Glossary
Instagram and brand monitoring, defined
Every term our brand pages and comparisons use, explained once and properly, including what each number can and cannot tell you. 23 entries.
Average likesThe mean number of likes an account's recent posts receive, used as the raw input to engagement rate.Brand awarenessThe share of a target audience that recognises a brand, approximated on social media by mention volume, reach, and share of voice.Brand healthHow well a brand is performing against its own category on the measures that predict future demand, engagement, growth, audience scale, and consistency.Brand mentionAny public reference to a brand, by @handle, by hashtag, or by name in text, made by an account other than the brand's own.Carousel postA single Instagram post containing up to twenty images or videos that a viewer swipes through.Competitive benchmarkingMeasuring a brand's Instagram performance against a defined set of competitors on the same metrics, over the same window.Engagement rateThe share of an account's followers who interact with a typical post, expressed as a percentage of likes and comments divided by follower count.Follower growth rateThe percentage change in an account's follower count over a period, which shows whether an audience is compounding or stalling.HashtagA keyword prefixed with # that groups a post into a searchable feed alongside every other post using it.ImpressionsThe total number of times a post was displayed, counting repeat views by the same account.Instagram algorithmThe set of ranking systems Instagram uses to decide which posts each person sees, and in what order.Instagram handleThe unique @username that identifies an Instagram account and forms its URL.Instagram InsightsInstagram's built-in analytics for professional accounts, showing reach, impressions, profile visits, and audience demographics for your own account only.Instagram ReelsInstagram's short-form vertical video format, distributed heavily to accounts that do not already follow the poster.Instagram StoriesFull-screen posts that disappear after 24 hours and are shown mainly to existing followers.Media kitA short document that presents an account's audience size, engagement, demographics, and past partnerships to prospective brand partners.Posting cadenceHow often an account publishes, usually expressed as posts per week.ReachThe number of unique accounts that saw a post at least once, as opposed to the number of times it was displayed.Sentiment analysisAutomatic classification of a mention as positive, negative, or neutral, used to summarise the tone of a large volume of posts.Share of voiceA brand's mentions as a percentage of all mentions across its competitive set, showing how much of the category conversation it owns.Social listeningThe practice of systematically collecting public posts that reference a brand, category, or competitor, and reading them for patterns rather than one at a time.User-generated contentPosts about a brand created by customers or creators rather than by the brand itself.Verified badgeThe blue check displayed beside an account name to indicate Instagram has confirmed it represents the person or brand it claims to.