Now that you’re familiar with some of Instagram’s most important metrics, it’s time to look at some tools that will help you make the most of your data.
To help you get started, I’ve provided a quick list of analytics tools and their unique selling points. I’ve tried to pick a range of examples to show what it’s possible to learn about your customers with the right data.
1. Instagram Insights
Instagram’s built-in analytics tracker lets you check in on your profile performance at a glance.
The main advantage of Insights is its simplicity. You can quickly check in on your past week’s progress on mobile while you’re on-the-go.
Insights’ biggest disadvantage is that you can’t easily gain a bigger-picture understanding of your efforts over time. The data is fairly limited, and you can’t export any of it from the app. If you want to do some number crunching in Excel, you’ll have to use a third-party analytics tool to export your data.
2. Hootsuite Analytics
No list of Instagram analytics tools would be complete without Hootsuite Analytics. We’re really proud of what our product offers Instagram users, from competitive analysis tools to graphs and charts that clearly map out your account data so you can identify trends instantly.
Hootsuite Analytics also allows you to look much further back into past post data than Instagram’s native analytics tool, so you can determine KPIs and measure channel growth with greater confidence.
3. Iconosquare
Facebook and Instagram analytics tool Iconosquare has a generous offer for first-time users: a free audit of your Instagram profile. When you sign into the platform, they’ll email you a performance review with tips on how to optimize your content.
Iconosquare lets you easily export your data manually, and you can schedule automated reports to be sent to your inbox. You can even export reports by timezone to see how you’re engaging different audiences around the world.
4. Union Metrics
Union Metrics takes some of the hassle out of analytics by automatically pulling trends and outliers from your insights stream, so you can immediately identify actionable moments in you post history. You can also monitor your photo tags and mentions so you always know when you’re trending.
Like Iconosquare, Union Metrics offers a free Instagram audit when you sign up.
5. Crowdfire
One strategy to your boost your Instagram audience is to follow as many people as you can. About 30% of accounts will follow you back. Eventually, though, you’ll reach the 7,500 follower cap and this strategy stops working.
Crowdfire helps solve this problem with a unique feature: follower analytics that expose sneaky unfollowers, so you can unfollow them right back! By freeing up space in your Following list, you can continue to grow your audience with mutual relationships.
6. Squarelovin
If you want to leverage user-generated content on your Instagram, check out Squarelovin. Their Insights tool focuses on helping you get the most out of the videos and images your followers tag you in on the platform—while also making sure you’re not running into any copyright issues.
Another feature I love on Squarelovin: tracking the impact of specific Instagram filters. Yes, even something as small as this can impact engagement!
7. Plann
This Instagram-focused scheduling and analytics tool will help you focus on curating the most beautiful feed possible. Similar to Squarelovin’s filter tracker, Plann’s analytics will reveal which color schemes your audience likes best. You can even compare your most effective color schemes against your competitors via Plann’s “Sneaky Peek” feature. What a time to be alive!