How to tell if an Instagram post did well
By Roadie Media ·
You post something, check it an hour later, and have no idea whether 300 views is good. It depends entirely on who you are. For one artist it's a great day; for another it's a quiet one.
The only fair way to judge a post is against your own usual. Here's how to work that out, and which numbers to look at.
Step 1: Work out your usual
Your usual is what a typical post of yours does.
- Take your last 20 or so posts. Fewer if you don't post often, but at least ten.
- Note the reach of each one. That's how many accounts saw it.
- Find the middle value, the median. Sort them from lowest to highest and take the one in the middle.
The median is fairer than an average. One post that went big would drag an average up and make every other post look like a failure. The median ignores outliers.
Do the same for shares, saves and follows if you want a fuller picture.
Step 2: Compare like with like
Reels, carousels and photos often reach very different numbers on the same account. If you can, work out a usual for each format and compare a new reel with your other reels, not with your photos.
Step 3: Give it time
A post's numbers keep moving for a few days, especially reels. Checking after an hour mostly tells you how anxious you are. Look properly after a few days, and compare posts at the same age.
Step 4: Look at more than reach
Reach tells you how far a post travelled. Other numbers tell you what people did when they saw it:
- Shares: people sent it on. The strongest sign a post connects beyond your followers.
- Saves: people wanted to come back to it.
- Follows: people saw it and wanted more. The post type that wins followers is one to make again.
- Reach from non-followers: how many new people it found.
A post with average reach but lots of shares or follows did its job.
What "did well" looks like
- Well above your usual: make more posts like it. Same format, same kind of subject, same kind of opening.
- Around your usual: a normal post. Nothing to change.
- Well below your usual: one quiet post is information, not failure. If several in a row are quiet, here's how to work out why.
What not to compare with
- Other artists. You can't see their insights, and their audience isn't yours.
- Your best ever post. It was an outlier. Judge posts against your typical, not your peak.
- Likes alone. They're loud but say little about whether new people found you.
The short version
- Work out your usual: the median reach of your recent posts.
- Compare like with like, and give posts a few days.
- Look at shares, saves and follows as well as reach.
- Make more of what beats your usual.