The Internet is replete with resources telling you some of the most coveted secrets like optimising for Instagram SEO. From the kind of content you need to create to the trends that you should keep up with, everything is out in the open for you to discover. But knowing is just the first step.
The second is actually doing all it takes to make it big in the world of social media. But how do you know if it’s really working? That’s what we unwrap here: how to measure your Instagram traffic to understand what content works and what doesn’t.
How to measure your Instagram traffic as an influencer?
1. Observe your competitors
Just as it is important that you track the engagement on your posts, it is also necessary that you keep an eye on the engagement of your competitors. While an engagement rate of 4.7% is considered as the industry average, ideal engagement rates can vary across niches and segments.
Since there is no designated way to calculate the ideal engagement rate for a given niche, a better way to judge if you are getting enough Instagram traffic is by comparing your engagement rate with that of competitors. It is easy to track the engagement of your competitors using several free creator tools available on the market.
2. Make hashtags your best friends
While we are sure that this is not the first time you have heard this, we still find it important enough to emphasise that the right hashtags can be a game-changer for content creators. You can play around with different hashtags and see which ones work best for you by looking at the number of impressions it gets you.
Go to your Instagram Insights of any post and under impressions, you’ll “from hashtags.” Use it to track how different hashtags have worked for you over time. We promise you will uncover some great insights when you compare different posts with different hashtags over time!
3. Carefully track your insights
Knowing your audience and their preferences greatly simplifies the riddle that is content creation. Once you know what your audience likes and resonates with, all you are left with is the proper execution of your ideas.
One way to know what content your audience loves is to track insights on every post. All you need to do is to tap on the three lines in the upper right corner of your business or creator profile and click on ‘Insights’. Then, click on the ‘Content’ tab and tap ‘See All’. There you will find all your posts ranked from highest to lowest in terms of engagement.
All that is then remaining is to track the posts that have worked well and produce content in the direction of those posts. You’re now a step closer to becoming a social media star!
And, oh, in case you don’t understand what impressions, reach, gender graph means? We help you understand Instagram Analytics and Insights in this blog.
4. Track your story insights
In case you didn’t know already, it is just as imperative that you track your story insights as it is to track your post insights. To do so, you need to click on the ‘Story’ tab under ‘Insights’ and click on ‘See All’. The story tab displays the insights for your stories from the last 14 days. So make su you track these frequently.
Apart from telling you the likes, shares, replies on, and follows from your stories, the story tab gives insights on:
- how many people exited your story
- how many people chose to skip yours
- How many forwarded
High numbers on all indicate that your stories are failing to engage your viewers and you need to create different content.
5. Keep a tab on your growth
It is no revelation that once you study your insights and consistently create tailored content to suit the preferences of your audience, the number of people who follow you will grow. While there are tools on the market that track follower count, you can manually do it too.
Pick a period. Say 1 Feb to 31st March. Just subtract the follower count at the beginning of the period from the follower count at the end of it. Divide the result by the number of followers at the beginning of the period. Then multiply it with a hundred to get the percentage increase (or decrease) in your follower count.
That’s it, folks!
Use these five tips to measure your Instagram traffic and get a firm grip on your growth journey.
