TikTok Analytics, Explained

Brands can no longer ignore TikTok when it comes to influencer marketing. The platform’s unmatched algorithm presents a unique opportunity for content to go viral and reach millions of potential consumers, and TikTok creators are savvy about developing engaging video content that converts viewership to patronage.

Whether you’re launching a TikTok account for your brand or simply working with influencers on the platform to create branded content, you’ll want to understand TikTok’s available analytics and how to interpret them in order to perfect your TikTok marketing strategy. So let’s break down everything TikTok analytics!

How To Access TikTok Analytics

First thing’s first: how do you access TikTok analytics?

You’ll need a Creator or Business Account on TikTok (don’t worry, it’s free) to view analytics. Head’s up: you’ll only be able to access analytics for content after you sign up for a professional account, so go ahead, visit your settings, and switch ASAP so you’ll have access to metrics.

Now that you have your Creator or Business Account set up, go to Settings > Creator/Business Tools > Analytics, and you’ll be greeted with your Analytics overview.

Understanding Your Analytics Dashboard

There are 4 main tabs under your analytics: Overview, Content, Followers, and LIVE. Each tab provides important data for you to understand your account performance. Let’s take a deeper dive:

Overview

Overview shows the overarching trends of your account analytics over a given period of time (the default is “Last 7 Days”, but you can also view “Last 28 Days”, “Last 60 Days”, or enter a custom date range), including:

Engagement: how many times audiences are viewing and interacting with your account’s content *click the arrow to view this data represented in graph format*

1. Video Views: the total number of times all videos on your account were viewed

2. Profile Views: the number of times your profile was viewed

3. Likes: how many likes videos on your account have received

4. Comments: how many comments have been left on your videos

5. Shares: how many times your videos have been shared

Followers: how many followers your account has, including net gains

Content: how many TikToks you have published during the set time frame 

Live: how many Live sessions you have hosted over the set time frame

Content

This is where you can see view numbers for recent posts and also find your Trending Videos.

The Video Posts section is pretty self-explanatory; it shows you all the videos you’ve posted in the past 7 days, their view numbers, and compares your number of posts to the previous 7 day period.

Below you’ll find the Trending Videos section, which is really valuable for you to understand what content of yours is performing best. This section shows the top 9 videos with the fastest growth in view numbers over the past 7 days.

How to use this data: Take a look at these videos and try to identify any trends or commonalities: maybe a certain topic you’re posting about is performing really well, or perhaps you started a trend that’s garnering a lot of engagement. Look at your popular videos and lean into that content!

Followers

This tab is where you can access demographics on your followers, as well as how your followers interact with other TikTok content.

First, you’ll see your follower count and growth rate over the past week. You can use this and the Followers information from the Overview tab to track increases in following.

Below, you’ll see a pie chart illustrating the gender of your followers.

Below that, you’ll see a percentage breakdown of where your followers are from, by country. Pro tip: Depending on where your followers are from, you may want to consider ensuring your content is accessible and relatable to international audiences (for example, adding translated captions if you have a large international following).

Further down, you’ll see Follower Activity that shows when your followers are most active on the platform, both by hour and by day.

Pro tip: this data is all recorded in UTC, so adjust for your time zone to understand when the best posting times are for your audience. (And if we’re being honest, we wouldn’t worry too much about posting at specific optimized times, as TikTok’s algorithm boosts content old and new alike to the “For You Page”).

LIVE

This tab specifically shares analytics regarding live stream content on TikTok. You have the option to view data for LIVE sessions either over the past 7 days or the past 28 days.

First, you’ll be provided with an overview of LIVE video data, including the number of LIVE videos hosted, the total number of views, new followers, total time of LIVE videos, and top viewer count.

Below that, you’ll also see how many unique viewers have watched your LIVE videos at least once.

Last, you’ll see how many “diamonds” (aka digital gifts viewers can send you during LIVE videos that can be redeemed for money) you’ve earned during LIVE videos.

Viewing Individual Video Analytics

Now that you have a better understanding of your account analytics, let’s talk analytics for specific videos!

To view your video’s analytics, click on your video and click the 3 dots on the lower right corner. One of your options will be “Analytics”, so go ahead and click that. You’ll now be able to see your video’s performance.

At the top, you’ll see 4 icons with numbers below each: a play button, a heart, a comment bubble, and an arrow:

The play button represents the total number of views the video has received.

The heart represents how many likes the video has received.

The comment bubble represents how many comments have been made under your video.

The arrow represents how many times the video has been shared (which includes link copies and DM shares).

The next section displays total play time (in hours), total views, the percentage of viewers who watched the full video, reached audience, and average watch time.

Pro tip: Average watch time is one of the most important metrics on TikTok and can make or break a video’s frequency on the FYP. A short average watch time means that viewers aren’t interested enough in the video’s content to watch through to the end, while a high one means your video is doing a great job keeping people engaged. Make note of your videos with high average watch times vs. low ones, and strategize different ways of getting information across if you’re seeing consistently low watch times.

The next section showcases traffic source types, meaning where your content is being seen on the app. Your viewers can find your videos from the following sources:

For You

Personal Profile

Following

Sound

Search

Hashtag

The last section shows audience territories for your specific video; in other words, where your viewers are from. 

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Now that you have a better understanding of TikTok’s analytics, you can now interpret content performance both from your brand’s account and from influencer partners and create a successful future TikTok strategy.

Have more questions about TikTok or interested in running a TikTok influencer campaign? Lytehouse can answer your questions.

4 Ways To Use Instagram Guides

Extend your brand identity and partner with influencers to make the most of your Instagram profile.

We’ve laid out the basics of Instagram Guides. Now it’s time to discuss some applications for this feature of Instagram. We find Instagram Guides so valuable because they provide a number of ways for you to build out your brand identity, share products, and provide information about your company, all without users having to leave the Instagram app. Frictionless brand experiences are essential to converting viewers into customers, so the more they can access in a centralized location, the better.

How Can You Use Guides In Your Next Instagram Campaign?

1) Curated Shopping Picks

Product Guides are a great way to showcase your brand’s latest collections, curate best-sellers, or display influencer favorites. If your brand has an Instagram Shop, a Product Guide will help encourage social media followers to shop your brand with ease. You can also add photos, either from your account or from another user’s, and tag shoppable items below it as a clickable, shoppable catalog that lives within your Instagram profile.

2) Mini Blog

Influencers have been turning to Instagram Guides as a way to write out mini blog posts that can live on the Instagram platform rather than a separately-hosted website. The ability to combine text and imagery allows for powerful storytelling, and for smaller accounts that are unable to include swipe-up links in their Instagram Story, they can share a clickable preview of their Guide and drive readers.

For brands, a blog-style Guide could highlight user-generated content, share inspiration imagery for the latest collection, or feature interview questions with team members or interesting individuals who relate to your brand’s ethos.

3) Travel Guide

Places Guides are so helpful in creating travel and location-based recommendations for your audience. This could include a guide to a far-off locale that’s influenced your brand, a list of local recommendations where your brand headquarters are located, or anything else related to destinations near and far. 

4) Tips & Tricks

A great way to utilize Guides is as a visual FAQ. What do people want to know about your brand? Are there secrets to making the most of your product? Different ways to wear or experience items? You can use Instagram Guides as a place to centrally store different Reel and IGTV tutorials, answer frequently asked questions, and provide expert tips on making the most of your product.

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No matter how you decide to implement Guides into your Instagram marketing strategy, we see this as a perfect opportunity to partner with influencers to develop innovative Guide content. Whether they’re sharing the must-have products from your brand or showing your followers through a tour of their hometown, Guides present a unique way to extend your brand and find creative partners to help curate the content.

Ready to work with influencers on an Instagram Guide? We can help pair you with the perfect creators.

How Social Media Platforms Are Wooing Creators

As competition for users heats up, social media platforms are offering new incentives to encourage creators to prioritize their app.

If you feel like you’ve read more headlines in recent weeks about social media platforms offering new creator incentives, you’re not alone. In recent weeks, Instagram, Twitter, Clubhouse, Snapchat, and other apps have made splashy announcements about new tools and funds made to win over creators who feel stretched thin across the different platforms. The goal? Incentivize creators to use their app the most.

From affiliate programs to subscription services, here are the ways the major social media players are attempting to woo creators to stay active on their platforms, as well as what it means for marketers moving forward:

Instagram Gets On The Affiliate Train

The creator benefits they’re offering: Instagram has made a lot of headlines in recent weeks as they work to lure creators back to their platform with creator-focused features. These new features include Milestone Bonus Badges for hosting Instagram Lives and an Affiliate Program for creators to earn money for items they share that are on Instagram Shops. After years of influencers relying on external affiliate programs like LikeToKnowIt and ShopStyle, Instagram is finally making a play to bring a native affiliate program to the app.

