Instagram remains one of the best apps for businesses, content creators, and influencers to grow a community of loyal followers. The app provides a lot of tools for users to keep track of their account performance, monitor their growth, and easily share content with followers.
Instagram recently introduced a new feature called “Insights” that lets accounts monitor the performance of their posts and Stories, and how their audience is engaging with their content. The feature is available for accounts that have switched to a “Business Account”.
Insights can be accessed through various methods depending on the type of content. For posts, you can tap the “View insights” button below it to access the data whereas, for Story, you can swipe up to access it. Your profile page will also have an Insights button to quickly access it.
Insights displays a lot of essential data such as “Exited”, “Shares”, and “Replies”. Some of these terms are confusing such as the “Forward” which doesn’t clearly state what it means. Here’s what Forward means on Instagram Insights.
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What Does Forward Mean in Instagram Insights?
The meaning of “Forward” on an Instagram story is the number of users who skipped the story and did not view it. When a user lands on your story and taps on the right side of the screen to go to the next story, it is counted as a “Forward”. It may have been better if Instagram had named it “Skipped” to avoid such confusion.
Meaning of all the terms used in Story Insights
Here are some of the terms used in Instagram Insights and what they mean.
- Impressions: the number of times that a story has been viewed
- Shares: the number of times that a specific story was shared
- Replies: the number of people who replied to the story
- Link Clicks: the number of clicks on the link in a story
- Navigation: the total of all Forward, Next Story, Exited, and Back metrics
- Next Story: the number of times that users skipped to the next account’s story
- Exited: the number of times a user left your story
- Back: the number of times a user tapped to view your previous story
How to access Instagram Insights
Instagram Insights can be accessed in various ways. The easiest method is through the Insights button available on the profile page.
1. Tap on the profile tab in the bottom right corner to open your profile page.
2. Right below your profile bio, you’ll find a number of buttons. Tap on the Insights button.
3. Your account’s Insights data will be displayed. You will now have access to various data about your account. For instance, to access your Story insights, tap on the arrow icon next to “Add photos or videos to your story to see new insights.”
Why can’t I see my insights on Instagram?
If you can’t access your Insights data on Instagram, then chances are that you don’t have a business account. This feature is only available to business accounts and if you want to access it, you have to switch your account to business in your profile settings.
Here’s how to enable Instagram Insights for your account.
- If your Instagram account is Private, change it to Public so that it can be viewed by everyone.
- Go to your profile, then tap the menu icon in the top left corner.
- Select Settings from the menu.
- Go to Account.
- Scroll down and tap on Switch to business account.
- You’ll be prompted to connect your account to a Facebook page. Once the connection is done, your account will be switched to the business type and you should gain access to Insights.
Related reading:
- Fix “Your account has been disabled for violating our terms” on Instagram
- 8 Reasons for Instagram “User not found” Error and How to Fix
