Instagram’s Reels Insights Proving to be a Game-changer for creators? Let’s find out!

But first, know why your brand needs to focus more on Reels:

With the growing popularity of the Chinese entertainment app, Tiktok, Instagram found a way to compete by launching its very own Reels in 2020. With an aim to be the focal point of entertainment, the short video format soon enough gained popularity and accomplished its aim.

One of the major reasons why Reels quickly got viral was due to the ban on Tiktok in certain countries. Reels came up to be the best possible alternative to the popular short-video creating platform. 

Since its launch, almost every creator and business owner has been using Reels to create engaging content. In 2022, if you’re not using Reels for your business, you’re missing out on major Reach and Engagement for your brand. It’s like using early stone tools to prepare food in MasterChef.

The market is as competitive as ever, and it’s evolving at high speed, so the only way to not get left behind is to hop on the ongoing trends where the biggest players are playing their games. Who knows, your brand can emerge victorious as Reels are the best platform to gain popularity and the easiest way to get viral. Reels increase more than 67% of total engagement, thus increasing organic Reach. 

Now you know why every creator and business owner needs to use this short video format.

So, what’s this new update, and why is it beneficial for you?

We’ll tell you! 

Firstly, it’s a relief for major creators and businesses because their voices have been heard by Instagram. After months of reviews and feedback, Instagram finally added the Insights section for Live videos and Reels to better understand the audience’s behavior and overall performance. 

Here’s what Instagram has to say about the new function: “We have been inspired by the ways our community has embraced these content formats and want to make sure creators and businesses can understand how their content is performing. For Reels, we will be showing new metrics including Plays, Accounts Reached, Likes, Comments, Saves, and Shares.” 

The social networking giant added to this part by stating, “Additionally, we’re launching new detailed information about Reach in Account Insights. We know that understanding more about how content is being distributed is important, so we’ve built new breakdowns that provide transparency into which types of accounts you’re reaching and which content formats are the most effective at driving Reach.”

This is the official statement given by Instagram through their website. 

What Was It Like Before The Update?

Before Instagram rolled out the update, you could only see the total number of view counts, likes, and comments on your Reels.

What’s New?

There is now a dedicated reels analytics tab available, similar to the static posts and videos. 

The New Metrics For Analyzing Reels Are As Follows:

1. Accounts Reached: This tab displays the number of accounts that have at least once viewed your Reel. To identify whether your Reel has been featured on the Explore page or has ranked in the top Reels section, you need to check this metric. If the total account’s reached are much higher than your usual numbers, chances are that your Reel has gone viral. 

Similarly, if the numbers in this metric are less than usual, there might be chances that the Instagram algorithm isn’t supporting your Reel due to multiple reasons like:

• The content isn’t engaging enough.
• The time of posting is wrong.
• You used a banned hashtag.

2. Plays: This tab shows the total number of times your Reel has been played. The viewers sometimes might watch your video more than once if they find it interesting, and hence, this number could be higher than the number of accounts reached. 

The other metrics include:

3. Likes: This shows the total number of likes you received on your Reel.
4. Shares: The number of times your Reel has been shared by the viewers.
5. Comments: Total number of comments on your Reel. 
6. Saves: Shows the number of accounts that have saved your Reel. 
7. Duration: The total time of your Reel.

How Does The New Update Help?

The new metrics included in the Account Insights help you to see a more comprehensive picture of your content.
By analyzing the Insights, you can determine how the Reels influence the account’s performance.
The new update provides data breakdowns that give visibility into the types of accounts you’re reaching and the methods that are the most effective for driving Reach.
The data helps to recognize patterns of your viewers, and understanding their behavior will help to create content favored by them.
It is very likely that if your Reel gets a flurry of views from non-followers, chances are, it was accessed from the Instagram Home feed or Explore search feed. Analyzing which Reel is performing best becomes much easier due to the new metrics and it’s necessary to determine the most-viewed content that’s been liked by the viewers and what’s best working for your account.

How The Viewer Behavior Aids To Your Account Growth

The Number Of Saves: The amount of time your video is saved and shared can provide you with a good indicator as to whether people want to watch your videos at a later date or share them with others.
This particular metric helps to decipher how returnable is your content. If the number of saves is higher than your usual number, it can be derived that your Reel is loaded with information or it has content that makes the viewer return back sometime later.
Checking Comments: Usually, a higher number of likes and comments shows that your Reel is being enjoyed by the viewers. Instagram has been known to reward with more visibility to reels with a greater number of comments.
However, a creator must not just look for the numbers when it comes to comments. It’s very necessary to check the feedback of your viewers in order to know their views on your Reel.
If the reviews are positive, you can create content similar to what the viewers are liking and engage with it so that they keep returning to your account to find content based on the same niche.
But if your reels receive negative comments, you should listen to what your audience has to say. Whether the negative feedback is only about this particular content or your profile as a whole. Comments should never be overlooked as a simple engagement metric.

How To Access The Reel Insights?

First things first, you need to have a Business account Or a Creator’s account in order to access Instagram Reel Insights or even the static post Insights. 

Follow The Steps Below To See The New Metrics:

1. Open the Instagram app. (Yes, obviously?) 
2. Click on the profile icon that you can see in the bottom right corner. Now tap on the three horizontal lines in the upper right corner to access Settings. 
3. You can see the Insights section there. Tap on it. 
4. Your Insights overview panel will be visible on your screen, where you can see your whole page’s metrics. Scroll down until you find the Reels sections and click on the arrow next to it. 
5. There, you can see all the data of the Reels you’ve posted over the past 30 days. 

Using the overall Reach section of your Instagram Insights, you can see how many followers and non-followers you have reached, as well as how this compares to other types of content.
This section even allows you to view the top-most performing Reel that you posted in the last week or 30 days ago.
If you wish to see how a particular Reel is performing, there’s another way for it. Here’s how:
Head over to your Account Profile located in the bottom right corner and go to the Reels section.
Tap on any individual Reel, and you can see the option for “View Insights.
Another way to check the Insights is you can tap on the three dots located in the upper right corner of any individual reel and select “View Insights” from the list of options.

Is It Necessary To Analyze Instagram Reels Insights Frequently?

Yes, it is quite essential that you keep an eye on the Insights at least on a month-to-month basis, if not a weekly basis (we recommend checking the Insights weekly)
The core point of analyzing the Insights is to get aid in creating content for the future. Planning and creating a content strategy based on the performance will help to upgrade your level of content for the future.

Our Views On The Update:

We’re definitely giving a big thumbs up to Instagram for bringing this much-needed analyzer tool as it’ll allow us to get a broader picture of the content that’s thriving on our profile and generate more awesome content that you’ll like.
P.S. If you haven’t already checked out our Instagram, here’s our account @eightysixmestg.wpengine.com where we post some cool stuff that you’ll love!
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