Did you know?

• Instagram is the second most-downloaded free app in the Apple Store, coming in only behind YouTube.
• Instagram has more than a billion monthly active users around the world, 116 million, of whom, are in the United States.
• With 63 percent of users active daily, Instagram has the second-highest percentage of active daily users, coming in behind only Facebook.
• Instagram Stories have become an incredibly popular way to get the word out, with more than 500,000 people using Stories every single day.

As you can see, there are many reasons to start using Instagram for your brand. It’s a fast-growing platform that is only getting more popular, and it’s one of the best platforms for putting an actual face on your brand. Instagram is also a powerful tool for promoting new products and services, as well as boosting sales.

There’s no doubt about it, Instagram is something every business should be taking advantage of. But, what’s less clear is what you should be measuring on Instagram.

Measuring your success is a critical aspect of any social media marketing campaign because it reaffirms what you’re doing right and helps you figure out what you need to change up. And, today, I’m going to go over what to measure.

6 metrics you should be tracking on Instagram

#1. Follower growth rate

As I’ve said before in many other blogs, having a lot of followers is a good thing, but followers, alone, don’t tell you much. Instead of focusing on the number of followers you have, look at the way your follower count fluctuates. This is called follower growth rate.

Let’s say that you have 30,000 followers on Instagram, and this month, you gained 300 new followers. That’s a follower growth rate of only 1%. But, if you have 900 followers, gaining 300 more followers gives you a truly impressive growth rate of 33%.

#2. Reach

If you’re using Instagram to increase awareness of your brand, reach is absolutely something you’ll want to start tracking. Reach tells you how many unique accounts have seen each post, which helps you quantify how much awareness you’re generating on Instagram.

By looking at reach, you can get the information you need to make your posts go further. For instance, compare the reach of posts released at different times of the day. Do your posts generally have a higher reach in the morning, afternoon or evening?

Reach can also help you narrow down the best hashtags to utilize and tell you what type of content you should be building.

#3. Engagement rate

The more users who see your posts, the better. But, merely seeing your posts doesn’t mean they’re necessarily going to remember your brand.

However, if you can create content that compels them to act in some way, whether that’s commenting on the post, sharing the post, or liking the post, it’s more likely to stick with them. More engagement also helps to extend the reach of your posts.

Looking at the raw engagement rate is great, but it doesn’t really give you the full picture. When looking at your engagement rate, make sure to take into account the number of followers you have.

Just as gaining 300 followers is not that as big of a deal when you have 30,000 followers, 300 likes is not as big of a deal when you have 30,000 followers.

#4. Ad click-through rate

Unlike organic Instagram posts, paid Instagram ads make it possible for users to click through, sending them straight from Instagram to your website. The ad click-through rate is determined by the number of people who click through to a landing page on your Instagram ads.

It’s one thing to measure how many visitors to your website got there from Instagram, but it’s even more important to figure out exactly which ads are driving visitors to your website. This information tells you which ads to double down on and which ads to ditch.

#5. Sales

More and more social media platforms are offering businesses options to make direct sales, and Instagram is one of the best. Thanks to product stickers on Stories, shoppable posts and even shoppable AR filters, there are more ways than ever to make sales directly on Instagram. And, best of all, tracking your sales on Instagram is as easy as adding UTM parameters to the links you’re using.

The other major way you can use Instagram to drive sales is with the clickable link in your bio. This allows you to send users directly to a landing page on Instagram that’s designed for encouraging and tracking sales.

#6. Hashtag engagement

Learning how to be savvy with hashtags is one of the easiest ways to build momentum on Instagram. When you use relevant, frequently searched hashtags, you can gain a much bigger reach, which will also help you to drive more engagement.

But, in order to get the most out of using hashtags, you need to make sure that you choose the right ones. Instagram allows for up to 30 hashtags per post, but using too many can look somewhat spammy, and even if you do use the maximum number of hashtags, you’d be surprised at how quickly you can burn through them.

Choosing the right hashtags is critical to your hashtag strategy, and in order to do that, you need to track their success. Luckily, there are a ton of free tools out there that can help you keep track of how each hashtag is performing.

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Instagram is something every business should be taking advantage of, but in an all-visual platform, like Instagram, many businesses struggle with what to post and how to reach new followers.

Whether you’re looking for a little guidance on how to get it right on Instagram, or a team of professional Social Media Managers who have the skill, experience, and creativity to do it for you, Marketing 360® has a solution for you. Learn more and see our plans and pricing. 

Originally published on 6/3/20