Using Instagram for marketing purposes is rapidly growing in popularity, with over 70% of companies using the platform in 2017, compared to less than 50% in 2016.
It’s important that you leverage Instagram for your own business, but once you start, it can be difficult to discern whether you’re truly successful. Without the right metrics, you’ll never know if you could be doing more to engage your audience or grow your following.
There are plenty of Instagram analytics apps to help you keep track of your progress and discover areas for improvement. Here, we’ll focus on the best free Instagram analytics apps, so you can focus your money and efforts on the Instagram content itself.
Image via Later.com
If you have a business account on Instagram, you automatically have access to their free analytics tool, Instagram Insights. The Insights tool can show you when your audience is on Instagram, which of your posts are most popular, and your account’s impressions and reach.
Additionally, you can compare your original post with a promoted version of the post to figure out if your paid efforts are working. Unfortunately, you can only use the tool within the app (there’s no desktop version), and it’s not the most user-friendly, but it provides a good basic overview of your Instagram analytics for both individual posts, and your account as a whole.
2. Iconosquare
Iconosquare is a three-in-one Instagram solution for social media marketing. The platform allows you to schedule new posts, monitor what people are saying about the industry (or your brand), and of course track your Instagram analytics. These analytics show you trends related to engagement, impressions, your posts’ reach, and even how your Instagram Stories are performing.
Iconosquare also includes hashtag and competitor tracking, allowing marketers to compare themselves against the people and topics they care about. The platform comes with a two-week free trial, as well as a variety of free tools such as a full Instagram Audit.
3. Squarelovin
Squarelovin’s free Instagram Insights tool provides most of the information you’d need to conduct an analysis on your progress over the year — for instance, you can obtain a monthly analysis on your posts, or a history of your posts broken down by month, day, or even hour. Additionally, the tool offers insights into your followers’ interests, and how to drive further engagement to your posts. You can even figure out the best time to post, depending on when your followers are most likely on the app.
4. Crowdfire
Crowdfire allows marketers to schedule posts, measure their performance, and track mentions of their brand, as well as curate content related to their industry from all over the internet. The product delivers article and image recommendations from other websites, helping marketers expand their visibility when considering what content to include in their Instagram strategy.
Crowdfire’s analytics tools visualize your Instagram data in several user-friendly charts. They also drill down into a number of advanced metrics that show you how you’re performing over long periods of time.
5. Pixlee
Used by Kenneth Cole, Sonos, and plenty of other big brands, Pixlee offers an impressive free tool. It allows you to create shareable reports that you can distribute to your entire marketing team, and analyze metrics to figure out how to drive more engagement and attract new followers. Additionally, the tool helps you find influencers or brand advocates promoting your products, so you can create more effective influencer campaigns.
While it doesn’t provide its Instagram Analytics tool for free, Union Metrics does offer a free monthly Instagram checkup. The checkup tells you which hashtags will increase your engagement, which posts resonate best with your audience, and what time your followers use the app. While the tool can’t give you analytics beyond 30 days, it’s a useful option for taking a look at short-term themes and patterns, and learning how you can quickly improve your metrics.
7. Socialbakers
Image via Socialbakers Support
While admittedly not the most visually appealing tool in the list, Socialbakers still offers critical information, including your most liked and most commented on posts, and your top performing filters. Additionally, Socialbakers offers an Instagram Report, which compares your own Instagram account to your competitors’, to see where you fall in the industry and what you can do to improve.
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