
Do you know how to access and interpret your Instagram analytics on desktop computers?
By reading this post, you discover the meaning of Instagram insights, how you can access your Instagram analytics on desktop natively, the difference between Instagram analytics on desktop and mobile, and third-party metrics tools to help you view your Instagram analytics.
By accessing and interpreting your Instagram analytics, you can boost your future Instagram marketing success.
Let’s start exploring the importance of knowing your Instagram analytics on desktop and mobile.
There are many advantages of using Instagram for your marketing campaigns. For instance, with more than one billion users, Instagram is one of the largest social media platforms.
Also, Instagram continually reinvents itself. In fact, Instagram’s creators continually add different features and updates.
Using Instagram for marketing is a popular choice. If you have a fashion brand or a business that you wish to grow and boost, Instagram is the best platform.
This popular social media site can help increase your reach and get you a lot more Instagram followers and customers. Your brand can also flourish as you get more exposure through this social media platform.
Why Do You Need Instagram Analytics?
Data analytics is the process of examining large data sets to uncover patterns and trends. This information can then be used to make informed marketing decisions.
Before we discuss why you need Instagram analytics on desktop, let’s examine why you need Instagram analytics at all.
Instagram analytics give you the complete statistical data of all of the activities on your account. These insights show you all the negative and the positive points of your account so that you can work towards improvement.
Instagram insights can help you track your growth and organize your data.
Here are some of the analytics Instagram insights display:
- How many people view your Instagram stories
- How many people save your Instagram posts
- How many people follow you in a day
- How many people like your post
- How many people share your post
Operational Reporting vs Analytical Reporting
This post is about Instagram analytics on desktop. However, there are many types of reports. What is the difference between operational reporting and analytical reporting?
Operational reporting shares a company’s day-to-day operations. However, analytical reporting shares reports related to trends over time.
You need Instagram analytics to assess whether your Instagram marketing campaigns are addressing trends. If your brand isn’t addressing trends, you can bet that your competition is.
Why Do You Need Instagram Analytics on Desktop?
- Avoid eye strain
- Convenience
- Instagram analytics tools exist solely for use on desktop
Avoid eye strain
The screen on the desktop is bigger than the screen on the phone. People don’t need to suffer eye strain when looking at their Instagram analytics on desktop computers.
Convenience
Before discovering how to use Instagram on a desktop, I needed to email my photos and videos back and forth from my desktop to my phone since I could only send them to Instagram from my phone. Often using Instagram on a desktop is more convenient especially if I’m already working on the desktop.
Also, if the phone is on a charger or in a different room, we don’t always have our smartphones available.
The bottom line: Using Instagram analytics on desktop computers is often more convenient than using the analytics on a mobile device.
Tools exist to use Instagram analytics on desktop computers and not mobile devices.
For instance, Inssist (Instagram Assistant) is one of my favorite tools to post Instagram stories from a desktop computer. Inssist announced it has no plans to release a mobile version of the Inssist Instagram Extension.
The Combin Scheduler also shows you Instagram analytics on desktop. The Instagram scheduler also is not available on a mobile device.
These analytics help you see how active your account is and how the audience is receiving your material. If you wish to know how to use Instagram analytics on desktop and mobile, keep reading the article.
Instagram Insights Meaning
What are Instagram insights?
You can see analytics natively inside the app. Instagram insights provide data on your followers and your content. You can use the data to improve future marketing campaigns. In order to see the analytics Instagram Insights provides, you need an Instagram business account.
Here are four ways to use Instagram insights to improve your marketing according to the Social Media Examiner:
Check your followers’ demographics
“The follower demographics feature is a feature of Instagram insights that helps you check your followers’ diversity. It will give you an insight into the types of followers you have and how many followers you have. You can also see the gender and the age ranges of your followers. This can help you to customize your content so that it can be consumable to the majority of your audience.
Once you figure out the type of followers you have, you will understand your target audience a lot better. You will also get to see when your followers are active the most. It also shows you the days where your followers are the most active so that you can schedule your post around this time. This will help you post when 90% of your audience is on Instagram. These insights will ensure that all of your content gets consumed and does not get ignored.
