How to Use Instagram Analytics

Posting on Instagram without checking your analytics is like driving with your eyes closed - you might be moving, but you have no idea where you're going. Understanding your data is the single most important step you can take to move from guessing what works to knowing exactly what your audience wants. This guide will walk you through where to find your Instagram Analytics, what the key metrics actually mean, and how to turn those numbers into an actionable strategy that drives real growth.

First Things First: How to Access Instagram Analytics

Before you can dissect your data, you need to know where to find it. Instagram insights are only available for Business or Creator accounts. If you're still using a personal account, making the switch is free, easy, and unlocks a world of valuable data.

To switch to a professional account:

Go to your profile and tap the hamburger menu (☰) in the top-right corner.
Tap Settings and privacy.
Scroll down to For professionals and tap Account type and tools.
Tap Switch to professional account and follow the on-screen prompts.

Once you've made the switch, you can access your analytics in a few key places:

The Professional Dashboard: A prominent button right under your bio on your profile page that takes you to a high-level overview of your account's performance.
Individual Content: You can tap View insights on any specific post, Reel, or Story to see how that individual piece of content performed.

The Main Dashboard: Understanding Your Key Metrics

When you tap into your Professional Dashboard, you'll land on an "Insights Overview." This is your command center for account performance. Instagram conveniently breaks it down into three main categories: Accounts Reached, Accounts Engaged, and Total Followers. Let's look at what each section tells you.

Accounts Reached

This section is all about brand awareness - how many people are seeing your content. It answers the question, "Is my content getting out there?"

Reach: The number of unique accounts that saw any of your content at least once. This is your core awareness metric. If 100 people saw your post, your reach is 100.
Impressions: The total number of times your content was shown to users. Impressions will always be higher than reach because one person can see the same post multiple times (e.g., once in their feed and again if a friend shares it to their story). High impressions with low reach might mean your existing followers are seeing your content repeatedly.
Profile Activity: This includes metrics like Profile Visits, Website Taps, and other calls-to-action clicks. This data shows you how many people were intrigued enough by your content to check out your profile or click your link in bio.

Accounts Engaged

Engagement tells you if people actually stop scrolling and interact with your content. It answers the question, "Does my content resonate with people?" These are arguably more important than reach metrics because they signal to the algorithm that your content is valuable.

Engagement: Instagram bundles likes, comments, saves, and shares together into an "Engaged Accounts" metric. It represents the number of unique accounts that interacted with your content.
Likes: The simplest form of engagement. It’s a good-to-know metric, but often considered a "vanity metric" because it doesn't indicate deep connection.
Comments: A much stronger signal than a like. Comments show that your content sparked a conversation or reaction.
Saves: A powerful metric that a lot of people overlook. When someone saves your post, they're bookmarking it to come back to later. This tells Instagram your content provides high value - think tutorials, tips, recipes, or inspiring quotes.
Shares: The ultimate form of word-of-mouth marketing. When someone shares your content via DM or to their own Story, they're endorsing it to their network.

Total Followers

This dashboard helps you understand who your audience is and how it’s changing over time. It answers the question, "Am I attracting the right people?"

Follower Growth: A simple chart showing your total follows and unfollows over a select period. This helps you spot which days you gained (or lost) the most followers and cross-reference it with the content you posted.
Top Locations: See the top cities and countries your followers are from. This is critical for local businesses or brands targeting specific regions.
Age Range & Gender: Understand the demographic breakdown of your audience. This helps ensure you're reaching your ideal customer profile and can tailor your content's tone and subject matter accordingly.
Most Active Times: A game-changing chart that shows you the days and hours your followers are most active on Instagram. Use this data to schedule your content for maximum initial visibility.

A Deeper Look: Analyzing Specific Content Performance

Beyond the main dashboard, diving into the insights for individual posts, Reels, and Stories is where you can find truly tactical information to guide your content strategy.

Post Analytics

For grid posts (images, carousels, videos), the insights can tell you how it was discovered and why it was compelling.

