It’s official: Instagram has rolled out tests in the USA to hide post likes from followers. This change has already been implemented in places, such as Canada, Japan, Italy, and New Zealand. It is likely to have a large impact on brands that market through Instagram, but good news, there are a few other metrics to keep tabs on that are potentially even more valuable.
#1 Reach
Reach is the measurement of how many unique users have seen your post. It differs from impressions, which are the total number of post views, where multiple views may be from the same user. The objective of improving a brand’s reach is to increase brand awareness and the number of qualified users over time.
#2 Saves
About 3 years ago Instagram began to allow users to save posts that they wanted to revisit later. As the feature is becoming more popular, it is gaining importance as a metric for brands to track. This metric is valuable because it signals to the Instagram algorithm that users have a strong interest in the content being shared and that the posts should be shown to more people. By following user saves, brands can begin to identify the types of posts that generate the greatest number of saves and then moving forward, create similar posts.
#3 Sales
Instagram is continuously removing obstacles for brands that want to sell their products on Instagram. More importantly, Instagram is making it easier for users to shop their favorite brands. There are several ways Instagram allows users to shop, which include shoppable posts, Instagram Stories product stickers, checkout, and Shoppable AR filters.
To better track sales through Instagram, brands should utilize UTM parameters on any links used to drive sales. Check out the MoreVisibility’s Tagging Tool here for assistance.
#4 Engagement
Measuring user engagement with each post is important to the success of a brand’s Instagram marketing efforts because it indicates how well their audience is responding and connecting with the content being produced. Engagement types include likes, comments, and shares. Although the equation to measure engagement is debated, a reasonable starting point is below.
The take away: The higher the engagement rate, the more actively engaged your followers are and to keep producing the content you are producing now. On the other hand, if your brand has a lower engagement rate then the content being produced may not be resonating well with followers and there could be an opportunity to revisit the social strategy. If you are questioning your content strategy, contact the experts at MoreVisibility.
Other Considerations
Additional metrics to consider when optimizing your Instagram strategy are:
- Track the above metrics based on the posting time and identify the best time to post to make sure that you’re getting in front of your audience.
- Monitor Instagram story views to ensure content is resonating with followers and stories are being watched to completion.
- Analyze follower growth to determine if there are any significant spikes or drops after posts are made. It could indicate that users are interested or disinterested in certain post types.