Last week, Union Metrics, rolled out an Instagram analytics tool that allows brands/organizations to get detailed information about users who interact with posts on the service. Union Metrics calls it “detailed participant reporting,” and it is a tool that helps brands (or sports team in this case) identify their biggest fans. Tools within the service include:
- Ability to create timelines showing comments and likes from each fan
- Heat map of the timing of those comments and likes
- Breakdowns on the frequency of engagement
Instagram, which surpassed Twitter in US mobile users in March, is quickly increasing in popularity and becoming a must-have for brands. As of March, it is estimated that Instagram has about 200 million active users. 70 percent of those people login at least once per day, and 35 percent login multiple times each day. 20 billion photos (including about 35 million selfies) have been shared on the service since it launched in October 2010, and the Instagram mobile app has seen 66 percent year-over-year growth.
With all that said, it is clear that Instagram is a prominent and important social network. But, how are teams using it? Better yet, how would sports organizations use an analytics tool like this one form Union Metrics? SportTechie caught up with some social media industry professionals to hear their opinions:
- Brian Bowsher, Assistant AD for Digital Strategy for Univerisity of Miami (@brianbowsher)
- Neil Horowitz, Manager of Digital and Social Marketing for the Phoenix Coyotes (@njh287)
- Jessica Smith, Social Media Strategist for the NCAA (@WarJessEagle)
Do you see an Instagram analytics services as something that would be useful for a sports team (college or pro)?
BB: Yes, for sure.
NH: Instagram’s growing fan base and active fans make it a platform worthy of attention for teams. When organic posts can get about 5-15%, on average, of one’s followers engaging, that is an auspicious trend, as long as it continues. There are major limitations, however.
JS: I think analytics are always useful for a platform as long as you understand what you are measuring. Measuring without goals is like throwing darts without a target… it is pretty useless.
Instagram is a different beast from other platforms because it’s strictly visual in nature. It’s not a driver of traffic, and you have to get creative if you are trying to get fans to learn or consume information. Additionally, because the native platform does not have the same sharing mechanisms as other platforms, engagement on the platform lacks the same value as a share, retweet, click, etc. It’s easy to double tap on a picture without thinking twice when it doesn’t reflect on your profile at all or share with your network. With all that said, as analytical tools become available for Instagram, it will be interesting to see how teams and leagues measure its worth.
What services do you currently use for social media monitoring?
BB: Sprout Social (Twitter), Facebook Insights, Twitter native analytics
NH: We utilize a buffet to free and freemium services, but are looking into a more robust platform that can help consolidate the data and make reporting more easily. We have a handful of KPIs we track, but know there are tools that, given fixed time and resources, can save time while helping us better uncover insights and best practices.
JS: We currently use HootSuite for our social media needs, from monitoring to analytics.
How do you use the data you get from these services?
BB: Month-over-month benchmarking, comparison to other university accounts, identification of most-successful (least-successful) posts
NH: It is a combination of several things — understanding what is driving fan action and engagement across all channels and touch points, tracking growth and relative growth over time, bringing out favorable data we can show to current and potential corporate partners, delivering quick and easily digestible reports to ownership, juxtaposing with data across departments for analysis, insights, and strategy / strategic discussion, and, well, too many things to list!
JS: We use data to understand what content is working (and what is not), engagement, track traffic referrals, sentiment, etc.
What do you think of Union Metrics new Instagram analytics tool? How does your team or organization use social media and analytics? Let us know and share your thoughts with me on Twitter at @p_mcclellan.