Twitter Introduces Subscriptions & Tips

The creator benefits they’re offering: Twitter is entering the subscription business, introducing a “Super Follow” option that allows users to pay to receive exclusive subscriber-only content. Twitter has also introduced a “Tip Jar” as a way for followers to monetarily support their favorite creators.

TikTok Refines It’s Creator Program

The creator benefits they’re offering: TikTok set itself apart from other social media platforms by prioritizing creator growth in its early stages, introducing the TikTok Creator Fund as a way to pay top users for creating strong-performing content. The benchmarks for entering into the program have changed; initially only 10,000 followers were needed, but as of March 25, creators now need 100,000 followers to qualify for the Creator Program. 

Clubhouse Facilitates Creator Growth

The creator benefits they’re offering: Clubhouse is also investing in providing its creators tools to succeed on the up-and-coming platform. Their “Creator First” Accelerator Program launched in March to assist select creators with developing their Clubhouse strategy and grow their audience. The app has also introduced Payments for users to send money to creators as a way to show their support.

Twitch Provides Tiered Programs For Creators

The creator benefits they’re offering: Twitch offers two tiers of programs for creators: Affiliate and Partner. The Affiliate program serves creators who are building their platform and growing, offering tools like subscriptions and affiliate payments for game sales. For established creators, the Partner program allows creators to display ads on their channel and earn revenue from ad views, channel customization, access to opportunities to participate in panels, meet & greets, and other events, as well as the subscription and affiliate opportunities presented at the Affiliate level.

Snapchat Rewards Viral Content

The creator benefits they’re offering: When Snapchat introduced their TikTok competitor Spotlight, they did so with a big draw for creators: a $1 million-per-day fund to distribute to creators with top-performing Spotlight content. Since the launch of this program, some creators have become literal millionaires off of their Spotlight earnings, with $110 million given out across all markets since the program launched in November. 

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So, what does all this mean for brands?

You might be wondering what all these creator-first developments have to do with brand marketing. While brands may not be directly involved in these creator programs, these pushes to bring creators to certain apps will guide the landscape of social media for the next several years. 

If Successful, These Programs May Influence Where Creators Spend Their Time

Platforms that can successfully lure creators to prioritizing their app over others will succeed in the long run. Keeping an eye on where the creators are flocking to will help you, as brand marketers, know where to look for influencers and what platforms to prioritize in your social media marketing efforts.

Not All These Programs Are Sustainable

However, some of the splashiest creator incentives may not be sustainable forever. While some platforms are adopting a revenue-share approach or providing monetization options where users are the investors, other apps have introduced funds that are worth hundreds of millions of dollars, or even billions. Unless usership and revenue skyrocket drastically for the latter, these valuable funds may disappear, further influencing the popularity of different apps amongst creators.

Creators Will Shift How They Approach Brand Partnerships

The most immediate effect of these creator programs is also the most impactful for brand marketers. With creators earning money off of their organic content, they will approach brand partnerships in a new way. As a result, creators may be pickier about the partnerships they do accept, or raise their rates for sponsored content. This is why cultivating long-lasting relationships with influencers is essential for brands, as is developing a thought-out strategy that targets influencers who are a natural brand fit. If you’re not sure where to start with influencer casting, Lytehouse can help you out—let’s chat.

5 Reasons Why Twitch Is A Great Space For Influencer Marketing

The surge in video game streaming throughout the past year has introduced a growing power in the influencer marketing space.

If you haven’t been paying attention to Twitch already, you should be. The streaming site boasts 3 million monthly broadcasters and 15 million daily active users, and its power only continues to grow. Video game enthusiasts aren't the only ones taking note of Twitch’s growth; Lytehouse has observed brands like e.l.f., Nike, and Wendy’s utilize the space recently, and we’ve received a lot of requests from brands looking for ways to activate on Twitch in the past couple of months.

Here are 5 reasons why you should consider making Twitch part of your influencer marketing strategy:

1) Gaming Is More Popular Than Ever

Gaming saw a massive surge in 2020, and while pandemic-related free time may be to blame, data indicates that there are no signs of decreased interest. In fact, Business Insider reported that there will be an estimated 177 million monthly gamers in the United States. In 2020, Twitch averaged 93 billion minutes watched per month.

In the competition between livestream gaming platforms, it’s the most popular platform by far, with 5.4 billion hours watched in Q4 of 2020, compared to 1.9 billion hours watched during that same time on YouTube Gaming Live and 901 million hours watched on Facebook Gaming. So if you are interested in the gaming space at all, Twitch needs to be your first priority.

2) Gen Z & Young Millennials Love The App

As you could probably guess, Twitch usership skews young and male. 41% of Twitch users are between the ages of 16 and 24, with another 32% falling between the ages of 25 and 34. For brands looking to engage with young audiences, Twitch is a great avenue to explore.

Twitch’s audience is also predominantly male, with 65% of its users identifying as male. This is much higher than other social media platforms like Instagram (49%) and TikTok (40%). Brands hoping to reach a young male audience should definitely prioritize Twitch.

3) Users Are Highly Engaged

While Twitch’s usership numbers are still much lower than other platforms like Instagram, and TikTok, those who are on the platform are incredibly engaged. The average user spends 95 minutes per day watching livestream gaming content on Twitch, an impressive number when compared to other apps like YouTube (40 minutes per day) and Instagram (32 minutes per day). When you’re activating on Twitch, you’re reaching out to a highly-engaged audience who will watch content for longer than on other platforms, providing your brand with more opportunities to speak to said audiences and get your brand in front of them.

4) Opportunities For Innovative Brand Integrations

So, how are brands activating on the app? Partnering with popular creators on Twitch is a logical first step, but brands are getting wonderfully creative with how they showcase their offerings.

In May, e.l.f. Cosmetics became the first beauty company to launch a branded Twitch channel, hosting livestream beauty tutorials, DJ sets, and gaming sessions to market their brand to Twitch’s Gen-Z audience. In December, Wendy’s partnered with Twitch streamers to create signature meals offered through Uber Eats to encourage customers to order Wendy’s for delivery so they can continue gaming all day long. The fast food company also has its own Twitch channel with over 115K subscribers.

As Twitch grows to become more than just a video game streaming platform, with creators using the app to live vlog, showcase beauty and cooking tutorials, and host music content, there are more opportunities to get creative on the platform everyday.

5) Ability To Speak To Niche Audiences

One unique aspect of the gaming world is that it is extremely segmented, with users extremely loyal to specific video game content and Twitch streamers. A Fortnite fan may want nothing to do with Call of Duty content, and vice versa. This high segmentation may seem difficult to navigate, but it offers an opportunity to market to niche audiences and tailor content to their specific interests and needs. A multi-pronged campaign that speaks effectively to different niches within the Twitch community, with curated content strategies for each niche, will help you reach audiences across the platform.

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Still have questions about how to market effectively on Twitch? The good news is that we’re here to guide you through influencer marketing on Twitch. Let’s chat about setting up your next campaign.

Instagram Guides, Explained

One of Instagram’s newer features is also one of its most underutilized. We’re breaking down the basics of Instagram Guides.

The debut of Instagram Guides went under the radar for most. When they were first introduced to a select number of wellness-focused accounts in May of 2020, the world had more pressing matters, understandably. By the time Guides became a feature that all users could access in November 2020, other, flashier features like Reels and the revamped Shops tab captured the headlines instead, leaving Instagram Guides an unexplored feature for most.

We see Instagram Guides as an exciting way to make the most of your brand’s Instagram profile. In fact, we use it across both Lytehouse and Socialyte to highlight the brands and influencers we work with.

Let’s break down the basics of Instagram Guides so you can understand why they could be a big part of your next Instagram marketing initiative.

What Are Guides?

Guides are a way to share content, locations, and products as a collection. You can think of them as mini blogs or catalogues that are accessible directly on Instagram.

There are 3 types of Guides you can create:

1. Places - Ideal for local recommendations and travel guides

2. Products - To share product recommendations or curate catalogues using items available on Instagram Shops

3. Posts - Can share either posts from your own profile or posts that you’ve saved from other creators

How Do I Create A Guide?

To create a Guide, click the “Create” button on Instagram (that little Plus sign in the top right corner) and select “Guide”. You will then be prompted to select one of the 3 Guide types (Places, Products, or Posts). From there, you’ll be able to add entries to your Guide.

For Places and Products Guides, you can add saved places or products or search for ones you’re thinking of. You also have the option to add in saved photos, either from your own profile or from other creators, to accompany each listed place or product.

