Everything You Need to Know about Instagram Monitoring

Numbers don’t lie! And 63% of Instagram users check the app at least once per day, and 42% open the app multiple times within the same day. Why? Because there’s always something new.

For marketers, it creates a specific challenge. How do I keep on track with so many mentions and hashtags and, at the same time, adjust the strategy and efforts?

Instagram monitoring is about regularly scanning and analyzing Instagram posts, Reels, comments, and Stories to find voices that matter to your business. This includes posts about your brand, competitors, industry, and influencers you collaborate with. You get to track the volume of mentions, their sentiment, and measure your overall brand reputation.

So, without further ado… Let’s dig in!

Table of contents:

• What is Instagram monitoring?
• How to monitor Instagram?
  • Monitor mentions
  • Explore Instagram analytics
  • Monitor the progress
• Instagram monitoring tips
• Why monitor an Instagram account?
• Conclusion

What is Instagram monitoring?

Instagram monitoring is a process of analyzing Instagram for information relevant to your business. 

This includes tracking Instagram mentions of your brand, monitoring hashtags relevant to your business, observing competitor accounts’ actions, and understanding audience behavior and preferences.

The goal is to gather insights to shape your content strategy, boost engagement, and grow your following.

By constantly analyzing what content performs best, who’s talking about your brand, and how users interact with your posts, Instagram monitoring gives you the data you need to make smarter, more effective decisions for your social media strategy.

Whether it’s comments about your brand, what your competitors are up to, industry trends, or what influencers you’re working with are saying… It’s all out there and can reshape your Instagram thinking.

After all, an Instagram strategy is not just about posting and hoping for the best. It’s about using real analytics to ensure your social media is as awesome as possible.

How to monitor Instagram?

01 Monitor mentions

By watching what people say online and how your competitors respond to those voices – you get to know what your audience likes and doesn’t like.

And well, this knowledge is invaluable. 

It helps you better understand your audience and, in the long run – make your content more interesting, adjust your marketing strategy to be more effective, and stay one step ahead of your competitors.

For example, take a look at this Nike post:

After looking at a comment like the one below, Nike can be sure they did a great job and to keep repeating that kind of content:

However, finding important insights and analyzing them can be overwhelming.

Numbers speak louder than words, huh?

In fact, the online world is flooded with spam. Instagram itself has an estimated 95 million bot accounts. Manually going through every comment and interaction sounds like Sisyphean work…

No worries, though!

Social media analytics tools like Brand24 make Instagram analytics so much easier. They use specific keywords to track down relevant posts, reels, stories, or comments (even those untagged directly).

These keywords could be your brand names, something relevant to your industry, or even your branded hashtags. Plus, it doesn’t have to be just one word – a set of words works perfectly fine too.

Take a look below. This is what an untagged mention looks like in Brand24. You’d have no idea it exists without using advanced external tools…

Cool? I know. But here’s a real game-changer.

Thanks to advanced AI technology, Anomaly Detector by Brand24 can identify the reasons behind any potential spikes in mentions. It’s a game-changer for all social media managers. 

You don’t need to go through each comment and manually draw conclusions – the tool does it for you automatically.

Instagram analytics tools don’t just find information relevant to your brand. They analyze them and offer ready-to-use, actionable insights that can shape your Instagram marketing strategy.

Thanks to using advanced Instagram monitoring tools, you can:

• Gain audience insights
• Manage your reputation effectively
• Conduct competitive analysis
• Identify industry trends
• Enhance user engagement
• Measure campaign success
• Find influencer partnerships
• Save time on analysis
• Hashtag monitoring and analysis

02 Explore Instagram analytics

If you’re looking for quick info on the go, Instagram Insights offers a decent amount of basic Instagram analytics.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to export this data into a report, and you’ll have to analyze most of it yourself.

But it gives you a good basic overview of your Instagram results.

Internal tools provide Instagram metrics like:

1. Follower growth rate
2. Engagement rate
3. Profile analytics
4. Stories taps forward/back
5. Reels Watch
6. Reels Plays
7. Best performing Reel
8. Engagement metrics

Navigating within the internal Instagram analytics tool is very intuitive. You can find them for free within the Instagram app.

Just go to your profile, click the three lines in the top right corner, and go to “Insights”. And voila!

You can also access insights for specific posts after clicking the three dots in the top right corner of your post and going to “Insights”. It works for all kinds of posts – reels and carousels, too.

Plus, you can track your brand mentions by simply checking notifications. If added with a “@” symbol – it will appear in your control panel.

But again – if your friends will tag you in a comment on a private account – you won’t know. And the same thing happens with untagged mentions.

Instagram analytics tools within the app have their limitations. As long as it’s great as a basic Instagram activity tracker or for social media management – there are better options for detailed reporting.

