How To Measure Your Instagram Success
January 02, 2019 (0 comments)
While other social media platforms are decreasing in popularity, Instagram keeps on gaining traction. There are over 800 million users and counting. The platform is popular among different user demographics, especially with the younger user segment. About 59% of all Instagram users are between the ages of 18 and 29 years old.
Besides being a popular social media platform, Instagram is also very effective when it comes to organic engagement. In other words, it is easier to reach and engage more users organically on Instagram than any other platforms. These days, Facebook has become a “pay to play” type of platform, making it hard to gain reach without having a huge following.
By using the right hashtags and engagement strategies, you can grow your Instagram account steadily to promote your business online. Now the question is how can you measure the success of your Instagram efforts? How can you know if you are doing a good job in comparison to your competitors? Stay tuned to get all the details to maximize the marketing potential of the ‘Gram for your eCommerce site.
The Right Tools to Measure Instagram Analytics
Before delving into specific ways to measure Instagram success, let’s cover how to get this data using the help of different social media tools. Yes, you can get a lot of data with the built-in Instagram Insights tool, but it’s somewhat limited. For instance, it doesn’t allow data exporting, which would be useful to enter data into spreadsheets. Plus, it’s tough to get a big picture of the account’s performance. See some other Instagram Analytics tools below:
Keep in mind different variables that can affect your performance
There are two different types of data to consider when evaluating Instagram success: metrics related to individual posts and metrics related to the overall account. Individual post data includes engagement (likes and comments per post), reach, and impressions. Account related metrics include data such as follower growth and engagement per follower.
If you want to get a big picture of how your Instagram account is performing, it’s important to take into consideration the type of metric at hand (account vs post metrics) and other variables that may play a role in fluctuations in performance.
Some of the variables that can have an impact on individual post performance are post frequency and timing or post schedule. For instance, if multiple posts are scheduled on the same day, it will be more likely that a follower will see at least one of your posts. Therefore, it increases the chances of gaining a higher engagement per post. If you don’t take this variable into account, you may think that a specific post gained higher performance for other inaccurate reasons.
In that case, seeing a spike in post engagement wouldn’t necessarily mean that you are posting better content. It could indicate that your followers engage with certain posts because of when they are published..
Some of the variables that can impact account performance are outreach engagement, such as actively engaging with other accounts on Instagram and influencer collaborations or shoutouts.
How to Measure Instagram Performance
Follower Growth Rate
This metric measures the rate at which your Instagram account grows. It is calculated by dividing the amount of followers gained by the initial amount of followers, multiplied by one hundred.
For instance, let’s say you are trying to calculate your September follower growth rate performance. You started with 500 followers at the beginning of the month and ended up with 1000 followers at the end of the month. All you would have to do is calculate the amount of followers gained (1000-500= 500), divide that number by the initial amount of followers at the beginning of September (500), and multiply it by 100.
(1000-500)/500 * 100= 100%
Using this calculation, the follower growth rate for September would be 100%. That may not be likely in real life, but it’s just an example. Knowing the current rate of engagement will help you set achievable goals and allow you to plan your efforts accordingly. For example, if you’re trying to grow the account to 100,000 followers in a span of 6 months, you would know what the growth rate has to be month over month to achieve that goal.
Post and Account Engagement Rate
Engagement rate refers to the amount of interactions a post or account gets in the form of likes, comments, shares, and saves. It is calculated by dividing the amount of interactions by the total follower count, multiplied by one hundred.
If you want to calculation for a specific post, divide the amount of interaction by the number of followers. If you need to calculate the whole account’s engagement rate, take the entire engagement rate and divide it by the amount of followers.
For instance, let’s say that one of your posts has 30 interactions, and you have 1000 followers. Just divide 30 by 1000 and multiply it by 100, yielding 3%. That’s a good engagement rate. Keep in mind that the more followers you have, the more difficult it will be to maintain the same level of engagement.
Notice that this metric also deals with a percentage rate instead of just a number count. Like follower growth rate, engagement rate is key to determine account growth. It provides a better idea of the growth rate in a given time frame than a total number of followers.
Reach Percentage
This metric determines the amount of reach that a particular post accrued. If you post multiple times in a day or a specific peak times, your posts will be more likely to gain reach.
The key is to determine the right “formula” for your brand. There are best practices available, but only by testing and measuring can you determine what truly works for your Instagram account. According to Latergramme’s analysis, these are the best times to post on Instagram:
Monday at 7:00 p.m. and at 10:00 p.m.
Tuesday at 3:00 a.m.and 10:00 p.m.
Wednesday at 5:00 p.m.
Thursday at 7:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m.
Friday at 1:00 a.m. and at 8:00 p.m.
Saturday at 12:00 a.m. and at 2:00 a.m.
Sunday at 5:00 p.m.
Also, we recommend posting at least three times a day every day if possible. You can pick two of the times listed above and add another testing time to see how your post performs.
Another good idea is to check out your competitor’s schedule to gage the amount of engagement they are getting with their posting strategy and remain competitive. For instance, if they post 5 times a day, it may not be in your best interest to post one time a day since it will put you at a competitive disadvantage.
As Instagram continues to grow in popularity, it’s vital that eCommerce businesses leverage the power of their marketing teams to build a strong brand presence on this social media platform. With a little strategy, it can help brands shorten the path to purchase and conquer their competition online.
