Why are Instagram Stories and Highlights Important?
Instagram has caught on more than anyone could have ever predicted. The fun part about Instagram is the social cohesion and approval people get from the app- be it as simple as liking each others’ posts, commenting on them, or viewing the Instagram Stories or Highlights of other people! Many use Instagram officially, to publicise what they do, be it journalism or counselling. Instagram allows you the ability to see who viewed your Instagram Stories and Highlights. If you are running a business account, this will help you see how many people actually follow what you do as opposed to just following you on Instagram. There might be many people who follow you but very few who will take an interest in what you are doing. People also use Instagram stories to give shoutouts to laud someone’s commendable work, and a good way of showing appreciation for the same is to add the shoutout to your story so that the other person feels acknowledged.
How can you see who checks out your Instagram Highlights?
Instagram Highlights are a way of making your Instagram Stores last permanently on your profile so that they are freely accessible to everyone who wants to view them. As the location of the Highlights is also such that a viewer is almost automatically directed to it, you can use these Highlights to market some of the most important produces and services that you offer, if it is a business profile.
You must be aware of a few technical details regarding highlights before you start making your Instagram Highlights. You can only add Instagram Stories to your Highlights after you start archiving your stories. You can create an unlimited number of Highlights on Instagram. The number of views that you see on a Highlight may not all occur after you highlight the story on Instagram. The Highlight will also add to its own views the number of views that the original story got on Instagram. After the Highlight creation, the views of the same get added to the original story. You cannot see the number of times a single person viewed your Highlight.
If you are using highlights to promote any of your services, you will want to see how many people viewed it, and whether the number is equivalent to or more than your followers. The latter is possible only if you have a public account.
- Make your way to your profile on Instagram and click on ‘Highlights.’
- You need to tap the ‘seen by’ icon.
If your account is a private one, then those who do not follow you will not be able to view your Highlights. So if it is a business account, you might want to make your account public so that it is accessible to all for easy and free viewing. This will help you gain more of an audience and result in better marketing of your products and services.
How can you see who checks out your Instagram Stories?
Post the addition of Instagram Stories, its users started engaging up to 30 minutes or more on the social media app. Consumers started feeling validated when they shared their thoughts or photos with the world and could do so on a day to day basis without everything being added to their posts as a part of the Instagram feed. Instagram Stories are basically photos or maximum 15 second videos that you can upload and allow your followers to view for a day. You can make your Instagram Stories a lot more interactive than your Instagram Posts. People can also communicate with you immediately after viewing your story due to the ease of the Instagram user interface.
Once a person has viewed your story, Instagram will let you know by creating a small eye icon at the bottom right corner and showing the number of viewers near it. You will not be able to access this feature for your Instagram Feed- which means the photos and videos you upload on Instagram. This is specific only to Instagram Stories and Highlights.
- Click on your profile picture at the top of the screen.
- View your story by clicking on it.
- The eye icon and different profile bubbles at the bottom left corner will indicate the number of views.
- Also, you can buy Instagram views for better reach and growth of your Instagram account.
You can customise Instagram and choose the viewers of your story. You can make a Close Friends List, or hide your Story from certain people.
- Tap on your story to view it.
- Click on the ‘Settings’ icon.
- Click on ‘Hide Story From.’
- You will see a drop down list of your followers.
- Select the ones from which you want to hide your story.
It is possible to see the number of views you get on your Instagram Stories up to 2 days after uploading.
- Navigate your way to your profile picture.
- Click on the menu icon in the top right corner of the screen.
- Go to ‘Archive.’
- Navigate your way to the Story whose view count you want to see.
- Click on the story.
- Swipe upwards on the screen.
The number of views includes the number of times your Story gets replayed. So if one person views it more than once, the number of views will be higher than before. However, it is not possible to see who viewed your Instagram Stories and how many times they viewed it.
Conclusion
The Instagram Stories and Highlights record views for you to have an idea of how many people avidly follow what you do as opposed to simply following you. The idea of allowing consumers to see the view count is to aid them in planning their marketing strategies better if it is a business account. However, if it is a personal account also this can be a useful feature as you are made aware of your social media presence.
