I’ll be honest — I can’t get enough of racers using social media to propel their careers forward. I’ve seen first-hand in my own career and heard from many of you that social media and insights have totally changed how you make money and do what you love as a racer. Getting sponsors has never been easier, and building your fan base is easy to track with that “follower” number consistently ticking up-up-up.
Here’s where I want to challenge you to go to the next level. Sure, you’ve got a handle on posting and creating and engaging… but how great are you at using feedback and data to drive (pun intended) stronger results? Social media, while it can feel like the wild west sometimes, is a totally understandable landscape. Platforms like Instagram and Facebook have created super robust analytics and insights for you to understand what your audience is responding to and how you can make more of it.
We’re walking through the powerhouse analytics of Instagram and Facebook and how you can use them to make stronger content that keeps your social media success trending upwards.
Instagram Insights
Ah, Instagram. What can’t this platform do? If you’re not taking advantage of all of the features Instagram has to offer, you’re missing out on some crazy growth opportunities. With so many ways to create and engage, understanding your insights is important to keep your energies focused in the right place.
Find these following terms by going to your profile, tapping the 3-line menu in the header, and tapping on “Insights”.
Impressions
Impressions refers to the number of times your post was seen on a screen. The higher the impressions, the higher the possibility of someone new finding and loving your content. You can increase your impressions by creating extra-sharable content and by using niched hashtags.
Engagement
Instagram has lots of engagement metrics that it weights equally: Likes, comments, shares, and saves. While each of these affects the algorithm the same per post type, they mean different things for you. More reshares will increase your reach, more saves could mean increased loyalty and trust-building with your audience. More likes and comments tell you you’ve hit on something your audience really resonates with. Evaluating your engagement insights will help you create highly-tailored content.
Profile Visits and Website Clicks
When it comes to making money, getting people from your Instagram platform to a place where their attention = dollars is super important. Pay attention to which posts get the most profile views and website clicks, especially what kinds of calls to action you used to transform readers into potential customers.
Follows
Finally, growing a following is definitely a focus for each of us, right? Make sure that while your following is growing that those new patrons are aligned with you and your brand. It’s useless to get 10K new followers if they’re not ever going to buy your sponsors’ products or tune in to a race. It’s worth both culling your followers a few times a year and paying attention to what kinds of posts garner the most followers at once.
Pro-tip for summer 2021: Instagram is highly favoring Reels right now as a content form, so if growing a following is a focus in this season, upping your Reels content should be on your production list!
Facebook Insights
Facebook, while sometimes feeling like a platform of the past, is still used by 69% of the American population, making it a giant that can’t be ruled out. With more than 2.8 billion users, finding and connecting with your people can be like finding a needle in a haystack. Understanding your insights and honing in on resonate content will help you connect right away with the right people.
Most of these insights you can view on a post-by-post basis by going to your Facebook Page (not a personal Profile or Group) and clicking “more insights” that appears on each post. You can view all insights together by going to the left-hand menu and choosing the “Insights” tab, complete with a little graph icon.
Impressions
Like Instagram, Facebook also shares Impression information, which means the pure number of times your content was viewed. If your Impressions are significantly higher than your Reach, that means that the same people have viewed your content multiple times. If those high impressions aren’t converting to engagement, Page likes, or website clicks — it’s time to re-evaluate your content.
Engagement
Likes, comments, and shares make up Facebook’s engagement tracking. Like Instagram, these factors are equally weighted for Facebook but mean different things for you. Comments and shares could mean big things for your reach (and ultimate growth) and likes could mean more of your content getting shown to those same people (hello, loyalty and consistency).
Post Clicks
Like Profile URL Clicks on Instagram, post clicks are when people click the link you put in a post. Facebook has this feature beat over Instagram since you can add a unique link to every Facebook post (even multiple!). For better tracking, keep it to one link per post (Facebook won’t break out link clicks per link if you add multiple) and always use a CTA. So many elements of your post could lead to people clicking the link (copy, video or image, call to action) so keep up with your insight tracking to make more informed decisions that lead people to a purchasing decision.
Page Likes
The Facebook equivalent of Instagram Follows. These are the people who will now see your content regularly in their Facebook feed, along with their Facebook Friends’ profile posts and Group posts.
Pages are at a perceived disadvantage on Facebook because the algorithm is highly tailored to intimate, relational connections (which Profiles and Groups do great). Understand that your Page functions more like a storefront or website, designed to give your Followers an idea of your brand, your information, and what you’re about — and less about fostering connection and relationship.
People who like your Facebook Page are ready to keep up behind-the-scenes content, how to connect further with you off-Facebook, and first-look information.
There you have it! The deep dive of Instagram and Facebook insights and analytics. Making data-driven decisions about your posting content will save you time and make you money.
I know that handling all that data and information can feel overwhelming — so I made you something! My Analytics Tracker Spreadsheet is a one-stop spreadsheet for you to handle all of this data in one convenient place. Grab yours here!