For Posts Guides, you’ll have the option to add saved posts or posts from your profile.

Once you’ve added in your entries, you’ll need to select a cover image, title your Guide, as well as each entry. You also have the option to add a Guide description as well as captions beneath each entry, if desired.

You can save Guides as a draft if needed. Once you’re satisfied with your Guide, press “Publish” and the Guide will appear as a tab under your Instagram profile (with a map icon).

How Many Posts Can Be Added To A Guide?

Guides currently allow up to 30 entries per Guide. 

What Types Of Posts Can Be Added To A Guide?

If you can save it, you can add it to a Guide!

In-feed posts, Reels, IGTV videos, products, and places can all be added to Guides.

How Can Guides Be Shared?

One issue with Guides is that, currently, you cannot share them to your main “feed”; instead they live under their own tab on a user’s profile. Because of that, they’re not as visible as other post types, but there are ways to share them.

Guides can be shared to your Story or sent via Direct Message to accounts. You can also share a link to your Guide and share across different websites or messaging platforms that way.

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Now that you have the basics of Instagram Guides down, read this post for some ideas on how to incorporate Guides into your brand’s channel or next Instagram marketing campaign.

Have more questions about Instagram Guides or anything else social media? Let’s chat.

4 Ways To Create Campaigns That Break Through The Noise

The pool of influencers has never been bigger, but that also means the competition for eyeballs is fiercer than ever before.

This means that the standard one-and-done Instagram post approach to influencer marketing is not going to have the same effect that it did just a few years ago.

So, what content will cut through the noise in 2021?

1) Embrace Long-Term Partnerships

For one, long-term partnerships are going to help you tell a story through weeks or even months. According to the popular “Rule of 7”, people need to see an ad interact with a brand 7 times before they remember it, so seeing an influencer speak about a product once and then never again probably isn’t going to have much of an impact on converting those views to customers. On the other hand, if an influencer constantly mentions a brand month after month, followers are more likely to remember the brand, take it into consideration, and finally purchase the product. By incorporating repetition into your influencer marketing strategy, you increase the likelihood for an influencer’s followers to translate into customers.

2) Lean Into Relevant Trends

Social media apps from Instagram to TikTok to Twitter thrive on trending content and viral hits. Creators hop aboard popular sounds and hashtags to make their content discoverable, taking trending formats and making them their own. When it makes sense for brands to do so, they can also join in on viral trends and give it their own branded spin.

Take Nathan Apodaca’s insanely popular TikTok video of him skateboarding while drinking a jug of Ocean Spray cranberry juice while Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” plays. The video was viewed over 78 million times, spawned countless remakes, and even got multiple Fleetwood Mac band members to join TikTok to talk about the unexpected reemergence of their 1977 hit. When clothing brand KJP put a preppy autumnal spin on Apodaca’s video, they received over 5 million views. KJP’s take on the “Dreams” video worked because they tied it into their brand personality and made it their own (in this iteration, the skateboarder is wearing one of KJP’s pumpkin sweaters and has a carved pumpkin head; the cranberry juice is replaced with a preppy classic, a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte). The organic plug of Ocean Spray came full circle for Apodaca, too: Ocean Spray turned Apodaca’s video into an official #DreamsChallenge trend and also gifted him with a brand new truck (plus all the cranberry juice he could ask for).

3) Capitalize On Authentic Moments

Which brings us to another opportunity for innovative marketing: take advantage of authentic moments in the space when you see them. When TikTok’s biggest star Charli D’Amelio was constantly sipping iced Dunkin’ Donuts drinks in her popular dance videos, Dunkin’ saw the opportunity to partner with D’Amelio and created “The Charli”, a signature drink that fans could order at Dunkin’ locations. Because the partnership stemmed out of D’Amelio’s natural love of the coffee, it proved to be a major success. It also required minimal effort on Dunkin’s part, as they didn’t need to develop a new product, just market Charli’s signature order.

Other food companies have taken this approach in recent months, like McDonald’s with the Travis Scott meal. With both of these campaigns, the brands noticed natural affinities and transformed those into official partnerships, and because D’Amelio and Scott were already fans of Dunkin’ and McDonald’s respectively, their audiences saw these partnerships as natural progressions rather than disingenuous, money-motivated collaborations. 

4) Do It For The Meme

Similar to capitalizing on trending content, Instagram itself declared 2020 the Year of the Meme. Their year-end review highlighted the most popular memes that took the Internet by storm last year, from the Dolly Parton Challenge to Tiger King to relatable jokes about working from home in quarantine. Such memes succeeded on Instagram not only because they were witty and clever, but because they were inherently sharable. Shares and saves have become increasingly valuable analytics to monitor on Instagram and other social media platforms, and we suggest this be one of your key metrics to focus on when developing your social media content strategy.

Take the recent proliferation of Bernie Sanders memes: one iconic photo of the Vermont senator donning his favorite Burton jacket and a pair of hand-knit mittens sitting by himself at President Biden’s inauguration became an instantly viral meme that flooded the internet in record time. Here he is, joining the cast of Sex and the City as the fourth member now that Samantha isn’t returning for the reboot. Here he is with fellow meme icon Guy Fieri. In fact, one man even created a website where you could insert an inauguration Bernie into any photo you desire, should inspiration for a meme strike (and over 9 million photos were created on the site in the week that it was live). Or you can transform yourself into the mittens-wearing senator with an Instagram Story filter. You get the idea.

As a case study, the Bernie Sanders memes encapsulates so much about the content that succeeds in 2021: it tied into a timely event, was easy to transform and turn into a trend where everyone could add their own spin on the image, created for hilarious memes that were highly shareable, and the image itself was incredibly relatable. Who among us hasn’t felt like a curmudgeonly old man looking moderately annoyed with everything after this past year? 

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Gone are the days of obsessing over magazine-quality photography and vague three-word captions. Social media users want content that is sharable, saveable, and relatable; in other words, content that educates, entertains, and inspires. With every new social media post and influencer campaign in 2021, ask yourself how each piece of content is achieving one of these 3 main goals and you’ll see your brand grow and foster a community of its own.

For more on the latest social media trends and where the influencer marketing industry is heading, download our State Of Influencer Marketing 2021 report. 

Creating Content That Resonates

As influencer marketing and social ads grow in volume, so does the competition for capturing new consumers.

Social media behavior moves at the speed of light, and influencer programs that worked a few years ago may feel completely outdated now. So what type of content can hold audience attention in 2021? Here’s our advice:

Embrace Long-Term Partnerships

It’s time to look at influencers as true partners rather than one-off contractors. When an influencer speaks about a brand multiple times over the course of weeks or months, their audience is more likely to trust the partnership and take the influencer’s recommendation into consideration and sales clicks.

Lean Into Relevant Trends

TikTok, memes, and trending hashtags have all contributed to the rise of trend-based content, and brands can benefit from the virality of popular trends by adapting relevant trends for their own channels.

Be warned: trends move quickly on apps like TikTok, so if you are going to try your hand at trend-based content, you’ll need a quick turnaround. Most trends come and go in about a week.

As the FTC gets stricter on how music on apps like TikTok and Instagram are used, you’ll also need to be wary of copyrights around trending music.

Capitalize On Authentic Moments

Lean into authentic brand moments when you see them. Brands like Dunkin’ Donuts have hosted successful campaigns centered around organic brand affinities, such as “The Charli”, a rebranded drink based on TikTok star Charli D’Amelio’s favorite Dunkin’ order. Her fans have seen her sip Dunkin’ coffee all over her social media, so the partnership was a no-brainer.

Do It For The Meme

As with trending content, memes are all about contributing your own spin on zeitgeist cultural moments. From Tiger King jokes to Bernie Sanders appearing literally everywhere after an iconic photo from President Biden’s inauguration, memes are everywhere. They’re also sharable, relatable, and easy to digest, making them primed for extended reach and impressions. 

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Looking for more ways to step you your digital marketing plans and learn about the latest trends driving influencer marketing? Our State of Influencer Marketing 2021 Report breaks down resonating content and so much more. Download it here.

4 Reasons Why Instagram Stories Are A Valuable Platform For Marketers

Social media is always evolving, and one trend we’ve certainly noticed in 2020 is that Instagram Stories are slowly overtaking Instagram Posts as the most popular post type for influencer campaigns.

From April to September, Instagram Stories accounted for almost half of all our campaign post types. Across that time period, we observed an 8% increase in Instagram Story campaigns from 2019 to 2020.

