With so many social media networks already on the block and more popping up every now and then, it certainly does get overwhelming (read: impossible) to keep up with all. Now, all these networks come with more things that one can count on their fingers, starting from metrics, analytics, and more!

One particular network that has been around for quite some time is Instagram. The picture-sharing network was launched on 6th October 2022 and has been quite the hype since then. Many people jumped on the Instagram bandwagon from Twitter since it obviously provided more entertainment with pictures!

A few years down the lane, Instagram became the hub of business marketing, and then the Meta group acquired it. Still, trying to convince yourself that it is the network to be on in 2023? Read ahead:

• There are 28 billion monthly active users on Instagram each day.
• There are 200 million active business accounts on the platform.
• 8% of users are under the age of 35.
• Around 130 million active users click on shoppable posts.

So all in all, Instagram is quite important for social media marketing, and every business should be active over there. Apart from all the numbers, Instagram also has a very strong set of metrics that enable a user to track how well their account is doing.

One of the most important metrics that is essential to track is Instagram reach.

A business can track these metrics using analytics software or a social media management tool. But before we can get to that, we should start with what exactly Instagram reach is and how to increase it!

Understanding the Instagram Terminology

There are three main terminologies that we are going to use; Instagram reach, impressions, and engagement. To fully understand what Instagram reach is, we shall use all three of these and learn the difference.

Instagram Reach

The total number of unique visitors to your posts or stories is called Instagram reach. Furthermore, the reach can be calculated in multiple different ways, you can track it for a single post or the entire page or even a campaign.

In actuality, it is impossible to have all your followers see every one of your posts. In reference to the Instagram algorithm, it is not even possible for a post to reach all of the followers.

You should definitely work on increasing your Instagram reach since it can elevate brand awareness.

How To Calculate Instagram Reach rate?

Now that we have established that achieving a 100% Instagram reach rate is not practical, there must be some way to calculate where your account stands.

Now, you can easily check out where you stand by tracking your Instagram reach on the platform. But to know how good the number actually is, you need to figure out the percentage.

The formula to calculate Instagram reach rate is:

Why Is It Necessary to Track Instagram Reach?

For starters, Instagram reach tells you whether your campaigns are working out. I mean, there is no point of running and executing a campaign if the posts are not even reaching the right audience.

Besides that, Instagram reach also shows if your posts are attractive enough to get unique eyeballs or if they are getting lost in the crowd. All in all, if your posts need to get more eyes, then you are leaving your customers mid-way. You cannot make a point if your posts don’t show at all!

By tracking the reach each day, you can also figure out which content format works best for you and create more of that

Here is how you can track Instagram reach on the platform:

What Is a Good Reach on Instagram?

For larger brands with more than 500k followers, a good Instagram reach rate is perceived to be 2% for stories and 12% for a post. For mid-level and small size following, a good reach rate is 32% for posts and 8% for stories!

Apart from that, whatever level of Instagram reach helps you achieve your target is the number you should aim for. Always remember that for metrics like these, no cookie-cutter number works for all!

A certain campaign whose aim is to spread brand awareness would have a different Instagram reach than the one whose target is to collect email addresses. You cannot compare the numbers with each other and negate the data.

Lastly, when you start out your Instagram reach might seem big in numbers and decrease as you go by, but that is nothing to worry about if the percentage is increasing.

Instagram Impressions

Instagram impressions is the number of times users saw your posts or stories. This number is usually quite higher than Instagram reach since it counts the number of people without any unique users.

If your Instagram impressions are significantly higher than your Instagram reach, then chances are that your followers (or non-followers) are viewing your posts more than once. This means that your content is interesting and people keep coming back to it. You can add a CTA for saving posts if this is the case!

While tracking impressions, your main focus should be on posts that have a higher impression-to-reach ratio.

Instagram Engagement

Instagram engagement refers to the total number of accounts that interacted with your posts or stories during a specific time period. The engagement could be in the form of likes, comments, or replies to stories.

This shows how content type can affect your Instagram engagement rate.

Here is how you can track Instagram engagement on the platform:

It is a really good metric to test how well your new campaigns are doing.

How to calculate the Instagram engagement rate?

To calculate your Instagram engagement rate, divide the sum of likes and comments by the total number of followers and multiply by 100!

Related Article: YouTube Analytics: Top Metrics You Need to Track for Channel Growth

Instagram Reach vs Instagram Impressions – Which One Is More Important?

Both Instagram reach and impressions are important metrics that need to be tracked regularly. There is no way to determine which is more important than the other. The only thing that can be done is to check which one has more weightage according to the use case at that time.

Reach only looks at the unique user count, whereas impressions are the total views on your stories and posts. Impressions can include the same person twice or even more. It does not differentiate between people who view the same post or story multiple times.

Reach helps you understand the exposure that your content piece is getting. However, your impressions will always be higher than reach. Impressions help you figure out how engaging your content is and if it has the ability to draw people back to it.

When your main concern for a post is engagement, you should track impressions more than reach. However, if you aim to increase brand awareness, then Instagram reach is a better metric!

Regularly, you should track both of these metrics.

9 Tips to Increase Instagram Reach in 2024

Since Instagram reach is a super important metric, it is essential to come up with ways to boost it continuously. Here are a few things that can help you out in the upcoming year:

1. Post on Optimal Timings

   Posting at best possible time can help you boost Instagram reach very easily. However, for this you first need to figure out when it actually is the best time to post. Apart from a general schedule that you can follow, different content types have different optimal timings.

