Shares’ metric is a great way to see which content is resonating with your customers the most since they found it interesting enough to share with other users.

6. Engagement Rate by Reach

Engagement Rate is an important indicator for how well your audience is responding to the content you are posting and is a key factor in your account’s long-term success. There are many different ways to calculate engagement rate, but two of the most useful ways include measuring your engagement rate by followers as well as reach. The metric ‘Engagement Rate by Reach’ will show you the percentage of users engaging with your account out of all users who are exposed to your content (not just your followers). This is important because in order to grow your account you need to reach people who aren’t following you, and with this metric you can determine how well your content relates to everyone who sees it. You can use this metric to help you grow your account by formulating content that appeals to users who are not following you with the goal of turning these users into followers and acquiring a larger following. 

Here’s how you can calculate Engagement Rate by Reach:

7. Engagement Rate by Followers

Unlike Engagement Rate by Reach, the ‘Engagement Rate by Followers’ metric only shows you the percentage of your followers that are engaging with your account rather than everyone who comes across it. This more specified metric is useful by showing you how well your current followers are relating to the content you are sharing. You want to make sure you are providing your followers with valuable content that appeals to them in order to keep them interested and prevent them from unfollowing your account. Therefore, this metric will help set your account up for success by allowing you to determine if your content strategy is working. A high engagement rate indicates that your followers are interested in the content you are sharing and interacting with it, which shows that you have a strong content strategy. On the other hand, a low engagement rate indicates that your content is not appealing enough to your followers and you should probably make adjustments to your future content strategy. 

Here’s how to calculate Engagement Rate by Followers:

8. Best Time to Post

Another useful insight that Instagram provides is information on when the majority of your followers are active on the Instagram app. This metric is extremely helpful in helping you develop an Instagram posting schedule for your account. You can use this information to determine which days of the week and times of the day you should be posting in order to reach the maximum number of users. 

9. Website Traffic

In many cases, business accounts want to direct users to their website in order for them to become potential converting customers. Customers can visit your website throughout many different points of the buying process whether it’s to learn more about your business, place an order, or contact you. Instagram insights allows you to measure exactly how many users clicked on the website link in your bio with the ‘Website Taps’ metric. Therefore, you can keep track of what type of content is resonating with your audience the most to the point where they want to learn more or take action on your website and modify your content to appeal to more potential customers. 

10. Profile Visits
Each user who visits your profile provides the opportunity to gain a new follower or even better – a potential converting customer. Users who are not following you can be exposed to your content via the explore page, hashtag pages, location tag pages, your engagement on other accounts (such as comments), and your collaboration with other accounts who may reshare your content or tag you in a post or story. As a result, tracking the ‘Profile Visits’ metric is a great way to gauge the effectiveness of your hashtags, location tags, outbound engagement, and more. Keeping track of this metric is also useful in seeing the outcome of collaborating with other accounts and will help you see which account collaborations are most beneficial. If you want to increase the amount of users visiting your profile try making edits to your hashtags and location tags, increase outbound engagement (liking and commenting on other accounts’ posts), and reaching out to other accounts to collaborate with.