Why is it that Instagram Stories are on the rise? There are a few factors that make Instagram Stories so valuable for marketers. Let’s break them down:

1. Relatability Factor

If Instagram feed posts are a dreamy highlight reel, then Instagram Stories are where an influencer’s personality and real life can shine. There is less pressure to make every Instagram Story frame picture-perfect, making them feel much more relatable and off-the-cuff.

When it comes to brand partnerships, even Instagram Stories are often pre-recorded and approved by the brand before posting, but their reliance on selfie videos, iPhone photos, and behind-the-scenes sneak peeks make them relatable to viewers, much more so than the curated content that goes on an influencer’s feed. 

2. Demonstrations Made Easy

Instagram Stories make it incredibly easy to demonstrate how to use a featured product in short, concise clips. Whether an influencer is cooking a recipe, demoing a new technology, showing how to style a piece of clothing, or something else, Instagram Stories are the perfect platform for such demonstrations. With the ability to add text captions and GIF stickers too, there are plenty of tools to create engaging and informative tutorial-like content. 

3. Conversation Is Key

Instagram Stories are about community building, and the poll and question stickers, along with the ability for followers to direct message (aka DM) an influencer help cultivate conversation. Viewers can provide feedback, ask questions, and create a dialogue that can last far beyond the 24 hours that a Story is live.

Story interactions are beneficial for 2 main reasons: first, replies, poll votes, and other interactions help increase the Story’s engagement numbers and can in turn boost an influencer’s Story to the front of people’s Story feeds. Second, both your brand and the influencer can receive immediate feedback on the content, product, and partnership. Maybe a follower has a question about how to use a product or absolutely loves the content produced and DMs the influencer to say as much. This instant feedback can help both of you inform future content and strategies for future marketing efforts.

4. Ease Of Conversion

Last but certainly not least, the ability to add “swipe-up links” is perhaps the valuable benefit of Instagram Stories, particularly if you are deciding whether an in-feed Post or Story is more worth your time (and budget). Adding in swipe-up links allows influencers to turn their content into sales conversions and hopefully drive more sales to your brand.

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Now that you know why Instagram Stories are all the rage in influencer marketing, make sure you know the ins and outs of Instagram Story analytics so that you can track your campaign success.

YouTube Analytics, Explained

If you’re interested in video content, there’s no better platform than YouTube. For both individual creators and brand channels, video is a powerful way to connect with your audience and build a loyal fanbase.

As with all social media platforms, understanding your analytics will help you perfect your YouTube video strategy so that you can create resonant content and grow your following.

Here are the key stats you should understand when looking at your YouTube analytics:

Channel Analytics To Watch

To access your channel analytics, open up your account’s YouTube Studio page and click the graph icon on the left hand side. You can customize the time period, but the default shows analytics for the past 28 days.

Channel Views: How many overall views your channel received across all videos (note: a “view” on YouTube means someone has watched at least 30 seconds of a video) in a given time period. This is a good overview of how many viewers your channel is currently receiving in a month.

Subscriber Growth: This statistic shows you the positive or negative change in subscribers over a given time period. A large increase in subscribers indicates that your channel is growing in popularity, always a positive sign!

Top Videos: This one is pretty straightforward, as you will see your top 10 best performing videos over the time period you are viewing.

Take a look at your top videos and look for any trends or points of similarity between them. Is there a common theme or format that is performing the best? Identifying these commonalities will help you determine what viewers are best responding to so you can shape your future content strategy to share similar content.

Impressions: The number of times your videos’ thumbnails appear across YouTube, as well as external websites and apps that link to YouTube videos.

Impression Click-Through Rate: This is the percentage of users who click through to watch one of your videos from an impression. According to YouTube, average impression click-through rates range from 2% to 10%. 

YouTube also recommends waiting at least a week to get a video’s true click-through rate and compare against older videos to get an accurate comparison of your average click-through rate.

Unique Viewers: Because a single viewer can watch and rewatch videos over and over again, or watch several videos on your channel in a row, it’s also important to see how many unique viewers are tuning into your channel.

Traffic Source Types

YouTube breaks down traffic sources into several categories, including YouTube search, Channel pages, Suggested videos, Playlists, and External. This overview will show you the percentage breakdown of each type of traffic source, and below, you’ll be able to see more detailed analytics on each traffic type. 

External: traffic sources from outside of YouTube. This can include Google searches, your website, other social media channels, and external websites that your videos may be embedded on. 

Playlists: You can create different playlists on your channel to group similar videos or entries in a series together and organize your content. Other users can also add your videos to playlists of their own. This section will show you the best-performing playlists, which can help you see the types of content that people are looking at the most, and also channels that are similar to yours that are helping to boost your content. 

Suggested Videos: one of the reasons why YouTube can become such a time-suck is their algorithm that suggests related videos once you are finished watching your current video. You can see the videos that direct viewers to your content and understand the topics and styles of videos your viewers are interested in based on the videos that led them to you.

YouTube Search: These are the top search terms that lead viewers to discover your videos. This is why it is super important to optimize your video titles and descriptions with searchable terms. The best titles succinctly explain what the video is about and utilize trending buzzwords when applicable.

Video Analytics To Watch

Along with channel analytics, you can view statistics on individual videos to further understand how your audience engages with your content and if certain videos are successful or not. As with Channel Analytics, you can change the time period for video analytics, but the default provides analytics since the video was published.

Views: How many total views a video has received. This is a great top line measure of success, but be sure to look at the other numbers for a complete picture of a video’s success, as YouTube counts just 30 seconds of watch time as 1 view.

Subscribers: How many new subscribers you gained from a video. If this number is high, that’s a great sign, as it means your video was engaging and valuable in content, so much so that users have subscribed to see more of your content!

Audience Retention: How much of your video are viewers actually watching? Viewers click on videos that aren’t what they're looking for, or get bored and click away, all the time, so this graphs out the average drop off of viewership over the length of your video. There will almost always be drop off, but the higher percentage you keep throughout the video, the more your video is doing a good job at retaining an audience.

Top Traffic Sources: How people found your video. As with channel analytics, this is broken down into different categories like YouTube Search, Suggested Videos, Playlists, and more, but the analytics here refer to the specific video you are monitoring. In addition, you can also see how many of your subscribers received a “New Video” notification and clicked through to watch (according to YouTube, the average notification click-through rate is between 0.5% and 2.5%).

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With video content more popular than ever, understanding how your YouTube videos perform will enable you to create effective and strong-performing content. Knowing the key analytics to track will also help you when working with YouTube influencers so you can set goals for your partnership. Need help finding the right YouTube creators? We can help!

Want to learn more about analytics on other social media platforms? Discover our guides to Instagram Insights and Instagram Story Insights.

Using Instagram Reels and TikTok Strategically

It was only a matter of time before a competitor came for TikTok. In early August, Instagram launched their competitor feature, Instagram Reels, and with the future of TikTok unclear, digital marketers and creators alike are asking how to use the two apps strategically.

Like TikTok, Instagram Reels allows users to upload 15-second videos set to music with easy-to-navigate editing tools that make it a breeze to film content without ever leaving the app. Both apps also feature a scrolling feed of videos (on TikTok, the For You Page; on Instagram Reels, the Discover Tab) that make it easy to discover content from new creators, not just the ones you are already following.

While Instagram Reels lacks some of the features that TikTok possesses (videos can’t be longer than 30 seconds at the time of writing this, and the analytics of Reels are practically nonexistent at the moment) it is clear to see why so many people are referring to TikTok and Reels as twins.

However, there is a major difference between TikTok and Instagram Reels that alters how users interact with each app and the video content that is shared: user demographics.

Gen-Z vs. Millennials: Who Do You Want To Reach?

TikTok has grown in popularity with Millennial and older generations in recent months, but the majority of their user base is Gen-Z, with almost half of users between the ages of 18 and 24. Instagram’s usership, however, skews toward Millennial audiences, with 33% of users falling between the ages of 25 to 34.

Depending on your target demographics, you may want to prioritize one app over the other. Entertainment, affordable fashion & beauty, and fast food brands have found great success marketing to teen and young adult audiences on TikTok, whereas brands with an older target audience will find that more millennials still prefer Instagram as their main social media platform. Determining who you want to reach on social media and which platforms they use the most will help you plan how much to invest in TikTok vs. Instagram Reels content.

Think Of TikTok As An Experimental Playground

Another way to utilize TikTok is to think of it as a great place to experiment with new types of content. Because the app is newer and the way their discovery algorithm displays videos to both people who follow you and people that TikTok thinks will like your content, each and every video theoretically has the potential to go viral. The better your content performs initially, the more times it will appear on people’s For You Pages.

