Instagram was once a photo-sharing app. Now, the platform has grown into an ideal channel for marketing. They came with a handy feature, especially for influencers and marketers: Instagram Insights.
Instagram Insights help you understand who your followers are, what content they engage with the most, and when your audience is most active on Instagram. It’s basically a goldmine for marketing data. This information can be extremely valuable when tailoring content to your audience. That way, you can create more effective marketing campaigns that resonate with your target audience.
Of course, just taking a look at those charts won’t cut it. You need to actually know how to interpret the data in order to make marketing decisions.
Below are the best practices for reading Instagram Insights and turning what you find there into decisions about what to post, when to post it, and where to put your budget.
Key Takeaways
✅ Insights only exists on business and creator accounts, so switching your profile type is step one before any of this data is available to you.
✅ The Insights Overview tab tells you who your followers are and when they are online. Content You Shared tells you which posts they actually responded to.
✅ Posting time is the fastest fix available. Match your publishing schedule to the hours your own followers are active rather than to a benchmark pulled from someone else’s audience.
✅ Pick one goal per campaign and track the two or three metrics tied to it. Chasing awareness, traffic, and conversions at once leaves you unable to say what worked.
✅ Insights is a rear-view mirror. Pair it with hashtag, format, and creative testing, because the data tells you what already happened, not what to try next.
What Exactly is Instagram Insights?
“Wait, what’s Instagram Insights we’re talking about here?” you might ask.
When you go to your business profile on the Instagram mobile app, you should see a tab called “Insights.” If you don’t have a business profile, now would be a good time to switch over.
The Insights feature is only available to business (or creator) accounts. When you switch to a business account, you’ll lose the ability to share personal stories. However, you’ll gain access to powerful marketing tools, like the ability to run ads and track your performance with Insights.
If you’re running a personal account to sell your products or services, it’s definitely worth switching to a business account. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get back to Insights.
When you click on the “Insights” tab, you’ll be taken to a page with all sorts of charts and data. At first glance, it might seem overwhelming. However, Insights is actually pretty straightforward once you know what you’re looking at.
Note that the examples of Instagram Insights in this post come from Neal Schaffer’s Instagram account, which is a creator (not a business) account.
What Does Instagram Insights Bring to the Table?
Now you understand how you can find the Insights feature. But, what does it show you? When you’re looking at your Insights, you’ll see these main sections: (note that the user interface changes frequently, but these are the sections at the time of writing this post:
- Insights Overview, which contains demographic data on accounts reached, accounts engaged, and total followers
- Content You Shared, which provide you performance data on a post-by-post analysis. This area also includes details for Stories, Reels, Videos, Livestreams, and Promotions (Ads).
In the “Insights Overview” area, you can see information about when your followers are online and how often they’re visiting your profile. This data can help you to schedule your posts at the best times when more people are likely to see them.
There is also information here about who your followers are in terms of gender and where they’re from. This can be handy for determining your target market and tailoring content to specific demographics.
The “Content You Shared” section is where you can track how well your posts are performing. It shows you information on the engagement of your posts, such as the number of likes, comments, and shares for each post. This data can be helpful in understanding which types of content perform well and resonate with your audience.
How to Use Instagram Insights? 10 Handy Ways
With all that data represented to you, it can be tricky to figure out what to do with it all.
Those charts and numbers might seem overwhelming at first glance. Here are some tips on how to use Instagram Insights and take full advantage of them to sharpen the Instagram marketing strategy you are already running:
#1. Identify When Your Followers Are Most Active
If you click on the “Total followers” section on your Insights Overview and then scroll to the bottom of the page, you’ll see a chart like the one pictured above that shows you when your followers are online. Look for patterns and posts during those times.
This is important because you want to make sure you’re posting when your followers are most likely to see it. No matter how brilliant the content you create, if they’re not active on Instagram when you’re posting it, then they’re less likely to see it.
