How to Read Your Instagram Dashboard: Analytics Terms Made Easy
Your Instagram dashboard is packed with powerful insights—if you know what they mean and how to interpret them.
If you have accessed your social analytics dashboard and said, “I don’t even know what I am looking at”, you are not alone! And this is a safe space.
Reading your dashboard can speak to some truths about how your audience is engaging with your social media, and can give clues to how you can optimise your approach to social.
Let’s break it down in plain English. Here is what we will cover:
Where to Find Your Instagram Dashboard
Key Terms You’ll See (And What They Actually Mean)
How to Use This Data to Improve Your Posts
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Conclusion: Make your Insights work for you
Next steps if you want more support
WHERE TO FIND YOUR INSTAGRAM DASHBOARD
ON A SPECIFIC POST
If you are looking to see the analytics on a specific, individual post, here is what you want to do to see the analytics on a post:
Go to your business or creator profile
Click on the specific post you want to pull up the analytics for
Under the image, click “View Insights”
Go to your business page
Click on the specific post you want to pull up the analytics for
Under the image, click “See insights and ads.”
TikTok
Got to your page
Click on the specific post you want to pull up the analytics for
Click the three dots under the “Save” icon
Click on “Analytics”
Access your post via your LinkedIn profile
Click on the specific post you submitted
Click on the word “X (number) impressions”
Go to your business profile
Hover over the image you want to see the analytics for
Click on “ See more stats”
On your social account
If you are looking to get a snap shot performance of your social media profile here is how you can access them:
Go to your business or creator profile
Click on the three lines in the top right-hand corner to access your “Settings and activity”
Go down under “For professionals” to “Insights”
Go to your business page profile
At the top, under Your Likes and Followers you should see a blue button stating, “Professional dashboard”
TikTok
Go to your profile
Click on the three lines at the top
Click on “TikTok Studio”
With “Analytics” at the top, then click on “view all”
Go to your profile
Scroll down to “Analytics”
Click on “Show all analytics”
Click on “Pinterest” With the three lines at the top of your home screen
Hover over to “Analytics Performance”
Click on “Analytics Overview”
Now that you know how to access your analytics dashboards let’s cover some common key terms that you will come across.
Key Terms You’ll See
Reach vs Impressions
Reach versus impressions always stumps people who are just starting to get to know their analytics dashboard.
But think of it this way —
Reach is the total unique views in a given time. Impressions gives the total number of views in any given time period.
That means that impressions is naturally going to be bigger than reach because one person might have seen your post/ad multiple times in one given period! Whilst reach only focuses on how many different accounts have seen your post.
So for example, if one person walked past your brick-and-mortar store but also walked past it again on their way back to their car that means:
Reach = 1; Impressions = 2
Why is this important? Knowing the difference in reach vs. impressions gives you key clues on how often people come across your ad and if they are at risk for getting ad fatigue. Ad fatigue is when your audience have seen your ad too many times and disengages or even tells their platform to stop showing your ad (source). When you see that your impressions are three times the amount of your reach, it’s safe to say you may be looking into switching up your communication and image.
Engagement
If there is any interaction with your ad, this is a form of engagement!
Likes, comments, and shares are the most visible signs of engagement. But the engagement that is equally important are the ones that are not visible to other accounts such as, reel/tiktok rewatches, saves, and clicking on the caption/post.
Engagement Rate
Now that you know what engagement and reach is, it’s time to look on what engagement rate means. Engagement rate is:
The total reach/the total engagment rate *100 = Your engagement rate in a percentage
If you noticed that your engagement rate is lower than 5%, don’t panic.
The higher your reach is, the more likely this percentage is to be lower. Typically, with higher reach, if the engagement rate is anywhere from 1%-5%, that’s quite normal. Platforms like Hootsuite can also break this down to the platform.
Over time and research, you will be able to understand a specific engagement rate that works for your platform. What helps to know is the size of your target market (the person you are marketing to), and the size of the area you are trying to market in.
Profile Visits
This metric is one of the easiest things to understand because it is exactly what it seems. Profile visits are the number of times a person has explored your profile.
An increase in profile visits also equals an increase in popularity. It shows the first step to taking an interest in what your account has to offer, before a desirable action.
If you noticed that there is an increase in profile visits, but not enough follows or link clicks (depending on what your goal is), then you know that there is something within that area that needs to be optimised so that people are engaged, excited, and want to see more. It also could be a sign that you might not be attracting the right people, so ensure that you have your target audience dialed.
Website Clicks
This is the same for profile visits. Website clicks are the total number of times someone has clicked on your website. This is common in ad analytics if you provide a link for viewers.
One thing we love to measure is the percentage of how many people who have converted on your website/the number of people who have clicked. As we see this percentage increase or decrease, it helps us to understand if the landing page is optimised for user experience.
How many followers were gained or lost
This metric indicates the number of followers gained or lost. This is important if you are pushing out content to create a bigger following, that can then be nurtured into a conversion or trust.
Note that losing followers is not always necessarily a bad thing. Maybe they are not your target audience. But if you find you are losing a greater-than-normal amount, it’s time to dig deeper to where you are losing your followers. And to do potential damage control.
How to Use This Data to Improve Your Posts
There are no hard guidelines when it comes to using your analytics to your advantage. But here are some additional things we recommend when exploring your data:
Use it to help understand your audience more
If one post unexpectedly did exceptionally well on engagement and reach, it’s not by chance! Look into seeing what worked for that post.
Was it the time it was posted? What message did they receive after watching it? How many shares did it get?
Once you pinpoint where the content hits all the right notes, you can then expand from it. And before you know it, it will be what you are known for!
Set realistic goals
It’s okay to shoot for the stars, but set milestones that will help you hit your targets that feel obtainable for you and your work. What do you think your platform analytics is lacking?
If it is in reach, there are ways to reach higher through paid or organic content.
If engagement rate is high from non-followers, but none of them are following your account, it’s time to give them value they will stick around for — not waiting until the algorithm brings you together again.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Don’t obsess over vanity metrics
Likes, comments, and followers are fun to look at, but they hardly tell the full story, or what’s next in your content strategy. Things like engagement rate, reach, shares, and saves are all equally important, if not more important, when watching how your content is landing with your audience.
You don’t need to go viral to convert and build a community online.
Posting What You Like
Sometimes, the content you gravitate towards may not be what your followers like or care about.
It’s okay to experiment with what works and not strive for perfection. Understanding your audience is the name of the game.
So if you fall into this category, it’s time to reframe how you are using your platform and see it through your audience’s eyes.
Conclusion
Make your analytics work for you!
See it as a valuable tool that can help your platform reach new levels. And ask more questions to see what your audience is saying they want to see more or less of!
“I read my analytics dashboard, and I’m still figuring out where to go from here.”
Let me be the first to say — that’s totally okay if think you need more help on what your next move is.
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