Since a video could be shown to thousands regardless of your follower number, TikTok is a great place to try trends, experiment with new content, and test out what users respond to best. It is normal for some videos to perform better than others, so there is less pressure for every single piece of content to perform.

Use Analytics To Support What You Post On Instagram Reels

An easy way to get the most bang for your buck with content creation is to share videos across both TikTok and Instagram Reels. However, you should think strategically about what videos to share from TikTok to Reels and vice versa. Use the analytics you have on your Instagram account (need a refresher on interpreting analytics? Here’s an explainer) and think about the types of content that your audience responds to best on Instagram. From there, you can curate the videos you re-share to Reels.

For example, a nail polish brand may get thousands of views on TikTok for their take on a popular dance trend, but that trend may not make sense to Instagram’s audience. Despite performing well on TikTok, that video may not be best to reshare on Reels. However, nail art videos may have previously performed well on Instagram, so it’s likely that nail art Reels will also resonate with your audience.

Reels should be seen as another extension of your brand’s Instagram persona. In the same way that Instagram Stories allowed brands to share more “relatable” content that tied back to the brand’s tone and voice on their feed, Reels should be used as another way to create content that ties in to your brand’s social media identity.  

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No matter which platform you lean into more with your social media strategy, Lytehouse can help you perfect your content and match you with influencers to create engaging Reels and TikToks on your behalf.

4 Ways To Use Pinterest For Marketing

Pinterest is a valuable marketing tool that most people overlook when planning out their social marketing strategies. Users employ Pinterest as a visual search engine of sorts, making it easy to grab potential customers with eye-catching photos, videos, and visual resources.

From a marketing standpoint, the strong performance of “evergreen” content and ability to highlight products and services in a visually appealing way makes Pinterest a great way to build long-lasting customer relationships and showcase your brand’s unique qualities and value to consumers.

Wondering how you can get started with turning your brand’s Pinterest into a strong lead generator? First, don’t forget to set up a Pinterest Business account so you can track your analytics, then keep reading for 4 ways to get “pinning” and build out your Pinterest marketing strategy!

1. Share Educational Resources

Many users look to Pinterest as a research platform to find valuable resources. Whether they are looking for fashion inspiration, a new recipe to try, or tips on building their business, Pinterest users are searching for content that educates. Tap into this by “pinning” educational content that relates to your brand. This could be anything from recipe ideas featuring your food products, or how-to-style graphics highlighting your latest clothing collection, or showcasing all the uses for your inventive new product. You can even upload dynamic video pins that will catch the attention of viewers scrolling through their feeds. However you can, highlight the value of your product through tutorials and inspiring images and video.

Key tip: vertical photos perform best on Pinterest, and photos with informative text overlays are optimal for highlighting blog posts or articles. When uploading a Pin, you can crop your images to Pinterest’s recommended dimensions, add text overlays, and even create slideshows.

2. Highlight Bestsellers To Drive Traffic

One of the best things about Pinterest is that the platform makes it easy to link photos directly back to your site, so you can create a board (or multiple!) to highlight bestsellers and new arrivals on your profile. You can also create shoppable product pins to drive sales (this handy guide will walk you through it).

Don’t forget to add titles and descriptions to your pinned images so that they are easily searchable. Think about the keywords you might type in as a Pinterest user that could lead you to find your product to maximize searchability. You can even use hashtags in your pin descriptions, too!

3. Utilize User-Generated Content

Just like you are able to build out your brand’s Instagram with user-generated content, pinning UGC is a great way to highlight different ways customers utilize your products. Within the description, you can identify what product or products the user is showcasing in the photo.

Because UGC is organic and natural-looking, discerning Pinterest users may gravitate towards UGC over branded product content. By featuring both on your Pinterest, you’ll be able to attract users who otherwise might overlook your pinned content.

4. Start Running Data-Driven Ads

As mentioned above, be sure to set up a Pinterest Business account (it’s free!) so that you can start running Pinterest ads. We recommend building out your Pinterest profile and boards with organic content first so that you can take a look at your analytics and determine the types of content that perform best on the platform.

Do simple product photos drive a lot of traffic back to your site? Or are most users interested in creative, beautiful photos that feature your product and inspire? Identify the types of content that perform best and think about key metrics. Are impressions the most important metric, or is the click-through rate more valuable for your brand’s success? Asking yourself both what your followers value and what your brand measures as success will help streamline your Pinterest ad strategy.

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Need help identifying your key analytics and developing powerful Pinterest ads? As experts of data-driven marketing, we’re here to help!

Why Facebook Amplification Should Be Part Of Your Influencer Marketing Strategy

Facebook ads are an extremely important aspect of digital marketing and a large reason why brands have been able to find incredible success in the e-commerce world, often without physical stores.

Between Facebook and Instagram (which is owned by Facebook) their ads have the potential to reach millions of potential customers. Most brands with a digital marketing strategy know the importance of Facebook ads, but not all brands are taking full advantage of Facebook’s features, especially as it pertains to influencer marketing.

Today, we are breaking down how to amplify your influencer partnerships across Facebook and Instagram and why Facebook amplification should be part of your efforts moving forward.

What Is Amplification?

Amplification is exactly what it sounds like: the ability to share an influencer’s content to new audiences beyond the accounts that already follow them. Amplification benefits both the brand and influencer, as it increases the content’s reach to new audiences that can go on to follow the influencer and purchase the product they are promoting. Audiences are also more likely to trust and engage with promoted posts from an influencer account as opposed to a brand account, as influencer content typically appears more relatable. 

How Do I Promote An Influencer’s Post?

The “Tag Business Partner” feature on Instagram and Facebook allows influencers to “handshake” with the brands with which they work. One major benefit of this is added transparency of branded partnerships, but the “handshake” tool also makes it easy for brands to promote influencer content on the influencer’s behalf. 

When an influencer partner’s post goes live, ask them to tag your brand using the “Tag Business Partner” tool (note that before the campaign goes live, your brand channel will need to grant the influencer access to tag your brand as a business partner; learn more about how to add influencer partners here) and have them toggle the “Allow Business Partner to Promote” option. This will give you, the brand, the ability to promote the content on Instagram and Facebook. 

Another option is to have the influencer grant advertiser access through their Facebook. This will require them to have an ad account on Facebook (another great reason to work with influencers who have Business accounts) but will give you, the advertiser, a wealth of options to create targeted 

Note: as this is additional content usage, the parameters and length of boosted content should all be outlined within your contract with the influencer. Boosting the influencer’s content may incur additional fees. 

What Options Do I Have To Promote Influencer Posts?

Once the influencer has granted you advertiser access, you will be able to promote the content on their behalf. There are two main options on how to promote: boosting and amplification. Both options will get the influencer’s content—and your brand—in front of new audiences, but they vary in terms of customization and targeting options. 

Boosting

The simplest option is to boost an influencer’s content, promoting the post exactly how it appears on their account. When boosting a post, you are given a few customization options and can select your target audience, your budget, and the duration of your promoted post. This option is quick and easy, but the customization options are limited, making the second option, amplification, the better way to make the most of your promoted content.

Amplification

Amplification allows for greater customization. Through this method, ads are created through Facebook’s Ad Manager, where you can decide where the amplified posts will appear on both Facebook and Instagram (including Instagram stories, ads in Facebook Messenger, and other locations), specify your ad objectives, and develop your target audience with greater tools than boosting allows.

In addition, you can edit captions, add call-to-action buttons, and create carousel ads using Ad Manager. For example, say an influencer creates a carousel Instagram post on their feed where the first photo features the influencer prominently, and the second photo is a close-up of your product. With the creator’s consent, you can switch the order of the photos to feature the product close-up in the ad. 

Because of the various ad objectives you can select, Facebook Ads are optimal for gaining new customers and sales conversions. 

Lytehouse has a paid amplification division that can amplify content on your brand’s behalf. Get in touch with us here.

How Much Should I Budget For Amplified Content?

Budgets will vary from case to case, but we suggest allocating around 20% of your overall influencer marketing budget toward post amplification. We have found that brands who spend around this percentage (with daily monitoring of ad performance, making adjustments where needed) see close to a 100% return on investment. Increasing the spend beyond 20% similarly increases the ROI. Again, exact budgeting will vary per brand, influencer content, and campaign goals.

The value of amplified content is worth the extra budget, as it can exponentially increase the reach of your influencer campaign and bring a greater ROI than simply leveraging an influencer’s existing following. 

How To Start An Instagram Live Series For Your Brand

Have you noticed an increase in Instagram Live sessions lately? As the world stays home and practices social distancing, social media has become an important means of staying connected. In the absence of in-person events and meetings, live streaming in particular has emerged as the next best thing.

