Accurate data is the ultimate way to slam dunk Instagram marketing. And if you can get that data on demand, even better. Stats help brands keep track of campaign health, monitor their business profile, and make adjustments on the fly. Especially if things aren’t working out as planned.
Plus, getting ultra-granular data lets you figure out your return on investment. And Instagram is rich with details and data — you just gotta know where to find it. Psssttt … it’s in Instagram Insights.
Instagram Insights is a free analytics tool built right into the social media app. It tracks important metrics like engagement, impressions, profile visits, and more. But the catch is that it’s only available to business profiles.
If you’ve got a business account and a craving to learn how to use Insights to your advantage, get ready to dive in. Here’s what you’ll learn about IG Insights in this guide:
- Why IG Insights are important for brands
- How to find Instagram Insights
- Analyzing Instagram Insights
a) Account-level insights
b) Post-level insights - Other helpful Instagram analytics tools
Why brands should pay attention to Instagram Insights
Brands should care about IG Insights because it all comes down to performance. Granular data about your social media presence or marketing campaigns is critical. This is why Instagram lets you see data about your account and the content you post on it.
Plus, it’ll give you valuable info about your followers, too. Here’s what you can learn about your brand’s account with Insights:
- Which types of content perform the best
- Track limited-run campaign or general social media performance
- How many accounts your content reaches
- How posts perform over time
- Where your followers are from
- How old your followers are
- How many follows and unfollows you generated during a window of time
- The best time to post different types of IG content
So let’s dig in, shall we?
How to view Insights on Instagram
Right now, only business accounts can access Instagram Insights. There are some exceptions, though. Some accounts with tons of activity and engagement can also access this data. If you have a pro account set up, here’s how to find those oh-so-valuable analytics:
Step 1: Open the Instagram app and log in.
Step 2: Visit your profile from the homepage.
Step 3: Click Insights. It’ll be near your bio or in the top-right menu.
Step 4: Switch between the Activity, Content, and Audience tabs to review your IG stats.
If you can’t find Insights, it’s because you have a personal IG account — not a business one. For information on how to switch to a business account, check out Facebook’s step-by-step.
How to analyze Instagram Insights data
Now that you know where Instagram Insights are, it’s time to analyze the heck out of them. Here’s what we’re going to cover:
Instagram account-level insights
- Overview
- Accounts Reached
- Content Interactions
- Total Followers
Instagram post-level insights
- Post
- Story
- IGTV
- Reel
- Live
Overview
First up, IG Insights Overview. You can think of this tab as a general performance summary. It’ll give you a basic understanding of how the account’s doing. For example, red and green markers show whether metrics have gone up or down since the last period.
You can also choose time ranges to compare and contrast how it’s performing now to how it was in the past. Keep in mind that no matter which time range you select, the data won’t ever include the current day’s info.
You’ll find three sections on the Overview tab:
- Accounts Reached
- Content Interactions
- Total Followers
You can tap any one of these sections to get more info about that metric.
If you scroll down a bit, you’ll see recently posted content here, too.
If you’re running IG ads, you’ll see quick stats on the Overview tab as well. For more information about your paid campaigns, tap the section.
Why Overview stats are valuable for account performance:
As a marketing pro, it’s critical you always know how your brand is performing on Instagram. For this reason, Overview is the best spot on IG to get a quick idea of how your account’s doing.
Accounts Reached
This is a fun one because it shows you who’s viewing your Instagram content. You can tap Accounts Reached from Overview to find this info:
- Total number of accounts your content has reached
- Visual breakdown of your followers
- Visual breakdown of non-followers (or people who check out your content but don’t follow you)
- Reach by content type
- Top content
- And more
Your screen should look something like this:
IG Insights also sorts your top posts by reach. This includes content from your Stories, IGTV, Reels, Live videos, and regular posts.
And if you want to know how many website taps and impressions you’ve earned, this is where you’ll find it.
Why Accounts Reached stats are valuable for account performance:
Accounts Reached gives you lots of data about your followers. And, more importantly, it gives you lots of data about your non-followers. Marketers can use these insights to make adjustments. Those adjustments might be what tips the scales and convinces non-followers to subscribe.
Content Interactions
Here’s the good stuff we all want … engagement. Get to this info by tapping Content Interactions from the Overview tab.
You’ll find valuable stats about how people interact with your content. This includes likes, comments, saves, and shares. IG also shows you how your total interactions went up or down compared to the week before.
Scroll down to see breakdowns for each type of content (Stories, IGTV, Reels, and Live).
The Content Interactions tab also shows you top-performing content. It’s all sorted by engagement and type.
Why Content Interaction stats are valuable for account performance:
Engagement is the name of the game when it comes to marketing — if you want to win. So if you need detailed info, the Content Interaction tab is where it’s at. Find out how followers engage with your content, and with your brand.