   Like Instagram reels usually perform the best at:

   • Monday: 6 AM, 10AM, 10PM
   • Tuesday: 2 AM, 4 AM, 9 AM
   • Wednesday: 7 AM, 8 AM, 11 PM
   • Thursday: 9 AM, 12 AM, 7 PM
   • Friday: 5 AM, 1 PM, 3 PM
   • Saturday: 11 AM, 7 PM, 8 PM
   • Sunday: 7 AM, 8 AM, 4 PM

   This is a universal chart that you can follow, but it is essential to remember that your audience is different from the rest of the world. Therefore, the best way is to test which time works best for your target audience.

   Test a few content types, such as reels, carousels, and static posts by posting them at different timings and see which one generates the higher Instagram reach rate. That would be the best time of the day to post for you!

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2. Use the Right Hashtags

   Hashtags are an important part of digital marketing strategy since they help increase Instagram reach. By using hashtags you are not only targeting your own audience but also aiming to pierce through the people who are following the hashtag.

   This way, you conquer a whole different set of people who are not following you but are closely related to your business niche. It is important to remember that overloading your post caption with uncountable hashtags is definitely not the way to go. Instead, you should go for three to six meaningful and related hashtags.

   Here are a few general rules that you should follow for hashtags:

   • Use niche-related hashtags instead of generic ones.
   • Aim for three to six hashtags instead of sixty!
   • Use branded hashtags in all posts

   Learn from apple how to use hashtags like a pro;

    

   View this post on Instagram

    

   A post shared by apple (@apple)

   Related Article: 200+ Amazing Instagram Captions for Selfies to Get More Saves

3. Build Useful Communities

   There is no such thing as Instagram communities like there are on Facebook and LinkedIn, but you can certainly create one with a loyal following. People who would like, share, and save your posts are your golden ticket to higher Instagram reach. That way you don’t need to worry about the headache of losing followers on Instagram.

   Especially when public accounts share your posts on their stories, they introduce your brand to their following. This means that a different yet related data set can view your posts and know about your brand.

   The only way to build such loyal communities is by engaging with your followers using posts. You can reply back to comments to create a friendly and accessible brand persona. You can put up interactive stories to increase your loyal following and in turn, enjoy a higher Instagram reach.

4. Collaborate on Instagram Stories

   This works very easily; you contact a fellow business or a micro-influencer of your niche and collaborate with them on stories. If you have a physical outlet, you can invite them for store raids and have them put up stories on their profile.

   Or you can hold an informative session over your stories with them. The key is to find an influencer who is related to your niche and has an engaged following. Then you need to create enough hype so that people can join in on stories.

   Give each other shoutouts, post teasers, and create reels out of BTS so that you can keep the audience anticipating. This ensures that both audiences are waiting for the event, eventually boosting Instagram reach for the two parties.

5. Tag Influencers & Other Brands

   Putting up posts is fun, but have you ever tried tagging influencers & other brands in your content? No, then you are missing out. It is never a bad idea to have a crowd on your feed, and what better way to do that than to tag on others?

   When you tag someone on your stories and posts, they can share it on their own, which boosts your content. You don’t have to team up with competitors for this, you can leverage other businesses. Like a food business can team up with a startup that makes environment-friendly cutlery. Or a pet business can tag their favorite dog meals.

   Check out this amazing example of Ryan Renolds, GoPuff, and Aviation Gin.

    

   View this post on Instagram

    

   A post shared by Gopuff (@gopuff)

6. Post Videos & Reels

   Instagram videos are 2x more likely to generate engagement than static posts. This means they have a higher chance of boosting Instagram reach than other posts. You can post reels on literally every single topic related to your niche.

   Food business? Create recipe posts, showcase your products in a creative way, or sponsor an event and make a video. Coffee shop? Record your barista making cute faces on a latte. Flower delivery business? Make a short reel while wrapping your flowers.

   The possibilities are endless when it comes to Instagram video post ideas. You only need to bring forward your creative side with a camera and get to business.

   Here is a pretty engaging reel from a pottery barn!

    

   View this post on Instagram

    

   A post shared by Camille Styles (@camillestyles)

7. Create Content Only for Instagram

   This might come as a surprise, but creating content only for Instagram is actually a super booster for your Instagram reach. However, this will only work if you have a loyal following on each social media network.

   When a user would like your post on your Instagram and find it nowhere else, they would come again and again to check it out. They might even share it with their friends, which would result in higher Instagram reach for your account.

8. Leverage Cross-Posting

   This is the opposite strategy as opposed to the one we proposed above, but hear me out. It would never hurt to have more content on your social media feeds; therefore, when you create a blog post, why not share its infographics on your Instagram feeds?

   Infographics are highly engaging and can significantly increase Instagram reach with the right hashtags. You can also tweak long-form content into short videos and use them as reels.

   We at Social Champ also share most of our infographics on the feed.

    

   View this post on Instagram

    

   A post shared by Social Champ (@socialchampio)

9. Use Instagram Ads!

   Lastly, if nothing else works better to increase your Instagram reach, you can always fall back on ads. You can either sponsor an already present post or create a new ad from the Meta ads manager.

   However, before going to any paid means, you should always exhaust all your organic options. Or at least keep both in sync.

Instagram Reach – The Final Verdict

Instagram reach is an important metric you should never miss out on. It helps you figure out how many unique eyeballs view your content and how well your campaigns perform.

Lastly, an Instagram management tool can keep you on schedule and eliminate the issue of missing out on the best time to post. Sign up to Social Champ now so that you can schedule posts well in advance!