Going live on Instagram is a great way to stay connected with your audience and utilize influencer partners. Thinking of launching an Instagram Live series on your brand’s channel? Here are some keys to finding success.

Integrate Into Your Influencer Marketing

The biggest goal of hosting Instagram Lives is to build your community, and there is no better way to do this than partnering with influencers. Hosting livestreams on your Instagram channel will help  build a sense of community with your existing followers, but having an influencer join in as a co-host will help grow both of your audiences, as followers of either account will be notified about the Instagram Live.

Enlisting influencers to join in your Instagram Live is a wonderful way to cross-promote and tap into a similar audience. Partner with influencers who are authentically passionate about your brand, with similar but not identical followings, for the best results.

Set A Schedule

Instagram Lives have become social media’s version of appointment television. Establishing a regular schedule of programming will set expectations for your audience and encourage them to tune in regularly, like they would their favorite weekly show. 

Are you planning on going live every day? Once a week? Every other day? Whatever the case may be, be realistic about your bandwidth when determining the cadence, so as not to overextend yourself or your team members managing the Instagram Live.

You should also take a look at your audience insights to determine the dates and times your followers are most active on social media. 

Define Your Niche

As mentioned, a large number of brands are launching Instagram Live series right now, so it is crucial to define your series’ niche so that you can set yourself apart from competition. Is there an activity associated with your brand that you can incorporate? (Ex. a workout attire brand hosting weekly workout sessions with fitness influencers.) Is there a cause that is near and dear to your brand’s core values? Brainstorm creative concepts to make your series stand out.

Build Anticipation

If you go live on Instagram without pre-promotion, you most likely won’t have that great of a viewer turnout. Ensure your new initiative is a success by promoting the “event” on your social media channels. Post a schedule of upcoming episodes and highlight the biographies of upcoming guests. Encourage your guests to post on their accounts as well, so their followers know to tune in. You can also use the Countdown sticker on Instagram Stories to let your audience know exactly when the Live will start and give followers the option to set a reminder timed to the countdown.

Repurpose The Content

Your Instagram Live will only last a little while on Instagram itself, but you can download your live session (make sure to do this right when ending your video, as this is the only time you will be able to download it) and utilize the video on other platforms. You can share the video to Facebook or YouTube, where it can live on for a longer period of time. Don’t forget to share the Instagram Live to your story, as well, so that audiences can catch a replay of it for 24 hours.

Dear Brands: It’s a Good Time to Engage in TikTok

Content trends are cyclical. When Instagram first launched, its purpose as a platform was to showcase instant moments to your friends. It didn’t take long before the platform was used by creatives to showcase their portfolios of highly edited and curated content. Brands jumped on board because that platform allowed for larger and controlled distribution opportunities for editorial content, something brands were already creating and understood the value of.

Fast forward to today, when influencers are taking a step back and showing more ‘real’ content shot in the moment on their smartphones. Without a need for professional cameras and hired photographers, the influencer space has evolved to be about showcasing personality and vulnerability. With this shift, brands have — to no surprise — jumped on board.

Take TikTok, for instance. The content on the platform takes the ‘real’ and pushes it forward even further. The audience truly feels like they’re just hanging out with creators, a relationship that is much harder to earn on other platforms. The audience doesn’t need to feel like a voyeur: they truly feel like they’re just part of the gang, or at least as close to the gang as you could be, almost like you moved into the Hype House.

When considering a TikTok campaign for your brand, it’s important to note that the content will be more off-the-cuff, potentially humorous, and very in the moment. Perhaps for the first time in your brand’s evolution, it’ll have to let its guard down about standards. This doesn’t mean that the content will be poor, but the spectrum of expectations will need to broaden. The creators you activate on TikTok know their audience best and what’s been gaining them the most traction on the platform. Within reason, let creators take your brand along with them to effectively engage their audience. Finally, while the viral potential is huge, the audience is not targeted and not much tracking data is available… yet. Use this time to be an early adopter and trust established TikTok creators; see what works for your brand and constantly explore how it can be creatively conveyed on the emerging platform.

Beca Alexander

Founder & President

Instagram Story Insights, Explained

Last month, we broke down everything you need to know about Instagram post insights. Now, we are taking a deeper dive into Instagram Story insights. 

*Disclaimer: you will need an Instagram Business or Creator account to access full insights. 

How To Access Instagram Story Insights

You can access insights for Instagram Stories several different ways:

From The Story Post: If your story is still live, you can view up-to-date story insights by clicking on the bottom left corner of each slide. This will bring up the total story views, as well as a list of accounts who have viewed the story. You can click on the bar graph icon to access insights for each individual story slide.

From Insights: From your profile, click the 3 horizontal bars in the top right corner, then click “Insights”. From there, scroll down to the “Stories” section and click “See All”. You’ll be able to see analytics for all stories posted in the past 14 days, including Reach, Link Clicks, Replies, Follows, and more. This is helpful for when you are interested in understanding overall account analytics and story insights.

From Archive: You can access detailed insights for stories posted more than 14 days ago through the archive. To access, again click the 3 horizontal bars in the top right corner, then click “Archive”. Toggle to “Stories” and from there you will see past story posts. Click on the story you wish to receive insights for, then click on the “Eye” icon in the lower left corner to access detailed insights.

Understanding Story Insight Definitions

Pulling up the detailed analytics for each story post reveals a wealth of information about how each story has performed. Here is what each insight means:

Interactions:

These numbers break down the different ways that viewers can interact with an Instagram story. 

Link Clicks:

What is it? How many times viewers have “swiped up” on a link.

Why is it important to you? Link clicks are a great way to know if viewers are responding to the story content and compelled to learn more or buy the feature product. If the goal of your influencer campaign is to drive conversions, high link click numbers are a sign of campaign success. Note: only Instagram Business or Creator accounts with over 10,000 followers can currently include links in their stories. 

Shares:

What is it? The number of times a story was shared, either as a direct message or onto another account’s story.

Why is it important to you? Shares are a form of user approval, as viewers not only like the content but are sending it to friends for approval, too. Shares are an important way for stories to reach new audiences, and drive up impression numbers. 

Replies: 

What is it? The number of times viewers send a direct message reply or share a “Quick Reaction” in response to a story.

Why is it important to you? A high number of replies suggests that the story content is highly engaging and stimulates conversation, as it warrants responses from viewers. Note: Replies can be turned off, but we usually only see this with celebrity accounts.

Website Clicks:

What is it? The number of times viewers clicked the website link in the account’s profile. Note that this is separate from “Link Clicks” which refers to the specific link added to the story.

Why is it important to you? Viewers clicking the link in an account’s bio are interested in learning more about the account, indicating that the story content is driving them to get to know more. 

Sticker Taps:

What is it? The number of total taps on location, hashtag, mention, or product stickers on a story.

Why is it important to you? This number shows that the viewer is eager to learn more about the location, tagged accounts, shoppable products, or hashtags included in the story slide. For brands, a high number of “Sticker Taps” to their handle is a positive sign that viewers are responding well to the brand and its offerings. 

Profile Visits:

What is it? The number of times an account’s profile was viewed.

Why is it important to you? This is another indication that viewers, particularly new viewers who aren’t following the account already, are attracted to learn more. 

Discovery:

These numbers detail how many people view a story and how they are finding it. 

Reach:

What is it? The number of unique accounts that saw a story. 

Why is it important to you? Story views are an important metric for marketers, as it shows how many eyeballs are viewing the story content. 

Impressions:

What is it? The amount of times a piece of content has been viewed. Impression numbers will (in most cases) be higher than the reach number, since people can view a post multiple times.

Why is it important to you? If your impression numbers are much higher than your reach numbers, this is a great sign that your content warrants multiple views and has created a lasting impression. 

Follows:

What is it? The number of accounts that started following an account after viewing a story.

Why is it important to you? A high number next to “Follows” suggests that the content is attracting new audiences to learn more about the account. 

Navigation:

What is it? How viewers are looking through an account’s story. There are few different ways viewers can navigate through the story, including: 

Back: The number of taps to view the previous story slide on an account. 

Forward: The number of taps to see the next story slide on an account.

Next Story: The number of taps to the next account’s story.

Exited: The number of taps to leave an account’s story. 

Why is it important to you? Other than “Back” you want these numbers to be as low as possible relative to the account holder's benchmarks, as it means that viewers are clicking through your story rapidly, or even deciding to move on to a new account’s story. If viewers are hitting the “Back” button on a story, however, that means they wanted to look at the slide again in order to take in the information presented. This is a good sign, as it means that the story slide content warrants repeat viewing (and will help increase the “Impressions” number).