Check the data for your stories
Through this Instagram insight, you can check the activities of your stories. As we know, stories are a feature of Instagram that allows us to make various posts that last only 24 hours.
Within these 24 hours, you will see how many people have watched your stories. Not just that, but you will also get to see how many people skipped your stories or watched them halfway through. It will show you the number of engagements on your stories. For example, if you posted a link or a question sticker, you will see how many people replied to those questions or clicked on the links.
This will show you how exciting and engaging your stories are. If you know many people skipping your stories, you can always work towards improving that and post better stories.
Check on your paid promotions
As we all know, Instagram allows us to buy advertisements. Instagram advertisements are also said to be one of the most influential and impactful advertisements. Once you purchase an ad from Instagram for a business account, you will get insights into that.
In this section of your insights, you can examine the impact of your advertisements. You will get data about how many people viewed your ads and clicked on them. You will also see how many people visited your profiles with those promotions.
Check details for individual posts
Instagram insights allow you to see the activities of your posts. You can see how many people saved your post and interacted with it. It will also give information about how many people shared your post with other people.
You can also examine the number of likes and comments on your posts and their average. If someone accesses your account after seeing a post from you, you will also get that information in your insight data. You can see how many people found your post through the location, Instagram hashtags, or the Explore Page. This shows you your content data so you can improve it.”
Now that you know the importance of Instagram analytics, let’s examine the difference between Instagram analytics on desktop and Instagram analytics on mobile.
Instagram Analytics on Desktop vs Mobile
Instagram Analytics on Desktop
Although Instagram was originally designed as an app, starting in 2020, you could access Instagram analytics on desktop computers.
However, you can only access Instagram analytics on desktop for each post.
Here you see a short tutorial demonstrating how to access Instagram analytics on desktop.
Instagram Analytics on Mobile
In addition to Instagram analytics being available on desktop as well as mobile devices, you can also access Instagram analytics in various countries but not all countries.
For instance, according to the Instagram Help Center, you cannot access your Instagram analytics on desktop or mobile in Japan or in any country on the continent of Asia.

These Instagram analytics were found using a mobile device.
To find these Instagram analytics on mobile, click your profile picture, the 3 lines in the upper right, and the word “Insights.”
More Instagram Metrics Tools
In addition to accessing Instagram analytics on desktop natively, you can Instagram analytics in other ways too.
For instance, you can use these tools to access your Instagram analytics on desktop computers:
- Buffer
- Inssist
- Combin
In addition to Inssist and Combin which were discussed above, you can access your Instagram analytics on desktop using Buffer, the social media tool, with a paid plan.
Instagram Analytics on Desktop: FAQ
Can you see Instagram analytics on desktop?
Yes. You see Instagram analytics on desktop using Instagram, but you will only see insights for each post. You can also use free and premium 3rd-party social media tools to see Instagram analytics on desktop.
How do I get insights for Instagram on my laptop?
Go to Instagram.com. Click your profile picture, and click Profile. Click on each post to see the insights.
Can you view analytics on Instagram?
Yes. You can view analytics for individual post on desktop. Using the app, you can see analytics involving your content and the demographics of your followers. Using the app, click your profile picture, and click the 3 lines in the top right corner. Click Insights.
Wrapping Up: Instagram Analytics on Desktop
By reading this post, you discovered four ways to use your Instagram insights to improve marketing. You also learned how to view your Instagram analytics on desktop natively as well as by using the app on a mobile device.
We hope that this post can help you understand Instagram insights better and help improve your Instagram account.
Related Reading
Authors:
Janice Wald and a Contributing Author

Janice Wald is the founder of MostlyBlogging.com and co-founder of the Mostly Blogging Academy. She is an ebook author, blogger, blogging coach, blogging judge, freelance writer, and speaker. She won the Best Internet Marketer Award and the Best Blogger Award at the 2021 Infinity Blog Awards. Wald was also nominated as 2019 Best Internet Marketer by the Infinity Blog Awards and in 2017 as the Most Informative Blogger by the London Bloggers Bash. She’s been featured on Small Business Trends, the Huffington Post, and Lifehack.
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