Once you’ve published your first Instagram campaign, you can sit back and wait for the ad results to come in.

But that’s only for a moment! Soon, you’ll need to track and measure your campaign results and delve into Instagram reporting.

In the last chapter of the Instagram Advertising Guide, we’ll discuss what makes a good Instagram campaign and what are the most important metrics to track.

Moreover, you’ll find an answer to the following questions:

  • How to get started with Instagram ads reporting?
  • How to navigate your Instagram ads reports?
  • What are the right tools for monitoring your ad results?
  • What are the most important Instagram campaign metrics?

Keeping your ads successful after the publishing is just as important as getting them right in the first place.

How to Get Started With Instagram Ads Reporting?

According to Shopify, Instagram posts have a 1.08% conversion rate, which, compared to Twitter (0.77%) and Pinterest (0.54%), is super high.

That’s good news, but how can you see the exact ad results of your Instagram campaigns?

The easiest way to check both your Instagram and Facebook ad reports in to log in to the Facebook Ads Manager. You will see all your active and completed campaigns in the reporting section.

Note that you need the Instagram for Business account to see full campaign reports.

Facebook Ads Manager

Here’s how the Facebook Ads Manager looks

Here, you can sort your ads by dates, objectives, etc. and “zoom in” to any campaign to measure the performance of every single Instagram ad or campaign.

 

Instagram ads reporting

Filter your reports by dates

You can select a campaign by clicking on the checkbox in front of the campaign name. Next, you’re able to navigate to the Ad Sets and Ads tabs to see the performance of every individual campaign unit.

Instagram advertising metrics

Learn to navigate the Ads Manager

If you want to see additional metrics, navigate to the Columns section and select a different report setup.

Instagram Ads Reporting With Campaign Breakdown

In addition to the campaign metrics you see in your Ads Manager reports, you can break down your Instagram advertising results even further by using the Breakdown menu.

The Breakdown function allows you to filter campaigns by:

  • Delivery: age, gender, location, browsing platform, platform, device, time of day, etc.
  • Action: conversion device, destination, video view type, video sound, carousel card, etc.
  • Time: day, week, two weeks, month

You can select up to one criterion from each section (i.e. one from Delivery, one from Action, and one from Time).

The report breakdown by placement lets you compare your Instagram ad placement against other active ad placements.

 

instagram ads reporting

See performance by placement

Moreover, you can find answers to many other important questions such as:

  • What times of day or weekdays deliver the most conversions at the lowest cost?
  • What are the best-performing target countries?
  • Which devices’ users convert at the highest rate?
  • Which regions have the highest Instagram ads cost?

To break down your Instagram ad campaigns by different criteria, first select one or more Facebook campaigns. Then, select a criterion from the Breakdown menu.

Use the Breakdown menu

Use the Breakdown menu for additional information

The first time you’re navigating the Facebook Ads Manager reports can seem overwhelming – there’s so much data and few ideas what to make of it. However, don’t worry – it’ll get better after you’ve successfully managed a couple of Instagram campaigns.

TOP 5 Instagram Ad Reports and Metrics You Should Track

1. Instagram Ads Relevance Score

Facebook ads Relevance Score is a number from 1-10 that helps to understand how your audience is reacting to a particular ad.

Facebook calculates this metric for every single ad, based on three primary factors:

  • How well your ad is performing – is it bringing the conversions you’ve optimized for?
  • Positive feedback from people who see your ad – app installs, clicks, video views, etc.
  • Negative feedback – e.g. when someone clicks “I don’t want to see this” on your ads

You can check your Instagram ads’ relevance score in Facebook Ads Manager reports by selecting the “Performance and Clicks” standard report.

instagram ads reporting

Navigate between different reports

A low Relevance Score of 1-3 points indicated that your Instagram ads aren’t all too relevant to their target audience.

However, a high Relevance Score of 6+ points can significantly lower your advertising costs as Facebook will prefer them to other competing ads, delivering your ads to a wide audience.

You can usually improve your relevance scor by updating your Instagram ad design and copywriting. Or you could try using a different Instagram ad targeting.

2. Number of Conversions

Before you take a look at other Instagram ad metrics, you should first take a look at the number of ad impressions and conversions.

If there’s an ad that’s performing incredibly well in terms of cost-per-click and conversion rate, but only brought a couple of conversions, it’s not actually a well-performing ad.

To see the number of an Instagram ad campaigns’ clicks, impressions, and conversions, select the “Performance and Clicks” report from the Columns menu.

instagram ad reporting

Use the “Performance and Clicks” report

3. Conversion Rate

Another important campaign metric to track in your Instagram reports is the conversion rate.

Conversion rate indicates how big a percentage of the ad viewers convert on your offer. The conversion is defined by you in the campaign setup phase – it could be link clicks, signups, purchases, etc.

To see your Instagram ad campaign’s average conversion rate, you’ll need to perform a quick calculation.

Divide the number of ad impressions with the number of conversions and multiply the number by 100.

instagram ad reporting

Impressions

4. Cost Per Conversion

Your ads might be having an awesome click-through-rate, but if they don’t convert, you won’t get any new customers.

That’s why, the cost per conversion is your most important campaign metric – it shows how much an actual conversion (not an ad impression or click) cost you.

In order to see the cost per conversion metric, you need to define your ad campaign’s conversion during the setup process.

Learn more: Instagram Ads Cost and Bidding in 2018 – Everything You Need to Know

 

instagram ad reporting

ALWAYS check the cost per conversion

5. Instagram Ad Frequency

The Instagram ad frequency shows how many times an avg. audience member has seen your ad.

If your ad frequency reaches over 4 points, it means that most audience members have seen your ad for multiple times (and likely grown bored with it).

To the ad frequency, go to the Facebook Ads Manager, click on a campaign, and in the reporting section select the Delivery view.

instagram ad reporting

Find frequency data in the “Delivery” repot

Now, you can see the ad frequency on a campaign, ad set or ad level in the reporting table.

 

instagram ad reporting

Ad frequency

Tip: Try to keep your Facebook ad frequency under 2-3 points. However, when working with Facebook remarketing campaigns, you can also let your ad frequency go higher.

Additional reading: