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We all love a good story. As a sales tool, storytelling builds relationships and makes it easier for customers to remember brands and products.

That’s what makes Instagram such a powerful platform for marketers. It’s a place where you can tell your story and connect with your audience.

A great story doesn’t automatically lead to increased engagement and conversions though. Each metric has value and can tell an important part of your brand’s performance story. Instagram tracks the following impression sources:

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Hashtags
Location tags
Your feed
Your profile

The Value of Impressions

If you were standing in a room with 100 people and started telling a vacation story, you have potentially shared that story with 100 people. But being in the room doesn’t automatically mean that all 100 people heard the story. Chances are a fraction of the room heard the story, especially if you were one voice among many speaking at the same time.

However, the people in the room are more likely to have heard your story — or even a piece of it — than those who didn’t show up at all for the event. In Instagram terms, the fraction of people who actually heard your story are your reach. The number of people in the room are your impressions. Both are helpful when you’re trying to spread your message.

What Do Instagram Impressions Tell You?

Increasing your reach is an important part of your marketing campaign. The larger your social media audience, the more exposure your brand receives. When the photo of your product sitting on top of a mountain receives 50,000 unique views, you should certainly celebrate.

Taking a closer look at impressions along with reach provides you with the data you need to evaluate your marketing efforts. The ratio of reach to impressions gives you better insight into the behavior of your target audience and the quality of your content.

Few or no impressions can be a sign that your content isn’t connecting with your audience.

High impressions with low reach may indicate that your audience is connected with your content and going back to view it more than once.

High impressions with high reach suggests that your audience may be sharing your content with other users.

Using Paid Media to Gain More Impressions

With more than one billion users each month, Instagram is the fifth most popular social platform in the world. More than 75 percent of businesses in the United States use Instagram to reach customers. That’s a lot of competition.

In addition to publishing your own content, IZEA can help with sponsored campaigns and strategic Promoted Post options.

Influencer marketing is also a powerful tool for improving brand awareness and reach. An influencer offers more than access to an audience. You also benefit from the relationship the influencer has established with the audience.

Connect With More Users

Your brand has a story to tell. You just need to share it with the right audience at the right time. Create quality content. Check your metrics. Change what isn’t working and do more of what is working.