Deep Dive Into Analytics And Paid Promo on IG
It’s hard to build a brand if people don’t know about it, which is why it’s so important to increase brand awareness and reach as many people as possible. In this guide we'll cover how to use analytics to grow your brand and your following, as well as using paid promo to accelerate that growth.
In order to access all the analytics and paid promo options, you'll first need to change your account to a business or creator’s account, if you've not already.
Analytics in Instagram
Analytics is essentially your ‘statistics’, telling you how your posts are performing. The two main metrics when viewing your analytics are:
Reach - This is the number of unique accounts on Instagram that have seen your post(s) & engaged with them in some way. This can include commenting, liking, sharing, clicking a link, etc.
Impressions - This is the total number of times users saw your post(s). This is usually higher than reach, as this only accounts for people seeing the posts, whilst reach accounts for actual interactions.
In your analytics dashboard (and within specific posts) you can see website clicks, email clicks and other engagement metrics that are important for generating leads and/or sales. These metrics are important for informing future decisions on what to post; - seeing which posts are achieving the highest engagement rates (and generating leads and sales) will tell you which types of posts are more likely to perform the best going forward. You can even see what time of day your followers are engaging with your posts so you know when to post. And if these times aren't convenient for you, you can use platforms like hootsuite.com, preview.app & later.com to schedule your posts in advance.
Make sure you act on the engagement you’re seeing on your posts - interact with your followers by liking and responding to comments, as knowing they will get a response from you will encourage further engagement.
Paid promo on Instagram
Paying to boost a post's performance ensures it will reach more people, and allows you to accurately target the right audience. Organic posts (regular posts to your account) can’t be controlled or directed to an audience, however, paid ads allow you to choose what type of person will see your post, so it will reach those who are more likely to engage, and ultimately click through your funnels.
By paying for ads, you can boost your brand awareness, track the results, and run A/B tests. A/B tests allow you to test small changes - like the image you use, the wording of the post, the call to action, etc., and see what performs best. You can run ads on a tight budget, starting from as little as $1 a day.
There are two ways to promote your content on Instagram:
Directly via the Instagram app.
Use your analytics to find high performing posts, then select pay to boost it.
Choose your goal - more profile visits, more website visits or more messages.
Define your audience - choose from pre-existing groups, or create your own by choosing specific demographics (age range, interest, location, etc.). Look to ensure your audience size isn’t too broad or too narrow, as this can have a negative impact on your results.
Facebook Ads Manager.
This gives you more control over your ads versus promoting via the Instagram app, as it provides more detailed targeting options. This means you can deep dive to target exactly the people you need to. This is important because it stops you spending money on showing your ad to people who will never be interested in your content. The more targeted your audience is, the more likely you are to see results (and see a better return on your investment, as you’re not wasting money showing your ad to the wrong people).
