How to use Flick’s Open and Internal Instagram Benchmarks
Looking to utilize Flick’s internal and open benchmarks but not sure what the data actually means? We’re diving in deep on how to use our benchmarks tool to help you figure out your IG strategy.
Posted 2 years ago
Written by
Mackenzie TaylorPosted 2 years ago
Whether you’re a content creator, social media manager, or a small business, it’s important you have access to reliable information that can help you succeed on Instagram. That’s the reason we’ve created a free Instagram benchmarks resource!
We hope that it will give you some insight into how other accounts are performing, areas where your account is doing well, and areas that could use a little more attention.
Whilst there are 40,000+ Instagram accounts linked to Open Benchmarks, some follower ranges will be more populated than others. Over time, we hope this data will become more and more reliable as the number of people who have linked their accounts to Flick and have opted to contribute their analytics to Open Benchmarks grows.
How The Open Benchmarks Are Organized
The benchmarks below are split into categories based on the kind of information they convey. It’s similar to the structure we use to organize metrics on Flick, so if you’re a customer already, it will probably seem familiar!
The metrics:
- Account Overview: Metrics that describe the overall trajectory and health of your account.
- Feed Posts: Metrics that characterize the engagement and reach of your feed posts.
- Story Posts: Metrics that characterize the engagement and reach of your feed posts.
- Hashtag Usage and Performance: Metrics that track your hashtag performance.
Account Overview
This data relates to an account’s overall performance. Here, you’ll find metrics that help you get a high-level view of what areas of your Instagram growth and management strategy are working and which aren’t.
The metrics:
- Follower Growth Rate: Your follower increase over a given period of time is divided by the number of followers you had at the start of that period.
- Click-Through Rate: The number of clicks to your website or email divided by the total amount of profile views your Instagram account received over a given period of time.
- People Reached: The number of Instagram users who saw your posts over a given period of time.
- Profile Views: The total amount of Instagram users who viewed your profile over a given period of time.
Feed Posts
Scroll through to see a breakdown of Instagram feed-related performance metrics. You’ll be able to make direct comparisons between your own Instagram images, videos, and carousels and data from similarly sized accounts.
Currently, we can’t show analytics for Reels until Instagram releases this in their API (sad!). However, as soon as we have that data, we will show it here!
The goal is to identify areas where your account is excelling and areas where it’s lagging behind so that you can direct your efforts to where they’re needed most.
The metrics:
- Engagement Rate: The total number of Instagram users who like, comment or save a post divided by the total amount of users who saw that post.
- Reach Rate: The average reach of your feed posts, compared to the number of followers you have over a given period of time.
- Number of Posts: The total amount of feed posts an Instagram user makes over a given period of time.
- Avg. Reach Per Post: The average amount of reach an Instagram user gets on their posts over a given period of time.
- Avg. Engagements Per Post: The average amount of engagement an Instagram user gets on their posts over a given period of time.
IGTV Posts
Below you’ll find a set of metrics that act as benchmarks for IGTV performance on Instagram. You’ll be able to compare your own IGTV posts to similarly-sized accounts in areas like reach and engagement, so you can easily identify any problems with your content strategy.
The metrics:
- Engagement Rate: The total amount of Instagram users who like, comment or save a post divided by the total amount of users who saw that post.
- Reach Rate: The average reach of your feed posts, compared to the number of followers you have over a given period of time.
- Number of Posts: The total amount of feed posts an Instagram user makes over a given period of time.
- Avg. Reach Per Post: The average amount of reach an Instagram user gets on their posts over a given period of time.
- Avg. Engagements Per Post: The average amount of engagement an Instagram user gets on their posts over a given period of time.
*As of 2022, all IGTV and videos on Instagram have been converted into Reels.
Story Posts
Instagram Stories have become an incredibly popular feature over the years. They’re now a part of nearly every Instagram content strategy—and for good reason! Story post metrics help you uncover trends that will help you optimize your stories for engagement and enjoyment.
You’ll find out:
- How many people are watching story posts all the way through?
- How many stories are accounts posting per day?
- How many slides do people watch before they get … bored?
The metrics:
- Completion Rate: The number of people who finished viewing a story divided by the number of people who viewed the story.
- Number of Stories: The average amount of stories made over a given period of time.
- Slides Per Viewer: The average amount of story slides a user views before bouncing from a user’s story.
- Avg. Impressions Per Story: The average amount of reach an Instagram user gets on their posts over a given period of time.
Hashtag Usage & Performance
Hashtags are a crucial aspect of Instagram’s outreach and engagement system. They have the potential to bring people from all over the platform directly to your page—if you use them correctly!
Hashtag usage and performance metrics are perfect for answering the important questions that determine your hashtag strategy:
- How do your hashtags rank in comparison to those with a similar follower range as you?
- How many hashtags—on average—are other accounts using?
- How much time are they spending ranking on Instagram hashtags?
You’ll find all that out and more below!
The metrics:
- Rank Ratio: The number of hashtags you rank on divided by the number of hashtags you use over a given period of time.
- Hashtags Per Feed Post: The average amount of hashtags used per feed post by users over a given period of time.
- Total Time Spent Ranking: The total amount of time a user spends ranking on hashtags over a given period of time.
- Unique Hashtags Used: The total amount of unique hashtags a user uses over a given period of time.
Internal Benchmarking
While comparing yourself to other accounts is an invaluable tool when it comes to growing on Instagram—hence why we bother to create this resource!—it’s still incredibly important to measure internal Instagram benchmarks.
What Are Internal Benchmarks On Instagram?
Internal benchmarks are historical benchmarks that you compare your current account performance to other similar accounts.
To do this, head to your analytics in your Flick account, and at the top where it says “compared to,” click the drop-down and select “similar accounts.” From here, you’ll see how your account stacks up against other accounts that have a similar follower number as you.
Internal benchmarks are great for getting a sense of whether your account is headed in the right direction or not. If it is, that’s your sign to keep doing what you’re doing. If it isn’t, it may be time to dive into the data to locate the problem.
While Flick’s Open Benchmark database doesn’t contain any internal Instagram benchmarks, Flick customers have access to historical data that stretches back until the account was opened.
That’s All … For Now!
We hope you’ve learned a lot about your Instagram account performance through this resource. If you find stats like this interesting and informative, consider opening up a Flick account and taking advantage of our free trial offering.
We have tons more where this came from!
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