Instagram Story Metrics That Matter

With over 900 million people using Instagram Stories every day, you need to be optimizing your stories strategy. 

Instagram Stories is one of the platform’s most favored features. It allows individuals and brands to showcase a more authentic side to them and as Gen Z moves away from super curated formats, this more relatable feature has only grown in popularity. 

So, here’s the lowdown on Instagram Story metrics that matter and how to use the analytics to inform your social media strategy.

Discovery Metrics To Track

The most important Instagram Story discovery metrics to track are reach and impressions.

• Reach: the amount of accounts that saw your story
• Impressions: the total number of views on your story (including repeat views)

Discovery metrics give you a good understanding of how many people are seeing your Stories. Obviously the more people who see your Stories, the better. Because Stories viewers tend to be more engaged than post viewers, it can give you an understanding of how invested your existing audience is in your content/brand/product. Comparing impressions to reach statistics can also give you a better understanding of how thought-provoking or engaging your content is.

To boost discoverability through Instagram Stories, consider adding more stickers, using location tags and hashtags, sharing exclusive content, and posting consistently throughout the day.

Navigation Metrics To Track

Instagram Story navigation metrics tell you how engaging your viewers find your content. Here’s what numbers mean:

• Forward taps: number of times someone tapped to the next story
• Back Taps: number of times someone tapped back to see the previous story
• Next Story Swipes: the number of times someone swiped to the next story
• Exit Story Swipes: the number of times someone exited stories after seeing your content

While forward taps are pretty intuitive, it’s important to examine all other navigation metrics to gauge how your audience feels.  

Back taps are a good indicator of content that people want to see. People watch content twice if they find it engaging or thought-provoking and as a business or brand, that’s exactly the type of strategy you want to lean into. If the number is much higher than usual, it might also be a good idea to save that content to your Instagram Story highlights.

A high number of next story swipes and exit story swipes can indicate that your audience is bored or frustrated with what you’re sharing on Stories and is a sure sign that you need to switch up your Stories strategy. If you see a lot of these actions plus a decrease in discovery, switch up your content format and then with your next set of Stories, add additional elements like stickers or CTAs to drive engagement.

Interaction Metrics To Track

If your audience interacts in any other way with your Stories, it’ll get recorded as an interaction metric.

• Likes: the number of people who gave your Story a like
• Profile Visits: the number of times your profile was viewed by someone who viewed your story
• Replies: number of people who responded to your story
• Follows: new followers after viewing a particular story
• Website visits: visitors who clicked the link in your profile after watching a story
• Link clicks: number of people who clicked your link sticker
• Business address taps: number of times your business address was tapped after someone viewed your story
• Interactions: total engagement-count after people viewed your story

Because interactions take more effort than simple navigation, these metrics can first and foremost tell you how invested and proactive your followers are with your account. Instagram Story interaction metrics provide valuable information about specifically how your followers are interacting with your content and can give you detailed measurements for how close you are to specific social media and business goals.

We get it, Instagram Story analytics can be overwhelming. That’s why we suggest you take things slowly and begin by looking at the metrics that are most aligned with your business goals. Trying to sell a product? Website visits and link clicks are going to matter the most. Want to build brand visibility? Then start by tracking discovery insights. Still overwhelmed? Reach out and let’s work together to get things off the ground!