The tale of modern times cannot be completed without the mention of Instagram, the social media/image sharing platform that is rapidly becoming one of the largest social influence/social presence stages as well.
And this meteoric rise has not gone without notice; many brands and celebrities have already capitalized on it and have made it an important marketing tool. Following suit, aspiring brands and ambitious individuals have also started using the platform as a medium to promote their art and craft.
One of the best things about Instagram is that it does not charge you anything to switch over to a business account. You can make your profile a business centric account by simply opting for it from the options.
The difference is imminent, you get a flood of tools at your disposal to monitor and grow your account. These are tools that are not available to personal profiles.
Monitoring follower interaction and follower engagement are not the only ways to know the success of your account. There are other metrics too, that show how well your account is being received and how fast is it growing.
In this article, we will be talking about such metrics that you must keep track of.
Engagement per follower
Don’t start to compare your business account with that of Nike and Coca Cola; they are industry giants who have millions of followers; which further reflects into having hundreds of thousands of comments and likes on their posts.
On the other hand, you have a substantially smaller account and thus will not be able to reach the numbers that are boasted of by these companies. But, this in no way means that you are not performing just as well as these companies.
Following your engagement per follower metric is a simple mathematical formula, one that you can use at any time to find out where you stand.
It goes like this:
Total engagement/Follower count x100
Although, the data derived from this metric will give you a small sense of engagement per follower that you are generating. The formula can be used for a single post, a certain period of engagement or your overall performance as well.
However, there are certain particulars of the data required for this metric that you can only track from the Instagram tools made available to you on your account. Total engagement is made available in your analytics section and can be derived from there.
Follower growth rate
This is probably one of the most important metrics of all. Why, you ask? Well, because this is the one metric that tells you whether or not you are doing something right in your account and operations. If your follower count continues to grow at a steady rate, you know you have got it right.
However, like the one above this, the follower growth rate too has got a certain amount of confusion surrounding it. When your account is still in the initial phase, the percentage growth recorded will be much higher than in comparison to some well established accounts.
You must understand that someone who is at level 50 will not improve at the same rate as someone who is at level 5. The lower ranking one will definitely be able to establish a higher growth rate but that does not mean anything.
Make sure that you keep a tab on the number of followers that you have to know what it is that has contributed to the growth. Once you have your finger on the pulse, just continue to repeat. A sustained growth rate over a long period of time will mean that people like what they see on your account.
You do not have to sweat much in order to get this data, it is a simple difference in the number of followers you have had over two time periods and the percentage increase in it.
Follower growth metric is important for your Instagram marketing strategy and KPIs. Because you will know the kind of material that your followers like to see on your page.
Comments received per post
This metric might seem like a repetition of the one above, the user engagement metric but in reality, this is much more important. When we talk about likes, in the back of our minds we know that they are fairly easy to dish out and you do not actually take that much time on a liked post.
Whereas when we talk about a post that we, or anyone, has actually commented upon, we know that the interaction is much more personal and has got more to do with the views of the followers.
These are the followers that actually make more difference to your page than the number of followers gained. The same holds true for any brand page too, comments received particular attention as opposed to mere likes.
Commenting on your post is the best way to show that the follower cares for and is genuinely interested in your post. These are the followers that you should keep an eye on. Why, you ask?
Because when it comes to community building, you cannot rely on someone who just double tapped on your post and moved on. No, it is the people who stopped and cared enough to go ahead and comment, and mention their views that come in handy.
Depending on the number of followers that you have, it might be possible to reply to each one, or major part, individually. However, replying aside, you can easily gauge an increase in response in your Instagram tools.
The quantum of reach generated
Well, before we begin to elaborate on this one, there is something that you should get clear first, reach is not the same as impressions. They are two different concepts that mean two entirely different types of response.
On one hand, impression means that your concept was displayed but it did not produce any kind of response, people did not click on it or they did not take any interest in it.
While, reach means that the content displayed actually generated some form of response from those viewing it. People stopped to look at it and clicked on it to follow it to the page. Increase in followers and/or increase in user engagement is a direct result of your reach.
By this, it should be fairly clear as to what you need to focus on. Getting an increase in the reach of your content means that the content that you are putting up is able to generate or, evoke interest in people and they want to see more of the same.
