When analyzing a social media post, it is essential to look at three things; time, content, and interaction. Since social media has become so competitive, it is important to analyze these posts to help a company or brand succeed in the future.
First, let’s take a look at my latest Instagram post. I run a bookish account that mostly focuses on book reviews, aesthetic photos, and a lot of coffee.
This image is something that usually does well on my feed. It’s simple, cozy, aesthetic, and exactly what my followers are expecting. Another thing that my followers expect is a morning and evening post.
Time
I usually upload my morning post somewhere between 8-11 (I know its a wide range). The posts that do the best of my feed always perform better when they are uploaded before noon. I know my post is doing very well if I receive 100 likes every hour for more than six hours.
For my evening posts, I usually send them out after eight o’clock. My goal is to pick up a little bit of engagement from my Australian audience and push it to the top of everyone’s feed in the morning. I have no evidence to back this up, but it has led me to receive the best engagement in my photos.
If I upload my post between noon and five o’clock, my post does not do well. I received fewer likes, engagement, and followers.
Content
The content of Instagram is primarily limited to photos, videos, and texts. There are some options to use links, but those are only available in the user’s bio or story (only if they have more than 10k followers and are a business account).
I have two types of posts on my feed; book reviews and aesthetic, or “filler” posts. These aesthetic posts almost always do better than my book review posts. Despite having similar style photos, these simpler posts have always had better results.
The content for this post is very simple. I started off with an easy question, gave a quick answer, and left it off with the conclusion that I use for every post.
Lastly, I included several hashtags. These are specific hashtags that are frequented by book lovers to find new accounts. Getting on the trending pages of these accounts severely impacts the success of the post.
Engagement
To grab more engagement, I always start my post off with a question. If I am lucky, my post’s early engagement helps me get on the trending pages for popular hashtags. When this happens, I earn more followers and more people to interact with my photos.
For this post, as of now, I have received 555 likes, 26 comments, three shares, and 62 saves. Compared to my other posts, this is doing very well for only being seven hours old.
Conclusion
Social media will always be tricky. Sometimes you follow all the right steps, and a post may not do so well. By studying the company or brand’s social media analytics, the user can reach a bigger audience and produce more successful campaigns.
Jennifer Coffey 
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