Total Followers
If your IG profile has at least 100 followers, you’ll get access to Total Followers. This tab shows you trends across all your followers and demographic information like:
- Gender
- Age
- Location (cities and countries)
- Activity windows (by the hour and by day)
IG will also calculate follower growth for you. You’ll see how many followers you have, how many you earned, and how many you lost in the selected date range.
Why Total Followers stats are valuable for account performance:
A major part of Instagram marketing is knowing who your audience is. Where they live or how old they are — any bit of information you can get, the better. Total Followers breaks down demographics for you in an easy-to-digest format. Use this information to adjust as needed. Or use it to make sure your brand message is resonating with the right people.
Individual post, Story, IGTV, Reel, and Live video analytics
Up until now, we’ve talked about IG Insights on the account level. Now it’s time to dive into all the analytics you can access about individual pieces of content.
Like before, only certain types of IG accounts can view these stats:
- Business profiles
- High-engagement profiles (think celebrities, pro athletes, and so on)
And before we dive in, each of the stats below is valuable to marketers for the same reason. Marketers have to see data for individual pieces of content to get a better idea of what’s working and what’s not. This data also shows whether a business account’s followers are emotionally attached to the brand.
Sure, a campaign can perform well across the board. But maybe there’s a post here or a video there that could have been better. And that’s the reason why granular data is so critical for Instagram marketing success.
IG post analytics
Here’s how to see your post Insights on Instagram:
- Navigate to your IG profile
- Tap a post
- Tap View Insights
From here you can see likes, comments, saves, and sends. You can also scroll to see post Interactions and Discovery stats. This includes info like follows, reach, and impressions.
To change the date range, tap the drop-down menu towards the bottom. Choose between preset or custom date ranges. But you can’t go more than 90 days in the past.
IG Story analytics
Here’s how to access analytics for an individual IG story:
- Navigate to your IG profile or feed
- Tap your profile photo
- Tap Insights and search for a story under Content You Shared
- Swipe up on the story
IG then shows you how many likes, comments, and so on your story got. If you want more info about Interactions or Discovery, scroll down. That’s where you’ll find info like impressions and reach.
IGTV video analytics
Want in-depth data about a single IGTV video? IG shows you that, too. Here’s how to see Insights on Instagram for IGTV:
- Navigate to your IG profile
- Tap below your bio
- Tap an IGTV video
- Tap at the top of that video
- Tap View Insights
IGTV is different from some of the other ones so far. Some stats are visible to anyone who watches your IGTV video. For example, everyone can see likes, comments, and views.
But only you get to see data like audience retention and average percentage watched.
IG Reel analytics
There’s useful info for each of your IG reels, too. Use these steps to access stats for a single IG reel:
- Navigate to your IG profile
- Tap the Reels tab from your profile
- Tap on a reel
- Tap the three dots
- Tap View Insights
Now you can see information like accounts reached and video plays. And like usual, you can also see engagement metrics including comments, saves, and so on.
IG Live video analytics
Last but not least, you can also check out Live video stats in IG. You’re only a couple of taps away from some serious insights:
- Navigate to your IG profile or feed
- Tap your profile photo
- Tap Insights
- Scroll to find the Live video you want insights for under Content You Shared
- Swipe up to see the stats
You can also tap View Insights as soon as you’ve finished a Live video. And FYI, the stats might not show up right away. In which case, give the data a couple of minutes to load.
Either way, IG shows you all the data about your video. This includes stats like Accounts Reached and Peak Concurrent Viewers.
Helpful tools for more analytics (that aren’t IG Insights)
If you’re a marketer who can’t get enough Instagram data, you’re in luck. There are tons of helpful tools out there (like Humanz AI) with unique features that IG Insights doesn’t have.
First up, we’ve got Iconosquare. It’s a free Instagram analytics tool that gives you all the info you want including:
- Impressions
- Reach
- Average reach per post
- Average reach rate by post
- IG Stories metrics like reach and impression
- Mentions history by type (e.g. in a caption)
- Mentions history by media (photo, video, or carousel)
Best of all, Iconosquare shows you how you stack up against everyone else on Instagram.
Next, there’s Hootsuite Impact. The platform captures tons of analytics like Iconosquare. Get info about things like engagement, impressions, and reach.
But there’s something special that makes Impact unique. The platform lets you track and calculate ROI across organic campaigns. And if you run paid IG campaigns, Impact figures out ROI for those, too.
Final thoughts on Instagram Insights
Instagram Insights is a powerful tool that lets you access important data at the touch of a button. Tracking Instagram performance is how marketers find out whether a strategy works. Not only does this make for better campaigns and content, but it yields better results.
So here’s a recap on everything you can do with IG Insights:
- IG Insights gives marketers access to important account
- You can find Instagram Insights in the app or on desktop, but it’s only for business accounts
- There’s account-level and post-level data. Both are important
- Instagram marketers can explore other tools to supplement IG Insights
When you’re ready to learn even more about Instagram marketing and what it can do for your brand, check out our blog. We post new content every week with expert tips, ultimate guides, and more.
