Ep. 27: Decoding Instagram Analytics to Develop Superfans

Do you want to learn how to decipher Instagram Analytics? You’re listening to Part 3 of my series with Amber Cullum from the Grace Enough Podcast. *This episode contains either affiliate links or links to my products. Should you choose to purchase, the show will go on! Woo hoo! Click below for show notes. Amber […]

The post Ep. 27: Decoding Instagram Analytics to Develop Superfans appeared first on Authentic Online Marketing.

Do you want to learn how to decipher Instagram Analytics? You’re listening to Part 3 of my series with Amber Cullum from the Grace Enough Podcast.

*This episode contains either affiliate links or links to my products. Should you choose to purchase, the show will go on! Woo hoo!

Click below for show notes.

Ep. 27: Decoding Instagram Analytics to Develop Superfans

Amber Cullum @GraceEnoughPodcast_Amber on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/graceenoughpodcast_amber/

Christian Podcaster’s Social Media Summit

https://christian-podcasters-association.mykajabi.com/a/39941/MCYmFNcf

In the last episode, Amber and I discussed The 3 key actions and tools she uses for generating Instagram traffic so go back and listen to that after this if you haven’t. And then in part 1 we discussed how community just might be the missing link for your Instagram strategy!  These 3 episodes are each about 10 minutes long, so listen in while you’re walking the dog, doing the dishes, or hitting that treadmill!

And now, let’s jump into Decoding Instagram Analytics to reach your target audience and drive traffic to your website! You’ll discover: 

How to test analytics to determine best times to post, generate leads, and develop superfans!

Key Takeaways From This Episode

 Convert to a business profile
 Study top posts/days
How much stock to put into audience analytics (time, age, demographic)
The best way to study your own audience
How to test analytics to determine best times to post
Avatar terminology and hashtags
How to find your superfans in spite of Instagram analytics saying otherwise
Pay attention to your audience’s post reception more than IG analytics interpretation
What to do to create awareness (reach and impressions)
Best ways to decode your personal IG analytics to reach your target audience (instead of just taking Instagram’s word for it)

A First Glance at Decoding Analytics

Ruthie

So, Amber, you had some questions that you were asking in one of our Zoom calls about decoding Instagram analytics. Your question was, “How do I use analytics to develop awareness of my podcast, and then drive that traffic to the podcast and convert them to listeners?” Let’s talk about that! So, you can use and study your analytics in a lot of different ways and let me tell you, there are so many analytics. Which brings me to an important point: If you’re listening to this, be sure you have a Business Instagram account, because that’s going to be the key to giving you all kinds of Instagram analytics.

Amber
I’m really just curious about how to use Instagram analytics when it comes to what time I post, and should I pay attention to the age of the people looking at my posts? I’m also wondering, how do I really track that to help me with my future posts?

Ruthie
OK, so you can look in your Insights to view the top posts, top videos, top days, and your impressions, account visits, and things like that!

Here’s how: Go to Insights, found underneath your follower count. The first thing you see when in analytics is “overview,” and then below that you can review Accounts Reached, Content Interaction, and Total Followers.

Ruthie
If you click on total followers, it gives you the follower breakdown. And this is what Amber is talking about. So it tells who has followed you, where they’re from, their age range, if they’re mostly men or women and the most active times of likes in hours and days. I’m going to give you a secret here: I don’t put a whole lot of stock into these particular analytics!

Amber
That’s good to know.

Decoding Instagram Analytics to Reach Your Target Audience

Ruthie
I would say they’re about 20 to 30 percent important. As far as what I have  seen for myself and my clients, the most important thing you can look at is the times that they’re on and some people will say to post at those times.

For example, if it says that on Sunday they’re on at 3:00 p.m., that is time they are at their height.
On Mondays, the time most people are on is between 12pm and 3pm, so you automatically think, well, that means I should post at 12 and 3. However, I will tell you that when I post during those times, my posts dive every time it’s crickets! So, I don’t I don’t always base my posting time on these analytics.

The best thing you can do is get to know your audience because they are yours and no one else’s.

First of all, what you want to do is decide when you’re going to post because you need to post at a comfortable time where you can plan to spend time engaging.

Then, you can just choose a time you know you’ll be flexible to engage after posting, say, 8:00 a.m. or noon or 6:00 PM. Then you just test them
out! You test the times and days for a while and make note of those times and days where you’re personally seeing the engagement firsthand.
After this you will have greater insight about what works and what doesn’t work as far as posting times and when your audience is active. The other thing you want to do is make sure that you’re using your target audiences’ terminology, avatar style, and hashtags, so that you are using something that you know is language that you want to use and that you perceive that your target follower uses. These are all helpful steps in decoding analytics!

