Kassaundra 0:00

If you've been listening for a hot minute, or follow me on Instagram, you probably already know I'm all about the data. Because how can we run a profitable business and reach our goals without knowing how we're doing with our marketing efforts? So that's exactly why we're exploring Instagram data all month long here on schooled in socials.

Kassaundra 0:23

So teacher authors, go ahead and reheat that cup of coffee, because I'm your host, Kassaundra Foster. And we're about to get schooled in socials.

Kassaundra 0:34

Welcome back to schooled in socials. As a former special educator, data was my life. Is that student making progress? Show me the data. Is that behavior intervention working? Show me the data. Should I keep teaching the alphabet this way,? Show me the data. Basically data, or it didn't happen. And that is why I'm such a big believer in keeping track of your Instagram data, if you truly want to see ROI from your social media marketing efforts. So of course, I'm bringing you a whole data series this month, where we're going to explore Instagram data, its importance and the role it plays in your teacher business. First up, we've got to talk about the why behind having our eyeballs on our data.

Kassaundra 1:23

Now, when I say having your eyeballs on your data, what I'm really getting at is having a system for tracking your data over time. Sure, it's great to pop into your Instagram insights every now and then and see if those top three data points of like accounts reached, accounts engaged, and total followers is trending up, right? Everyone loves to see like the green percentage underneath those. But if you don't have a spot to store that information, and all of the other amazing analytics Instagram provides you with (which by the way I tackle in Episode 10 if you want to refresh your memory) you have no way of knowing what is really happening with your account, you could be missing out on potential ROI, and you could be missing the mark when it comes to what your audience wants and not even know it. And you definitely could be missing out on making and seeing progress towards your big business goals. So as a social media manager, I highly recommend having some sort of system for storing your Instagram data, whether that is simple screenshots labeled with the analytic and date, so you can compare one month or one quarter to another or it's a complete spreadsheet where you get down to the nitty gritty of each post, which would be my recommendation as a data lover, you need something that's going to house those numbers for you, in order for you to analyze them and make decisions based off of them.

Kassaundra 2:59

Now, let's chat about my three big reasons why tracking your Instagram data is vital as a teacherpreneur. Up first is the fact that you could be missing out on opportunities for increased ROI if you're not tracking and analyzing your data. That's right. You literally could be leaving money on the table by ignoring the Insight dashboard. And here's why. If you created a post about one of your resources, and you didn't look at the data points like link clicks, how will you know if that post was effective? Maybe you posted it and you saw that there were like only a few likes. And that's all you ever looked at because it was easy to see. And you probably might walk away thinking, huh, my audience must not really be into that resource, that post didn't really work. Let's try marketing something else. But just because it only got a few likes, doesn't mean the post didn't serve its purpose. Its purpose was to get people to your TPT store to buy your resource. So if you didn't take a peek at the analytics and put your eyeballs on that number of link clicks that came from that post, you could potentially decide not to market that resource as much as you would have before, without the full complete picture. Taking a look at your data is about getting that full picture. And when you have the full picture, you can make better marketing decisions. And you can tweak your content to match what your audience are really needs. And when you are successfully filling a need for your audience, you are more likely to see that ROI increase.

Kassaundra 4:45

And speaking of getting the full picture, tracking your data allows you to stop guessing what your audience wants from you. Tell me if this sounds familiar. You create a bunch of posts you think your audiences is going to Love, and they flop. So then you start creating all kinds of content and posting it to see what sticks. And all of a sudden, you feel burnt out. And you say something like, Instagram just doesn't work for my business. No shame if you've been there, I have thrown many spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks to. And honestly, creating content in that way sucks. But it doesn't have to feel like that. Because our audience will tell us exactly what it wants and needs, we just have to dig a little deeper, and take a look at those analytics to figure out every one of your posts that have done really well. And every one of your posts that have quote unquote, flopped leaves you a breadcrumb about your audience. If you don't take a look at the data of your posts that have done well and ask yourself, what do these have in common? Or if you don't take a peek at the data of the posts that haven't done well and ask yourself, what do these have in common? You're missing out on that chance to stop throwing spaghetti at the wall and start creating content strategically. And you can't analyze data unless you have a bank somewhere. So tracking is the answer to getting off of that content creation hamster wheel.

Kassaundra 6:23

Now, last but not least, without tracking your data, you are missing out on the opportunities to see and celebrate your progress. Let's face it, social media is a slow burn - a marathon, not a sprint, right? But how would you feel if you were running a marathon and there were no mile markers telling you that you were getting closer and closer to the finish line? You would probably give up, right? Because how do you know if you've gone 24 miles or 5 miles? Data becomes our mile markers in social media marketing. If we are hoping for a more engaged audience, if we are hoping for more TPT sales from our Instagram page, if we are hoping for more leads to add to our email list or more people to join our membership. How will we know if we are making any progress towards those if we're not looking at our data, the key is looking at our data over time. So yeah, it might feel like your audience isn't that engaged even though you've been working on it for three months. But if you took a peek at your data from the first month you started posting, you might find that your audience engagement has increased like 3%, you're making progress. Or you might be looking at that TPT figure at the end of the month, and feel like Instagram didn't help you increase your sales at all. But if you went back and looked at the average time someone was clicking on your link in bio from a sales post, maybe five months ago, you might see that an average of four more people are actually clicking on your sales posts. And that is the progress we need to see in order to help push us forward and truly reap the benefits of social media marketing. Plus, I'm all about celebrating our wins. And if you aren't looking at your data, you might miss an opportunity to celebrate. And in my opinion, life is too short to miss any reason to celebrate.

Kassaundra 8:28

So when it comes down to it, having a system to track your Instagram data is key to Social Media Marketing benefiting your business, you will be able to see opportunities that will create more ROI that will help you create strategic content and stop hitting your head against the wall when it comes to planning posts. And you will see your progress towards those big business goals you have on your heart.

Kassaundra 8:55

If you are ready to really dive into your Instagram data, and reap the benefits of analyzing it, I would love for you to join my waitlist for my upcoming course post and profit. Getting on that list means you'll be the first to hear when the course doors open. And you can begin your data journey with competence.

Kassaundra 9:20

All right, cold coffee friends. Thanks so much for listening. If you're loving getting schooled in socials, make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode. Also, I would love it if you left a review so that other teacher authors like you can start getting schooled in socials too. All right, I'll see you in the next episode.