What is Byte? Everything You Need to Know About the New Video App

Another day, another social media app that causes everyone to ask: should I invest in this platform? Is it worth it to start a profile? Will this one last? 

Today, we are breaking down Byte and everything we know about the new video app.

What is Byte?

Byte is a video-sharing app that allows users to share 6-second looping videos. If that sounds awfully familiar to the now-defunct Vine, that’s because Byte hails from Vine cofounder Dom Hofmann, leading many people to refer to Byte as “Vine 2.0”. 

The homepage of Byte features popular content on the app, allowing you to discover new creators. You can also browse through the Explore page to see highlighted content, as well as search different content categories. 

As of now, the Create mode in Byte is fairly simple: you can hold down the center button to film clips on the app, or you can upload and trim videos that you’ve taken elsewhere. Currently there is only 1 “filter” to edit with, unlike the many effects and filters that Instagram Stories and TikTok feature. You can then tag your video with a content category (such as “Pets” or “Music”) and share it to your feed. Users can also “rebyte” videos that they like, increasing the potential reach of videos. 

Byte vs. the Competition

Byte has entered an already-crowded landscape of video apps. In order to escape Vine’s fate, the app will need to make a big splash with creators and advertisers. 

Byte hopes to set itself apart from competitors by focusing on opportunities for creators. Users can join Byte’s official Partner Program, which will facilitate the growth of creator accounts on the app. The program promises email resources with tips and news, creator meet-ups, and early access to new features, including analytics breakdowns.

In addition to educational resources, the app is aiming to launch monetization options for popular creators soon, starting with a revenue share model similar to YouTube. Competitor apps like TikTok and Snapchat do not provide creators with options to monetize directly through their apps, so this is a big draw for creators looking to diversify their income opportunities. During the pilot Partner Program, Byte is promising 100% of ad revenue to creators in the hopes of incentivizing creators to join and develop content for the app. 

Marketing on Byte

Byte’s focus right now is on facilitating creators, but brands should pay attention to this app in the coming weeks. The app topped 1 million downloads in the first week alone and will continue to grow. As the app lures creators with its Partner Program, they will need advertisers for the proposed revenue share program.

As detailed in their Partner Program outline, Byte will not feature pre-roll advertising, ads in your following feed, and will not run retargeting ads. Instead, the app will feature organically woven-in content, like branded cards on the app’s Explore page. 

Just like with TikTok, we also anticipate brands who are targeting Gen Z audiences to start developing content for Byte. The 6-second limitation will encourage brands to get very creative with video content, but when done right, the possibilities for amplification through the app’s Explore page are promising, especially for early adopters of the app.

Why You Need To Work With Influencers That Have Instagram Business Or Creator Accounts

There are a lot of considerations to take into account when selecting influencers for a campaign: budget, demographics, following, content style, and so on. But there is one additional consideration that you should take into account when vetting potential influencer partners: do they have an Instagram Business or Creator account?

A professional Instagram account provides several key benefits, both for the influencers with said accounts and for brands looking to partner with them. 

Here are the key reasons why you should partner with influencers who have a professional account:

Gain Access To Advanced Metrics

Influencers with Instagram Business or Creator accounts will have access to detailed analytics on their posts. They can view breakdowns on how users engage with their content and how the post is being discovered across Instagram, as well as metrics on demographics and overall account performance. 

When you partner with an influencer, include a note in your partnership agreement so that you can view these backend analytics. You can also invest in an analytical tool that provides access to this data, but again, influencers will need a professional account for those metrics to be visible. 

Need a more detailed breakdown on Instagram post analytics? Check out our blog post here.

Use the Official Partnership Transparency Tool

Transparent partnerships are essential for creating audience trust and should be a top priority for both brands and influencer partners. In order to improve the clear identification of sponsored content, Instagram introduced the Paid Partnership Tool. This allows influencers to add a special tag to their post that clearly indicates that it was paid for by a brand. Influencers with Business or Creator accounts can add these tags to branded content with your brand account’s approval. 

Strategically Amplify Content Via Whitelisting

The ability to promote posts and stories on Instagram is a huge draw for brands, and partnering with influencers with Business or Creator accounts increases the ways in which content can be promoted. 

Boosting content is exactly what it sounds like: putting budget behind an existing post and “boosting” its viewership to expanded audiences, including an account’s own audience

Whitelisting allows brands to strategically amplify an influencer’s content on Instagram and Facebook and target specific audiences. Unlike boosted posts, whitelisted content does not have to appear in an influencer’s own feed, but does always appear to targeted audiences. Whitelisting gives brands larger control on how the promoted content is shared, as they can add specific “call to action” buttons like “Shop Now” or “Learn More” and can tailor captions and images to fit their marketing needs. 

Allow Influencers to Tag Your Products in Their Post

In 2019 Instagram unveiled a new feature called Instagram Shopping that allows e-commerce businesses to tag shoppable products directly on Instagram posts and stories. Does your brand utilizing Instagram Shopping? If so, you have the ability to partner with Instagram Creator accounts and allow them to tag shoppable items on their accounts. If you track link clicks and sales conversions as a priority of influencer campaigns, you can capitalize on this partnership ability by activating Creator accounts. 

Note: At this time, only users with Creator accounts can add shoppable tags from other brands to their posts.

Instagram Insights, Explained

Understanding the definitions behind Instagram analytics is integral to know how your content is performing and the types of content to which audiences are responding. Whether monitoring the success of your brand’s own Instagram account or that of an influencer program, understanding different insight numbers will help you create content that resonates and set informed KPIs. 

Here is everything you need to know about Instagram post analytics. 

*Disclaimer: you will need an Instagram Business or Creator account to access full insights

The Instagram Engagement Icons & How Each Is Important To You

When you click the “View Insights” button on a specific Instagram post, a page will appear with 4 icons and numbers beneath each one, like below:

An example of top-line Instagram post insights

Likes (Indicated by the “Heart” Icon):

What is it? A like is a user’s stamp of approval on a post and is one of the biggest measures of “engagement” i.e. how much users are responding to the content.

Why is it important to you? Because clicking the “heart” button takes little effort, likes aren’t as valued as other types of engagement (see below).

With Instagram considering doing away with publicly-viewable likes, the value of like numbers will only continue to decrease. However, agencies like Socialyte that have first- and third-party access to analytics will still be able to see like numbers, so don’t count their value out completely.  

Comments (Indicated by the “Speech Bubble” Icon):

What is it? The number of comments a post receives is listed under the “thought bubble” icon.

Why is it important to you? Posts with a lot of comments are often not only aesthetically pleasing or enjoyable, but many have asked viewers to engage and share their thoughts and feedback. Because commenting takes more effort than just clicking the “heart” button and liking something, comments are typically seen as more valuable than likes. They indicate a meaningful connection between you and your audience.

It should be noted that quantity of comments doesn’t always equate to quality. 10 thought-out responses to a prompt in your post, for example, can be more valuable than 100 comments that are simply the “heart” emoji, as it demonstrates your audience is commenting thoughtfully and truly engaged with the post. 

Shares (Indicated by the “Paper Airplane” Icon):

What is it? Users can share a post by clicking the “paper plane” icon, either through direct messages with friends, or to their Instagram Story. A shareable post can be anything posted to Instagram, including your own, from a hilarious meme to a news update to a cute pair of boots that someone wants to share with their friend.

Why is it important to you? Shares are another form of user approval. Not only does the user like the content, but they are sending it to friends for approval as well. When a user shares content in this way, it reaches new audiences and allows for the content creator to gain potential followers, ultimately driving post impressions (more on that later). 

Saves (Indicated by the “Bookmark” Icon): 

What is it? Users can bookmark content for future reference using the save button. Recipes, tutorials, and inspirational posts are saved most often.

Why is it important to you? If you are hoping to educate or inspire others through your content, high save numbers signal that your content is working and are an indication that similar content should be created and shared in the future. 

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Together, likes, comments, saves, and shares make up a post’s engagement number. Engagement is a valuable metric for marketers because it means that viewers are responding to the content. If engagement numbers are low relative to the corresponding following (we call this “engagement rate,” or total number of engagements [industry standard is likes + comments] divided by an account’s total following), it may signal that followers are not interested or do not see the value in the content that is being presented to them. Conversely, if the engagement rate is on the higher end, followers are interested in the content that is being consistently shared.

Understanding Post Insights

If you swipe up on the “Post Insights” overview, more detailed insights will appear. It will look something like this:

An example of what full Instagram post insights look like

Profile Visits:

What is it? How many people clicked through to your profile from your post.

Why is it important to you? The higher the number the better, as it indicates your post was intriguing enough to explore your page more. It is also a good indicator as to what content is attracting new viewers to learn more about you. 

