With the Instagram algorithm constantly changing, it can be challenging to keep up with all the new rules. As a social media manager, it is essential to know how to analyze your posts to determine how to stay relevant while reaching your goals; this requires more than just finding and resonating with your audience. You have to know when to post as well. Curating the right amount of posts (and at the right time) helps you optimize your page and increase your reach and engagement with your target audience.
If you do not post enough, your reach, engagement, and overall performance will naturally decrease. Posting too much can become spam-like, which will likely lead to users ignoring your content and/or unfollowing your page. Additionally, if you are constantly posting but do not have a high engagement rate, chances are your audience is not resonating with the content you are producing. These posts you are investing in are costing you money and not giving you anything in return (no ROI). To keep your target audience engaged with your content and page, it is important to post just the right amount; getting them engaged will increase your ranking, feeding your content to more potential customers. How do you know what is best for your accounts? Let’s take a look.
Apply What You Learn from Your Instagram In-App Data
In your app, click over to your professional dashboard. Here you can see insights for the last week or two. This page will give you a general overview of your account, showing you the accounts you reached and how many people engaged with your content. Try to review these insights at least every other week; if you are seeing an increase in performance every time you check, you are likely on the right track. However, if your account is stagnant or seeing a decrease in engagement, it’s probably time to re-think your Instagram strategy. Through your Instagram account, you can also view when your followers are most active. This will help you determine when to post (days and times) once you nail down how often to post.
Business Suite Data
Meta’s Business Suite also offers a host of information you can analyze for your content and Instagram page; here you can see suggestions for ways to grow reach and engagement. It will also give you an overview of your content’s performance in comparison to a previous period. Look to see how much you have recently posted; does it compare to previous periods? Did the changes (increases or decreases) affect your total reach? Take note of all the data; we will combine everything at the end.
Individual Post Performance
As often as you can, look at post engagement. It will show you the interactions and break down what those interactions were. This is especially important when you experiment with Instagram posts. In the Instagram app, you can see your post interactions (broken down into likes, shares, comments, and saves) and your top posts (based on likes). It will also show the increase in engagement over the previous period and which percentage of that engagement is from advertising efforts. You can use this information to then plan your other posts; look at your content performed on a certain day to determine if that is a good day to post or if you would be better posting another day of the week. Be sure to compare the same type of posts (reels to reels, carousels to carousels, etc.). You can also utilize the business suite to analyze performance. You can select any post or story and see how it ranks; it will compare each piece of content to other recent stories and posts to see how it performs (reach and engagement).
Regularly Experiment
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To build a brand that customers resonate with, you have to be consistent and publish authentic content at the right time and frequency. This does not have to be repetitive or predictable, though. Play with your content calendar a bit to see how you can improve your Instagram account’s content. Try adding or subtracting posts and stories to test a higher or lower frequency; use your insights to see how that affects your content (positively or negatively).
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Change up what times you post. This is especially important when time or the seasons change. Utilize the business suite to see when people are most active on the platform.
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After viewing what type of content is no longer performing for you, start experimenting with other forms. For example, if static posts are no longer working, try carousels and see what kind of results you get.
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Learn What Instagram Says About Post Frequency
The last update the head of the platform released said most accounts see the most success with 2 feed posts per week and several stories per day; these posts – both feeds and stories – perform even better when they are interactive, such as carousels and reels. Mosseri, the head of Instagram, said stories are more likely to keep your business at the top of consumers’ minds; the platform is starting to see more engagement with stories and the Explore page than personal feeds.
This can be a lot to take in, and truthfully will take a lot of time to sort out; however, if you are serious about growing your brand, it is essential. Your post frequency can and will have a huge impact on your account’s results; if you are looking to grow your business but do not feel equipped to do so through social media, contact us today! We are here to help and are passionate about helping your business grow and succeed!