For example, if you notice that most of your followers are online in the evening, then you should try to post during that time. Remember that a different business has a different target audience with different behavior and schedule, so don’t assume that what works for other businesses will work for you. Published benchmarks for the best time to post on Instagram are a reasonable starting hypothesis, but your own followers chart overrules them every time. Once you know your windows, schedule your Instagram posts into those slots so that hitting the right hour doesn’t depend on you being free at 7pm.
#2. Understand What Content Your Audience Loves the Most
In marketing in general, you create content for your audiences. They are the ones who consume them, interact with them, and (hopefully) take action from them. So, it’s crucial to craft content that they really love and find valuable.
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Instagram Insights provides you with engagement reports for each post. If you notice that certain types of posts are getting more likes, comments, and shares, then you should try to create more content like that. That’s the content that your audiences enjoy– which means that they’re most likely to expect more of it from you, whether it’s an Instagram Story or animated commercial video.
By the same token, if you see that certain types of posts are getting less engagement, then you might want to reconsider posting content like that in the future. It’s not necessarily a bad thing if some of your content doesn’t perform well. But, if most of your content isn’t doing well, then it might be time to make a tweak to upgrade the quality and add more value.
#3. Understand Who Exactly Your Audiences Are
If you try to appeal to everyone, then you appeal to no one. Identifying your target audience is essential in any marketing strategy, and it is what turns a follower count into an actual audience. It allows you to create more meaningful interactions and be more personal with your content. When an audience feels that they’re being catered to, they’re more likely to stick around. Reading your own follower demographics against the broader Instagram statistics for the platform is worth doing here too, because the gap between your audience and the platform average is usually where your opportunity sits.
The “Followers” tab on your Insights, which can be accessed by clicking “Total followers,” helps you understand who your target market is. Once you know who they are, then you can start creating content that’s more tailored to them. You can highlight their pain points and offer targeted and highly-relevant solutions.
For example, if you notice that most of your followers are younger generations (Millennials and GenZ) and most of them are female, too, then you can start creating content that’s more relevant to them. This could include topics like beauty, fashion, and lifestyle.
Keep in mind that your target audience can change over time depending on your business. So, make sure to check your Insights regularly to see if there are any changes that you should be aware of.
#4. Find the Right Metrics for Your Campaigns
It’s easy to be tempted to achieve a lot in a single Instagram campaign. Increasing brand awareness, generating more traffic to the website, and improving conversion rates all at once sounds like fun– yet unrealistic.
High-performing and effective Instagram campaigns always have a defined goal. One specific goal makes you stay focused and understand what you should expect. Don’t bog yourself down with too many goals.
Instead of trying to accomplish everything at once, focus on a few key metrics that are most important to your business. This could be anything from engagement rates to website clicks. Once you’ve identified the metrics that you want to track, then you can create content and strategies that are focused on those metrics.
For example, if you’re trying to increase brand awareness, then you can track how many people are visiting your profile. If you’re trying to increase sales, then you can track how many people are clicking on your links. If you’re trying to increase website traffic from Instagram, then you can create content that includes links to your website.
Fortunately, as shown in the image above, Instagram Insights allows you to view a plethora of different metrics when looking at post performance.
#5. Don’t Solely Stick with One Strategy
Just because your Insights show you one effective, most-loved content type, it doesn’t mean that you have to stick with that strategy forever. You, yourself, would be bored creating the same content over and over again, let alone your audiences who see it.
The key to a successful Instagram marketing strategy is to always be experimenting. Try new things, mix things up, and see what works well for your business. It’s always best to find various ways to stand out and be creative with your content. Over time, you’ll be able to figure out what strategies work best for you and your audience.
#6. Use Insights to Create a Better Customer Experience
Instagram Insights can help you understand what your audience wants and needs. By understanding your target market, you can create content that’s more relevant to them.
You can also use your insights data to improve the customer experience on your Instagram account. For example, if you notice that people are leaving your profile after viewing a certain number of posts, then you can try to engage with them more.