Reach: 

What is it? The number of unique accounts that saw a post, either in the home feed, Discover tab, hashtag or location search, or tagged posts

Why is it important to you? Reach is the best indicator of content performance, and a higher reach usually leads to higher engagement metrics. 

Impressions:

What is it? The amount of times a piece of content has been viewed. Impression numbers will (in most cases) be higher than the reach number, since people can view a post multiple times. 

Why is it important to you? If your impression numbers are much higher than your reach numbers, this is a great sign that your content warrants multiple views and has created a lasting impression. 

Instagram breaks down the source of impressions even further, as seen below:

From Hashtags: This indicates that people discovered your content via hashtags. Adding a few strategic hashtags increases your post’s visibility and searchability. Tag relevant search terms that are applicable to your post so that people who aren’t following you can discover your content (for example: tagging a breakfast recipe with #breakfastrecipe so users searching for new meal ideas find your post). 

From Home: This means that your post appeared on your followers’  home feeds. In an ideal world, 100% of your followers would see everything you post, but this isn’t typically the case, as Instagram’s algorithm prioritizes the posts a user sees first by a number of factors, including recency, interest, and user relationships.

If this number is high (i.e. close to your follower number), that means a large percentage of the people who follow you are viewing your content directly on their home feeds. This is a great sign, as it indicates you are doing a good job activating your audience on a consistent basis.

From Profile: This number comes from the amount of times a user clicked on your post directly from your profile. 

Other: Impressions under the “Other” category can come from a variety of sources, including post shares, saves, photo and video tags, mentions, and post notifications.

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Now that you have better insight on the meanings behind different Instagram post analytics, you’ll be able to recognize what content performs well and how your channel is acquiring new followers. Use these insights to develop a strong Instagram marketing strategy moving forward.

What Hiding Instagram Followers Means For Digital Marketers

Big changes are sweeping across Instagram. After running tests internationally, Instagram has begun testing hiding likes and video views in the United States. While users themselves will still be able to view how many likes or video views they receive on a specific post, their followers won’t see those numbers.

Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri explained that the decision to remove public likes stemmed from mental health and hopes that the disappearance of likes will take away competition and pressure users can feel when on the app. However, some users, particularly those in the digital marketing world, are concerned that this will dramatically decrease engagement rates and also make it harder to identify legitimate influencers.

Whether you are supportive of this update or nervous, there is no doubt that the way we use Instagram will change moving forward.

Here is what to expect as hidden engagement becomes permanent. 

Likes Will Be Hidden, Not Gone

One of the biggest misconceptions about Instagram’s latest test is that likes are disappearing. Technically, they are still around, and users can still see how many likes they receive. Likes will just stop being publicly available. 

When coordinating an influencer campaign, you should be requesting post analytics from influencers as to get the full engagement picture including likes received on their posts.

Analytical Tools Will Be Essential

Additionally, analytical tools and platforms will be able to access analytics, especially if they have first-party access to an influencer’s profile. 

Investing in analytical tools that can access and track key metrics will be pertinent to successful campaigns moving forward.  The hiding of likes “will push brands more so than ever to move towards using first- and third-party data access to receive an influencer’s overall analytics,” our founder Beca Alexander asserts.

Engagement Rates Will Likely Decrease

Feedback from general Instagram users has been positive, but creators are understandably concerned that their engagement rates will suffer. Without the public incentive to like a post, followers will instead engage more with content that is relatable, interactive, or creative, rather than what is popular. For instance, influencers in Australia, where hidden likes have been tested, noticed an overall decrease in engagement, though there were a few instances of increased likes as well.

As the testing continues, expect engagement rates to fall before leveling out again, so take this into consideration when vetting potential influencers to partner with and focus on other engagement metrics instead.

Other Engagement Benchmarks Will Be More Valuable

Likes have always been susceptible to fraud, as users can purchase likes from third-party apps, so hiding likes will disincentivize bought engagement. This will allow the truly influential creators to stand out, while those who have purchased fake engagement are left behind.

Other forms of engagement including comments, saves, and shares will become even more valuable, as will statistics like reach, impressions, and views. Our Director of Brand Partnerships, Amanda Sorenson, welcomes this development, stating that “brands have been placing far too much emphasis on influencers’ ‘worth’ by measuring how many likes they receive on an image” while overlooking an influencer’s true connection with their audience. “Just because an influencer receives hundreds or thousands of likes, it doesn’t mean they can sell your product.”

Brands and agencies will instead look at the larger analytical picture as they assess the performance of digital campaigns. 

Influencers Can Stop Stressing, Start Creating

From a creator standpoint, hidden likes are a positive change. As Instagram has become more saturated and competition amongst creators has increased, users feel pressure to only post certain things based on how many likes they receive. 

Without public like counts, influencers can stop stressing over what will receive the most likes and focus on content creation itself. “Over the past few years,” says our Director of Talent, Becca Bahrke, “we’ve seen Instagram turn into a place where people feel pressured to have the jaw-dropping, perfect photo that shows a glimpse into the best version of their life.” With the removal of public likes, Bahrke continues that “the hope is that this will minimize that pressure for not just content creators, but also real everyday people so they can share the content that they enjoy.” With an increased focus on authenticity on social media, hiding likes will help bring back an authentic feel to the platform.

How To Spot Fake Instagram Followers And Engagement

As soon as people realized a social media following could bring paid partnerships, fake followers, likes, and comments have been a prevalent tactic to garner brand attention. It’s an epidemic that plagues influencers of all sizes. A nano influencer might buy a few thousand followers to bump themselves up to the next influencer tier, or a mid-tier influencer might buy likes and comments to counteract decreasing engagement rates. 

 The onslaught of fake followers, likes, comments, and views is a major issue for obvious reasons. Influencers with fake followings and/or engagement are making fraudulent claims about their audience reach, which can hurt the brands that invest in influencer marketing. This year, cyber-security firm Cheq estimates brands will lose $1.3 billion marketing to fake followers. This leads to poor return on investment for influencer marketing campaigns and a general distrust of influencer marketing.

 Keep your brand from wasting money on influencers with fraudulent followings by following our guide to spotting fake engagement:

Keep An Eye On Follower Spikes

It is natural for follower numbers to grow gradually for most people. Unless someone gains a massive following overnight after appearing on a TV show or movie, most followings will increase at a steady rate. If someone’s following is jumping drastically then plateauing, you can be pretty certain that they are purchasing followers.

As brands have gotten wise to these huge following jumps, some fake follower companies now offer “drip” followers, where you can gain thousands of followers but split them up over time so it seems like a natural, steady follower gain. Because of this, there are a few other indicators to look for on an influencer’s profile. 

Track Engagement Rates

A lot of wannabe influencers stop at purchasing fake followers, which makes it painfully apparent when their engagement rates do not match up with their follower count, since these bot followers don’t actually interact or engage with content. 

 Industry standards for engagement rates are currently around 1% to 3%. Smaller influencers tend to have higher engagement rates, while larger influencers may have lower rates. If someone has an engagement rate of 6% then, you can assume that they have an authentic and engaged audience. However, if an influencer has an engagement rate of 0.5%, you may be dealing with someone who has purchased followers. 

Look For Patterns

Now that brands have gotten savvier and look beyond just follower numbers, users have in return started purchasing likes and comments to falsely bolster their engagement rates and keep the ruse up.

If you find an account that consistently gets the same number of likes, give or take a few, or always has 100 comments on each post, no matter what the photo is, they might be purchasing engagement.

For normal social media users, it is common for some posts to do better than others. Maybe they share a “filler” post, or share a photo at a time when fewer people are on the platform; for whatever reason, most users recognize that not every post will be a massive hit. So if you come across a profile where every post is getting the same number of likes and comments, you should be wary. 

Check The Follower Accounts

If you are suspicious about an influencer’s following, take a look at the followers. There are a few ways to identify a bot account:

• Their username has dozens of numbers, or a random combination of letters

• There is no profile photo

• They have few followers, but follow thousands of accounts

• They have few (or even zero) posts

• If they do have posts, they are all stock photos

Now, almost everyone has a small percentage of bot followers, so don’t fret if you find one or two following an influencer you’re considering working with, but if you notice a pattern of these suspicious profiles, they were probably purchased. 

Analyze The Quality Of Engagement

Because comments are the highest form of engagement (since they take more effort than liking or sharing a post) they are extremely valuable. So if you find an influencer profile with hundreds of comments on each post, that’s a positive sign. However, you should take a moment to browse through these comments and check for their quality. Everyone gets a few spam comments here and there, but if there is a trend of one word comments like “Wow!” and “Awesome!” that can signal inauthentic engagement.