Instagram may very well be the most important social media profile when it comes to promoting yourself, as well as anything you do, such as your music. It allows you to put your photos and videos in front of countless millions, and if you spend the time to do it right, the platform could become a launchpad for your career.
Marketing for musicians is half creativity and half analytics, but many who don’t consider themselves marketers–such as musicians–often don’t know much about the second part of this business, and they really should. Instagram makes it easy to start digging into analytics to understand what’s working on your page and what isn’t, and all it takes is a little investigating to become proficient in this field.
If you want to gain access to all the excellent analytics Instagram has to offer, first you need to make sure your profile isn’t a personal one, but rather for a creator or business. Once that’s done (it only takes a moment, and you can learn how to do so here), go to your profile (what others see) and you should be able to find where to click, as it’s right below your bio.
If you’re looking for a more in depth guides, check out our articles on the best instagram bio for musicians or the ultimate guide to Instagram promotion for musicians among the many other Instagram articles we have on our site. Otherwise, if you’re ready to dive into the numbers themselves, read on below for a quick crash course into all things Instagram analytics.
In This Article:
- Impressions
- Reach
- Followers
- Comments
- Story Views
1. Impressions
This data point is perhaps the easiest to understand. When you look into a piece of content’s impressions, the number tells how many people Instagram delivered the item to. Now, it’s important to note that while your post has been served a piece of content, that doesn’t mean they remember it, interacted with it, or even noticed it. We are all guilty of scrolling through our feeds as fast as we can, and there’s no telling how many photos and videos we’ve flicked right past without even so much as considering them.
Your impressions on any piece of content are sure to be the highest number, and the bigger the sum the better…though be aware of the asterisk that’s always hovering right above that impressive-looking figure.
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2. Reach
Reach is very similar to impressions, but the two are different enough to warrant separate sections in the analytics side of your Instagram. While impressions measure how many accounts your piece of music content was served to, reach indicates some form of acknowledgement of your upload. Reach tells you how many people actually saw your photo or video, or perhaps even interacted with it in some manner (such as liking or sharing it).
Impressions are good, but reach is even better. You can have a million impressions, but technically, none of those accounts may have even noticed your upload. If your reach figures are solid and growing, it means you’re doing something right.
3. Followers
Perhaps the most common metric by which people measure their success on Instagram, followers is an important number, but many are focused too much on growing it at any cost. Countless managers, artists, and label executives can think of nothing but increasing the number of followers, and while it is certainly a solid goal, there’s more to consider here.
You shouldn’t just be focused on growing your social media following, but on collecting the right followers. If you have one million people following you on Instagram, but none of them listen to your music or interact with your content…what’s the point? Work toward more engaged followers, and you’ll start seeing the even-more-important numbers–such as sales, streams, and purchases of merch and concert tickets–increase.
Having said that, a sizable follower count is a good thing to have as it makes you look more appealing to labels, brands, and booking people. Don’t buy tons of followers to make it seem like you’re famous, because intelligent people can see through that in an instant. Instead, focus your effort on growing your following organically…and if you spend a few dollars on a handful of bots, that’s okay too.
4. Comments
Watching your latest photo rack up likes is always fun, but it only takes a second to hit that little heart with your finger. I’m not saying likes don’t matter, but they indicate a very minimal investment of time and effort. Commenting, however, shows that someone cared enough about the content to type a sentence. No matter how short (it could be as simple as one emoji), it means that the person behind the message is interested in a way that matters greatly to the success of your work.
The more comments on your posts on Instagram, the better. Also, if you notice people commenting regularly, don’t be shy! These are likely your super fans, and you want to do everything you can to ensure you forge a meaningful relationship with them.
5. Story Views
Instagram Stories are almost like a different social media platform, even though it’s part of your regular Instagram profile. It works differently, as all photos and videos posted only last one day, and then they’re gone. That fact might make it seem like it’s a waste of time, but millions of people scroll through their stories every day, so if the audience is there, you should be making an effort to build yours up. Here’s an article on how to make great Instagram stories for your band.
The best metric to watch when it comes to your Instagram Story is views. You can easily see this on every story you post, as the number should be right next to the little eyeball icon at the bottom. Also, once a story has disappeared (after its full day is done), you can look in your analytics page or in your archive, and you should be able to find the final number of accounts that caught what you shared.
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