Reach breakdown (Followers vs. Non-Followers): This tells you how well your post performed beyond your existing audience. A high number of non-follower reach often means it performed well on Hashtag pages or the Explore page.
Impressions from Home/Hashtags/Profile/Other: See exactly where your views came from. If "From Hashtags" is high, your hashtag strategy on that post worked. If "From Home" is high, it resonated well with your current followers.

Example: You share a carousel post that gets a high number of saves. This is a clear signal that the information was valuable and educational. It's a cue to create more content in this tutorial or tip format.

Story Analytics

Stories have a short lifespan, so their analytics are more about capturing attention and driving immediate action.

Replies: A great indicator of conversational content. Questions, polls, and quizzes can turn passive viewers into active participants.
Link Clicks: If you have the link sticker feature, this metric directly measures how effective your call-to-action was.
Navigation Metrics (Taps Forward, Taps Back, Next Story, Exited): This data tells a story about engagement. Lots of Taps Back means people wanted to see that slide again. A high number of Exited on a specific slide could indicate that it was boring or confusing, causing people to drop off.

Reels Analytics

For Reels, the algorithm heavily favors content that keeps people on the platform. Your insights here should focus on viewing time.

Plays vs. Reach: Plays is the number of times your Reel started playing. If this number is significantly higher than your Reach, it means people are watching it more than once.
Average Watch Time: This is arguably the most important metric for Reels. It shows, on average, how long people watched your video. A high average watch time tells the algorithm your content is captivating and should be shown to more people.
Total Watch Time: The combined time people spent watching your Reel. This metric is a reflection of both how many people watched (reach) and for how long (average watch time).

Turning Insights into an Actionable Strategy

Data is useless without action. The goal of reviewing your analytics is to inform your content plan and make smarter decisions. Here are a few ways to translate your insights into strategy:

1. Find Your Top-Performing Content Pillars

Go to your "Accounts Engaged" or "Accounts Reached" dashboard and filter for your top posts and Reels from the last 90 days. Lay them all out and ask: What do these have in common?

What was the topic? (e.g., behind-the-scenes, customer testimonials, educational tips).
What was the format? (e.g., carousel, a person talking to the camera, a voiceover/text trend).
What was the call-to-action? (e.g., "Save this post," "Comment below," "Click the link in bio").

The patterns you find are your content pillars. Your job is to create more of what's already working.

2. Post When Your Audience Is Listening

This is the easiest win you can get from your analytics. Go to Total Followers > Most Active Times. See which days and three-hour blocks show the highest activity. Test posting your most important content during these peak times and see if it boosts your initial engagement.

3. Refine Your Visuals and Captions

If a post has high Impressions but low Engagement (e.g., few likes, comments, or saves), it means people saw your post but didn’t care enough to interact. This could be a sign that your visuals or a weak hook in your caption failed to stop the scroll. Experiment with stronger opening lines in your captions or more vibrant imagery. A/B test different creative styles and see what moves the needle on engagement.

4. Optimize Your Calls-to-Action (CTAs)

Look at your Profile Activity > Website Taps. Is that number embarrassingly low? If so, your CTAs aren't compelling enough. Instead of a generic "link in bio," try being more specific in your captions and Stories: "Get the full guide to [Topic] at the link in our bio!" or "Tap the link in my profile to grab your 20% off coupon!". Track this metric weekly to see which CTAs actually drive clicks.

Final Thoughts

Analyzing your Instagram performance isn't about getting lost in a sea of numbers, it's about learning the language of your audience. By regularly checking your Reach, Engagement, and Follower insights, you graduate from content creator to content strategist, making data-driven decisions that build a more connected and active community.

While Instagram's built-in tools are great for on-platform analysis, connecting those efforts to real business outcomes can feel impossible. That's why we built Graphed. It lets you bring all your marketing data - Instagram, Shopify, Google Analytics, and more - into one place and build custom dashboards just by asking. You can instantly see how your Instagram activities affect website traffic or sales, all without wrestling with spreadsheets or complicated software. We automate the reporting so you can get back to creating.