First things first, diving into such vast data can be time-consuming. And why bother if many advanced Instagram analytics tools can do this heavy lifting for you?

For instance, Brand24 will track Instagram, analyze the collected data, and present conclusions, saving you from the hassle of manual analysis.

Brand24’s analytics go beyond basic numbers. It’s not just an Instagram tracker. The tool delves into the sentiment behind your social mentions, categorizing them as positive, negative, or neutral. 

This feature is particularly helpful as it automatically detects which sources generate the most negative sentiment, helping you pinpoint areas needing attention or improvement.

But the big advantage of social listening and Brand24 itself is that it also tracks other data sources, including non-social ones and all mentions – those untagged too. This allows you to get a complete picture of your brand.

Other data sources of Brand24 include:

• Social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Reddit, Quora, Telegram, and Twitch
• Review sites such as TripAdvisor, Yelp, Booking, App Store, Google Play, Trustpilot
• Blogs
• Video platforms
• Podcasts
• Discussion forums
• Newsletters
• Online news sources
• Other publicly available sources

It’s crucial information if you want to understand (and improve) your Instagram marketing performance and online presence simultaneously.

03 Monitor the progress

Monitoring progress is crucial for building a strong Instagram presence.

When you track how your business account is growing and how your content performs over time – you get valuable historical data and clear insights into what’s working and what’s not.

Perhaps adding hashtags is the way to be? You will know by monitoring the brand performance progress.

Also, by monitoring Instagram performance, you can identify which types of posts get the most engagement – should you focus on reels or stories? You’ll know exactly what your audience prefers.

Moreover, regular monitoring helps you spot trends and adapt quickly. Social media is always evolving, and what worked last month might not work today.

Brand24 also offers comparison features. By monitoring your progress, you can stay ahead of the curve and consistently deliver content that resonates with your audience. It’s super important.

Take a look below. This is what a period comparison by Brand24 looks like.

It provides many interesting data like social & non-social mentions, social media reach, presence score, user-generated content, advertising value equivalency (AVE), and mentions sentiment. All of those metrics can reshape your future Instagram activity.

Here’s a real-world example to bring the concept of Instagram monitoring to life:

As you can see, for Kodak, the number of total mentions increased by 229%, which indicated a massive (114%) increase in AVE.

At the same time, this high number of mentions is most probably influenced by a great amount of UGC content.

Conclusion? Focusing on user-generated content or influencer partnerships is a way to go for Kodak.

Instagram monitoring tips

1. Know what you want – whether it’s brand mentions tracking, feedback on a new product, or keeping an eye on the competition. Having clear goals will allow you to direct your monitoring efforts more effectively.
2. Choose keywords that are unique and relevant to your brand. This could include your brand name, campaign hashtags, or specific product names. The more targeted the keywords, the more relevant the monitoring results will be.
3. Engage your audience! Don’t just observe, but interact. Respond to mentions, thank users for positive feedback, and respond to concerns or questions. This increases engagement and also builds your brand’s reputation.
4. Regularly view your social media insights to understand audience behavior and content performance. Look for patterns or changes in engagement and adjust your strategy accordingly.
5. Keep an eye on your DMs. Instagram direct messages hide a mass of customer feedback and inquiries. Be sure to include them in your routine monitoring, as analytics tools will not have access to them

Why monitor an Instagram profile?

Still wondering if it’s worth it to delve into the monitoring world? Let’s break down why monitoring your Instagram accounts is useful. 

Instagram monitoring will help you to:

• Discover what your followers love, hate, and, in general – talk about.
• Find out what kind of content performs best – Reels, Stories, or perhaps something else?
• Find influencers and super-fans for potential partnerships.
• Know what your competitors are doing and stay one step ahead.
• Address any negative comments and keep your reputation shining bright.
• Spot user-generated content to reuse and show off your brand.

Conclusion

It can be challenging to fully monitor Instagram if you only rely on Instagram’s internal analytics. These built-in tools offer some great basic insights but don’t always give you the full picture. 

So, consider complementing your efforts with social media monitoring. A good tool like Brand24 can be a game-changer.

Brand24 goes beyond Instagram’s own analytics by monitoring mentions across the web, measuring additional metrics, and providing a more comprehensive view of your online presence.

Final Thoughts:

1. Pair Instagram’s analytics with tools like Brand24 to truly understand your Instagram impact. This combo lets you see how your content performs and how it resonates across the broader digital landscape.
2. Focus on the social media metrics that matter. While likes and follows are great, pay attention to the power of engagement, sentiment analysis, and reach. These metrics can tell you much more about your audience’s true connection with your brand.
3. Discover the ‘why’ behind your audience’s behaviors. Learn what drives engagement, tailor your content strategy accordingly, and make informed decisions that lead to real growth.

Are you inspired to start your own Instagram monitoring journey? Take the first step with the Brand24 trial!