Ruthie
So try using that consistently and see what happens. The reason I say that is because I did this for a couple of years with Instagram when I started teaching Instagram.  I started looking in my audience, which according to Instagram is mostly 35 to 44 in age, and I know that is baloney because the most people that come to me and comment on my trainings are my age. They’re empty nesters, they’re dog lovers, they’re grandmas. They’re the ones that have entered that second phase of life. And you, you’re younger than that and there is a demographic of people like you that I have for sure. But I perceive you as an old soul.

Amber
I am totally an old soul.

Ruthie
I can tell that I know who my people are! But first I had to look at who was responding, and for a while I just ignored that. Like, just sort of blew it off. I was thinking, no, it’s just young moms. Then, realizing, this isn’t working. So let’s start talking to this particular audience and see what
happens. Then the superfans just come through anyway! They’re like, I’m not your target audience, but I love your stuff.

Amber
You know, that helps me because I think what I’m hearing is that for decoding Instagram analytics, maybe some more of the value could be on paying attention to posts that respond really well and not really the
audience, because your audience may include people who like it, but maybe not people who actually comment and engage with you.

Ruthie
Yes! That’s it right there.

Amber
It’s very different because, I mean, I like all kinds of things I see on Instagram, but I may not know the person who’s posting it.

Ruthie
Yes, you could post a quote that goes viral. You’d get tons of likes, maybe about five hundred likes, but how many followers do you actually get from that quote? Probably not a lot. Now, it’s good to do things like that periodically. It’s good to put things like that in your cycle to create awareness, reach and impressions. But, the best thing to do, for the most part, is to look at the posts taking off that have done well and see what people are doing there. Are they saving it, sharing it, or are they  commenting?

You will need to think about the content you used in those types of posts. Try not to fight against it, because that’s your gold to developing superfans right there!
That is how you’re going to reach your target audience: by speaking their language, giving them more what they want, inviting conversations, and not just sharing. Superfans come by investing time and conversations-
not by posting! This is my message to you.

Developing Superfans Within Your Audience

Ruthie
You have to feed your audience. When you show your audience that you value them, then you can do the big ask, which is go to the podcast and subscribe– they’re going to want to do that because you’ve done all the other work of giving consistent calls to action, which is something that you really learned and applied in our membership group!

Amber

Thank you.

Ruthie
I think I started preaching there for a second. Hey, hey!

Amber
That’s good, though! You know, the thing is, it’s more of just trying to figure out what do I need to leave on the table. I’ve left analytics on the table for a long time, but it’s kind of affirming to realize it’s OK to leave it there and keep focusing on what you’re doing, which is engaging the people who are commenting and interested. Those are the people who are probably going to end up sharing it in the long run anyways! That’s the organic growth I’m looking for.

Ruthie
Those are your superfans and that’s how you get them.

To wrap that, what I want to say to your question about decoding Instagram analytics is that you can
benefit from the analytics, but what you need to do is develop your target audience, speak to your target audience, reach out to people, develop a collaboration community, and leverage that. Do more of that and do more of what works on your posts!

Amber

Well, thanks so much, that does it takes a little bit of the pressure off because sometimes it can just seem overwhelming, right? You know, again, I’m no Instagram expert, but because we’re on this podcast, I just know that, as someone who is still kind of starting out but is maybe a little bit more
seasoned, you’re not going to learn all of this in one day. You’re also not going to learn all of this in one year. You’re not going to learn everything you need to learn in two years, whether that’s Instagram, podcasting, Facebook, or whatever! So just be a lifelong learner. Think about it in terms of school. We build a foundation and it gets layered upon and layered upon and layered upon.

Ruthie
That’s it! Everyone has to start somewhere, so just start and keep going. Well, this has been so fun! I have loved this chat that we’ve had.

Amber Cullum is the podcast host behind Grace Enough.  I am first a child of God, saved by His grace alone, but I don’t always act like it. Wife to Sam, mom of 3, and a Physical Therapist turned stay at home mom.

I love connecting women with God, people, and resources to spur them on in their walks with Jesus and remind them that God’s grace is enough.

Follow Amber on Instagram @graceenoughpodcast_amber 

The post Ep. 27: Decoding Instagram Analytics to Develop Superfans appeared first on Authentic Online Marketing.