This could involve responding to comments, asking questions, and running giveaways. By improving the customer experience on your account, you can encourage people to stick around longer and become more engaged with your brand.
#7. Have an Insight Into the Budget You Should Spend
By providing you with audiences’ data, Instagram Insights help you understand how much you should be spending on your marketing campaigns. This is a great way to track your budget and make sure that you’re not overspending. Insights also tells you which posts are worth money in the first place: if something is already earning saves and shares organically, that is the post to put spend behind, which is the basic logic of advertising on Instagram instead of boosting whatever is most recent.
You can also use the data to optimize your ad campaigns. For example, if you notice that one of your ad campaigns is performing well, but it’s costing you more money, then you can try to adjust your budget.
This will help you make the most of your ad spend and ensure that you’re getting the best results for your business.
#8. Track Your Progress Over Time
One of the benefits of Instagram Insights is that it allows you to track your progress over time. By looking at your insights data, you can see how your account is performing and what’s working well.
This is important because it allows you to adjust your strategy as needed. If you do not see the results you want, you can try something different.
By tracking your progress over time, you can fine-tune your strategy and ensure that you’re always moving in the right direction.
#9. Keep Your Fingers on the Pulse
The beauty of Instagram Insights is that it’s always changing and evolving. As your audience grows and changes, so will your insights data. After all, it’s an ever-evolved and fast-paced digital world we live in. Don’t be surprised that the content that worked yesterday might not work today.
This is why it’s important to keep a close eye on your Insights and make sure that you’re always up-to-date with the latest information.
By regularly checking your Insights, you can make sure that your content is always relevant and engaging for your audience. This will help you to attract new followers while keeping the ones that you already have.
#10. Instagram Insights Is a Great Tool – But Don’t Rely on It Too Much
While Instagram Insights is a great tool, it’s important to remember that it’s just one piece of the puzzle. There are other factors that you need to consider when planning your content strategy.
For example, you also need to think about the timing of your posts, the hashtags that you’re using, and the overall look and feel of your account.
All of these factors play a role in how successful your content will be. Don’t rely on Insights alone to make decisions about your overall content strategy. Use it as a guide, then bring in other data sources so your content strategy rests on more than one view of your audience.
Frequently Asked Questions About Instagram Insights
Insights is available only on business and creator accounts. Switch your profile type in Settings under account type and tools, and Insights will appear on your profile. Data collection starts from the switch forward, so a brand new professional account will look empty for the first few days.
Third-party tools pull data through the Instagram API on their own refresh schedules, and they often define reach, impressions, and engagement slightly differently than the native app does. Pick one of the two as your system of record and treat the other as a second opinion rather than reconciling them line by line.
Three things are enough: which posts earned the most saves and shares, when your followers were online, and whether your follower demographics have shifted. Weekly is often enough to catch a real trend and rare enough that you aren’t reacting to a single quiet Tuesday.
No. Insights reports profile visits as a count, not as a list of named accounts, and the same is true of reach and impressions. Any tool or service claiming to show you exactly which individuals viewed your profile is not pulling that from Instagram.
Wrapping Up: Start Taking Advantage of Instagram Insights
Instagram Insights is a powerful tool that can help you understand what’s working well and what’s not. By understanding how to use Instagram Insights and all the data it brings, you can make informed decisions about your content strategy and overall marketing strategy.
If you’re not happy with the results you’re seeing, don’t be afraid to make changes. The only way to improve your strategy is to experiment with what works best for your business. Don’t be afraid to try new things and see what works best for you.
Instagram Insights is a valuable tool that can help you understand your audience, track your progress, and fine-tune your marketing strategy.
Author Bio
Andre Oentoro is the founder of Breadnbeyond, the award-winning explainer video services. He helps businesses increase conversion rates, close more sales, and get positive ROI from explainer videos (in that order).
Thank you so much for sharing more detailed info related to Social media marketing specially related to Instagram. It will be very helpful for those who want to marketing on Instagram.
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You’re very welcome Sandra!