In other words, congratulations! You are doing things right. You should follow down the path that you are presently on.
You can use Instagram impressions for this. The metric gives you a weekly report of the change (positive or negative) generated via your recent content. When you are looking forward to build a market, this becomes important; you need to play to the demand of the audience.
Outbound hashtag performance
Instagram might actually surprise you when it comes to the use of hashtags on your post. You will be surprised to know how many times an online campaign has taken off just because of an aptly used hashtag.
All major companies have their own signature campaigns, Red Bull #givesyouwings is one of the most popular.
Some companies have made use of hashtags to viral the name of their company (which is synonymous with their product)
However, this in no way means that you go berserk with the use of hashtags, sometimes less is more. Showcase your productivity, your creativity and your ingenuity. In your metrics, see how well they travelled, how far did they go and how many times were they used outside your own page.
If you see the number rising, you will know that it is catching on and your page is gaining popularity.
The way to study your hashtags is to categorize them over a period of time and then look at the lifetime engagement that it had.
There is a reason why Instagram has allowed the use of thirty hashtags on a regular post. One of the biggest benefits of using them is that your content becomes synonymous with the kind of art or lifestyle or product that it pertains to.
In other words, it becomes easier to discover or find. When looking for a particular genre on a platform as varied as Instagram, no one has the time to sit and filter through a hoard of unrelated posts.
CTR
CTR or Click Through Rate is essential. For those of you who are not familiar with it, read on.
You must be aware that there is a URL link that you can mention in your bio. You have to monitor the number of follow through you are getting through the medium of Instagram interactions. It is on the basis of the action that your followers take on seeing your post that you can determine the success and popularity of your content.
Under normal circumstances, Google Analytics would have done the job but here, on Instagram you need something better and hence Instagram Metrics.
An interactive CTR is good for business, because the more the number of people who go to your website, the more the number of potential (or probable) customers that you have.
And yes, we know, having a good CTR on your Instagram can be a bit challenging as the only place you are allowed to place a URL is in your bio. So, yeah, we come back to the quality of interaction on your content.
The only thing that you have to focus on is to increase the intrigue of your posts, so much so that the customer cannot help but be attracted towards seeing and surfing through your content. Build up the hype and you will see a better conversion rate too.
Now remains just one more metric to add to your arsenal, but before moving on to the last one, make sure that you have got all the others figured out.
Instagram Story Performance
Just because we are mentioning it in the last does not mean that it is the most forsaken one.Infact, it is the best way to imbibe some personal touch to your account.
Along with your posts and content, your stories too, get promoted by Instagram. The tools available for an Instagram story are completely different from those that are made available for posts.
As these stories are available for only 24 hours, they give you a certain amount of independence into what you can do with your content and creativity.
Indulge in a bit of behind the scenes actions and add a bit of allure to your page, people should want to see your content.
Now when it comes to tracking a story, there might not be a more sophisticated tool than following the number of views over a time period but you can also gauge the presence and reach of your content via your story replies and comments.
Some of the more popular pages have got replies and reactions that number into thousands. The number only continues to go up as you increase in followers and popularity.
You can also add multiple stories at a time to build up the hype. The more you interact, the better it is for your page. Adding stories is also an excellent way to fill up the gap or void between two posts (for all good things take time!).
That’s all folks!
If you continue to work your way around with these 7 mentioned metrics, it can be a guarantee that you go on to build a better page for your business. It doesn’t matter if you are only starting out; at least you have got the basics right now!
As of right now, there is lots of work needed on your page to get it in the same league as that of some major players. And let us be the first ones to say this, these metrics are not a magic key to success but they definitely are a ladder.
Getting anything right involves having knowledge of how the platform works. Making use of Instagram metrics, you are allowing yourself to have a better look at the performance of your page and the areas that need to get worked upon.
As the old adage goes, slow and steady wins the race. Small steps will lead you to your ultimate goal. When we talk about the challenges arising in competitive market, it is not as if there are a million new scenarios arising.
Not every day is different, what you need is a good strategy to get to the top. If you are betting everything that you have on your page then it would be better if you decide to include some paid promotion too into it.
So there you go! With all these metrics covered, you are ready to jump back into the huddle and score one over the bar.
Dariya
Thank you for this post. Its very inspiring.