The best tools for analysing your Instagram analytics
With Instagram forming such an integral aspect of online marketing campaigns, it is now more important than ever to take a look back at your analytics. Without assessing which posts performed well and which did not, it is impossible to really evolve your strategy and improve your future content. As an artist, a proportion of your time should be dedicated to assessing your past content and determining exactly what your audience enjoys and which posts were not popular. By learning from your past successes and failures, you will be better able to encourage more engagement in the future.
Instagram is now a central aspect of every musician’s marketing strategy. Offering huge opportunities for growth, the platform is a great tool for building a loyal worldwide fanbase and advertising your releases. With a large Instagram audience, it is much easier to encourage a high level of engagement on your posts. While Instagram has not always been a frontrunner, the site is now one of the very best social media platforms for celebrities to build a substantial following. But what analytics are built into the platform itself?
Instagram itself does offer some insights that enable you to get a rough idea of which posts performed well. In order to view these insights, your account must be set to ‘business’. Instagram offers details on when your specific audience is online, which of your posts performed the best engagement wise, and your overall account’s impressions and reach. All of these insights are only accessible in the Instagram app and are not viewable on the desktop version of the site. While Instagram’s analytics are valuable in enhancing your campaigns, there are a number of other applications that offer an even deeper and more complex view into your account. We’ve taken a look at some of the very best free Instagram analytics apps that enable you to better understand your engagement rate.
Squarelovin
Squarelovin is a great free option for those looking to analyse progress over the course of the year. It offers users the option to look at their engagement rate month by month, enabling the opportunity to see whether your strategy is really effective. Squarelovin also offers the option to take a look at your followers’ interests, giving you a much better insight into the kind of content your followers are likely to enjoy and providing ideas for future brand collaborations that may encourage more engagement. For example, if a huge number of your followers are interested in Nike, it may be worth pursuing a collaboration.
Pixlie
Pixlie is another free application but is better suited to those working with a marketing team. Using Pixlie it is possible to download reports that analyse key statistics enabling you to improve your marketing strategy in the future. It is also ideal for finding key influencers that are promoting your products on their social media. Influencers are a vital aspect of social media campaigns, as they provide a vehicle for promotion that comes across as much more genuine to your audience. Advertising through an influencer generally has much better results than a plain social media advert published through your own channels.
Union Metrics
Union Metrics is a paid for application but does offer a free monthly Instagram checkup. It also provides advice on which hashtags you should be using to boost your engagement and which posts are performing the most effectively. Receiving recommendations about how to improve your content in the future is invaluable and offers a great opportunity for expansion. The app is perfect for short-term analysis and establishing quick methods of improvement. This is ideal for getting a round-up of your activities over the month and seeing if you are on track for improvement on the platform.
Socialbakers
Socialbakers, unlike similar applications, offers in-depth insight into how your posts are performing in comparison with competitors. This is a great measure of progress, allowing you to see the bigger picture when looking at your overall ranking. This data is important when setting expectations, as unrealistic expectations could build undue pressure and stress. When looking at the progress of your competitors, it allows you to compare your own progress and see whether you are expanding your audience at the rate that you should be, or if you are falling behind the rest. If your growth is occurring at a higher rate than other artists, this is a sure sign that your campaigns are working effectively and that you should carry on with a similar strategy.
By using multiple free analytics tools it is possible to get a clear view of whether your Instagram strategy is succeeding or failing. It is vital to analyse every aspect of your account in order to determine exactly which strategies are working and which are less effective. It is also important to compare your progress to the progress of your closest competitors. When you have insight into your analytics it gives you a much better chance of improving your engagement and growing your audience. Even a post that performs negatively can have benefits, as it can teach you exactly which kind of content to avoid in the future. On the other hand, positively performing posts are also highly beneficial, allowing you to replicate the same success in the future by analysing which aspect of the content provided positive results. By learning from past posts, it is possible to greatly improve your campaigns and hone your strategy on Instagram.