The 3 instagram metrics that matter more than follower count

It’s easy to get stuck on the numbers, especially on Instagram.

You’re trying to grow your social media presence, so of course, you’re looking at your metrics to see how you’re doing. The most obvious one, your number of followers, is usually the first one you’ll notice. It’s right there at the top of your Meta pages, glaring at you. You may not even look at your other numbers because you’ve been led to believe that the number of followers you have is the only one that matters.

Look, we get it! Everyone wants to be popular. That little blue check mark is like getting a Varsity Lettermans jacket: everyone can see it and it makes you look cool. The more followers you have, the better you feel–it makes us feel like, and who doesn’t like to be liked? But we’re here to tell you, as little ol’ social media nerds, that follower count isn’t where it’s at. 

Here at AHM, we believe that while, of course, you need followers to grow your account, it shouldn’t define your success on social media. Actually, it simply can’t define your success on social media, because that one number doesn't mean much if the other metrics aren’t doing well. 

Let’s take a look at the metrics that do matter, and why you should give them more weight than your follower count. 

1. Accounts Reached 

What It Is: If you’re looking at your Professional Dashboard on Instagram, this is the first metric you’ll see. Accounts Reached is simply the amount of people who have seen your content in the timeframe you’ve selected. 

Why It Matters: You want to get your content in front of as many people as possible. The higher your reach count is, the more people have seen your content. It’s the CRUCIAL first step in the process of turning a random person into a follower. They have to see your content to know you’re out there among the millions of other accounts on Instagram, and the more they see your content, the more likely they’ll be to like your content. 

(You may be asking, “But how do I get my content in front of them?” The quick answer is, post and engage consistently. See our blog on how to engage to increase your reach here.) 

2. Accounts Engaged

What It Is: The next metric you’ll want to keep an eye on is Accounts Engaged. This count is the number of people who have interacted with your content by liking, commenting or sharing it. 

Why It Matters: If your reach is high, but your engagement is low, it can mean that the people who are seeing your content might consider it to be of low value, or they simply don’t have enough trust in you yet to engage with the content. They need to see your content often AND it has to strike an emotional chord with them in order for them to engage. Remember, before they become followers, they have to see your content, like what you’re putting out there and then gain enough trust in you to want to follow your profile. You may need to consider taking a couple of steps:

-Engage more with others: Engaging on Instagram is just like engaging in conversation with a person in real life. When you meet someone new and all you do is talk about yourself, they’ll be disinterested and won’t like or trust you. But if you listen to them, ask meaningful questions and be truly interested in what they’re saying, the person will be more willing to reciprocate. Again, reading our blog on how to engage will be super helpful. 

-Take another look at your content: What messages are you putting out there with your copy, your graphics and your hashtags? Is the right messaging that is targeted at your audience’s wants and needs? You may need to do some research on your audience and understand what they want to see and what they respond to. Take a look at some successful therapist accounts and notice what is resonating with their followers, and retool the content to fit your practice. We are NOT suggesting that you steal someone else’s work, but it can be a helpful way to get inspired. 

3. Content You Shared

What It Is: This is a visual breakdown of all the content you’ve put out there. You can select the “All” button in the top left corner and toggle between All Content, Posts, Stories, Reels, etc. The content will have a number on it, and if you click on the image, the insights into that particular piece of content will appear. The number on the image represents the number of accounts reached; then you can also see the number of accounts that engaged with that piece of content, and if they took any action on your profile. It also breaks down Impressions, which is where the audience saw your content (either in their feed, through the use of your hashtags or directory from your profile). 

Why It Matters: If your goal is to increase followers through authentic and genuine connection (which we believe is the truest way to build a community on Instagram), then this metric is REALLY important. It tells you what content your audience likes! You want to pay close attention to the number of reach vs. engagement here and calculate your engagement RATE. Ironically, the more followers you have, the lower this rate will be. It’s generally accepted that a successful engagement rate is between 1%-5%. By success, we mean that your audience liked your content and will continue down the path to becoming a follower. 

How to calculate engagement rate on each individual post: 

Total engagements on a post / Total followers x 100 

So if you have 6 engagements on a post, and your follower count is 264, you’d have:

6/264 = .022 X 100 = 2.2%

We know that followers matter. The number of followers you have are the number of people who have become brand ambassadors of your practice; they will like your content, comment and share it. They’ll recommend your profile to others as well. But they don’t become followers until they’ve gone through the steps that lead to it: they have to be introduced to you (see your content), like what you're posting, and then trust you enough to follow you. It takes time, consistent posting AND consistent engagement to turn a random person into a follower. And honestly, your goal should be to build a community of followers that genuinely like what you're saying and will share it with others. This is how success is defined here at AHM. 

If you find that all of this sounds amazing but also, a bit overwhelming, give us a shout. We’d love to help you manage your socials and create a true, authentic community for your practice online.