Instagram statistics – KPIs & analysis tools

Online marketing and measuring success go hand in hand. If you want your marketing measures to be worthwhile and contribute to the company’s long term success in a sustainable manner, then you need to be able to identify exactly if and when a campaign is performing well. And if this is not the case, then you need to find out why and what needs to be optimised. Each marketing strategy requires a commitment of resources. It doesn’t matter whether these are of a financial or personnel kind, their use must prove to be worth their while, i.e. the return on investment (ROI) must be positive.

The approach to Instagram is in no way different. You might be familiar with sophisticated analysis functions from other social networks, and Instagram has also integrated its own analysis function. We'll show you what valuable information Instagram Insights can provide you and what other Instagram analysis tools you can use.

• Impressions: Instagram uses the term “impressions” to describe how often users have seen the post - regardless of whether they are followers or users who have reached the post in other ways. Even if users see the post several times, the system considers this as impressions.
• Reach: Multiple impressions by the same user are excluded from the range. This KPI therefore shows how many people you have actually reached with each post.
• Engagement: Post interactions are an important measure of success. If users leave likes and comments, this is a good sign that the strategy is working. An engagement rate is often calculated as well. This indicates how strongly your followers interact with a post. The rate is calculated by dividing the collected interactions by the number of followers.

• Impressions: How often was the story viewed? Repetitions by the same user are also included here. If a user has viewed a story several times, this indicates an interesting post.
• Reach: The reach of Instagram Stories also shows how many people or accounts you can reach with your posts. The ratio between the number of your followers and the range of your posts and stories is also interesting.
• Engagement: Likes do not play a role in Stories. Instead, you can see how often users skipped individual parts of the story or even skipped the whole sstory. If the number is particularly high, this isn’t a sign of good content. The opposite is true for tap backs, i.e. interactions in which users have looked at a part of the story again. Another way to analysze is to see how often the user swiped up. You can use these actions, for example, to present your website to users. However, it is also possible that users send you direct comments on the story.

• Channel growth: Regardless of the success of individual posts, it is interesting to observe the Instagram account’s growth. This way, you notice quite early when your follower numbers stop increasing or decreasing. Do strategies and campaigns need to be adapted?
• Hashtag usage: Similar to Twitter, Instagram’s reach is increased to a large extent through the correct use of hashtags. For this, it is important to track the use of these hashtags. If you create your own hashtag, you should also monitor how much it is used by others.

• Click-through rate: In paid ads, Instagram allows companies to place links on their website. The number of website clicks indicates how interesting the post was. How many users wanted to know more about the offer?
• Conversions: In the end, it’s often (but not always) the revenue you get from an ad that counts. Did the visitor make a purchase after visiting your website or did the user at least leave an e-mail address for further marketing measures?

If you change from a standard personal Instagram account to a business one, you will automatically have access to the integrated Instagram statistics function. With this, the social network is giving its users the opportunity to learn more about their followers, and also all users who react to their uploaded pictures and videos.

There is a lot of different data available. You can find out about users’ basic demographic information: Who are the followers? Is your audience made up of mostly men or women? What is the average age of the users who like your posts? What is their geographic location? Additionally, you can also get a better insight into how well individual posts have performed. Which posts achieved the most impressions, and which photos or videos generated the most interactions in the form of comments and likes?

It is also possible to view the statistics of an individual post. Underneath each picture and video in a business account, there is the option of clicking on ‘View Insights’. Here is where you will find information relating to impressions, reach, and number of interactions. If you have used the Instagram ad feature in order to push a post, you will be able to view the figures for the original photo/video, as well as those for the “artificially pushed” one. A help feature briefly explains what these numbers are about.

Thanks to the statistics functions, an analysis within the platform is possible, similar to Facebook. Instagram analysis is a handy feature that gives a comprehensive overview of the most important statistics and figures. But to gain an even more comprehensive and detailed analysis, many companies utilisze additional Instagram tools.

The ever-growing significance of Instagram in the online marketing sector has meant that there are now many special Instagram analysis tools available from a wide selection of providers. These third party providers offer convenient user interfaces, with which it is possible to analysze user data, as well as track entire campaigns and pick out the best hashtags. As a marketer, this allows you to discover how well or how badly Instagram marketing campaigns are doing – and how they can be improved.

New customers can register on the website and avail of a free 14-day trial. Once this is over, you have a choice of several different packages, ranging from Plus to Enterprise.

The most important features:

• Available as an app
• Competition monitoring
• Publishing function with advance planning
• Hashtag monitoring
• Tips on best time to post

The most important features:

• Content curation
• Filter use analysis
• Monthly Instagram analysis
• Tips on best time to post
• Copyright management

With Keyhole, you have the possibility to monitor both your Instagram account and hashtags. The service compiles clear graphs of posts and user engagement and shows the most successful self-created posts and hashtags used. Keyhole offers automatic reports, competition monitoring, finds influencers, and displays demographic Instagram follower statistics. Keyhole also suggests the best time to publish your posts. All statistics are delivered in real-time. The service comes in different price classes and provides users with a free trial period. In addition to Instagram, Keyhole also enables you to analyse your Twitter and Facebook accounts.

The most important features:

• Influencer marketing
• Tips on best time to post
• Competition monitoring
• Onboarding via telephone
• In addition to Instagram, Twitter & Facebooks are also supported

The most important features:

• Influencer marketing
• Influencer score
• Cross channel analysis
• ROI analysis
• Follower demographics

The most important features:

• Campaign analysis
• Cross channel
• Competition monitoring
• Market analysis

The most important features:

• Colour analysis
• Competition monitoring
• Planning & managing posts
• Instagram strategies
• Tips on best time to post

Some of these services have different content focuses and offer different features. You can find out which service is the right one for you thanks to our table.