August 23, 2024

Goodbye Plays: Instagram to Use Views as Primary Metric 

Nelli Toklen - Senior Social Media Strategist

Nelli is a savvy social media manager who defines digital strategies for clients across a variety of industries. With a background in both social media strategy and social-first content production, she helps brands break through and stand out across channels.

August 23, 2024

This just in — Instagram is rolling out a new primary metric. Soon, views will be the primary performance metric across all content formats. From Reels to Stories and Photos to Carousels, creators and brands are encouraged to track this metric to get a better understanding of content performance, no matter the format. The word “plays” is being phased out, and views are coming in hot! Instagram is also leveraging this change to shift away from many users’ obsessions with follower counts.

 

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A view counts the number of times a Reel has started to play or replay. As for Carousels, photo posts and Stories, repeat views of the same content item will each be counted as a view.
“We want to evolve this so it’s easier to understand how your content is doing regardless of the format,” said Instagram chief Adam Mosseri.

While this change standardizes metrics on Instagram and provides a baseline for content performance, not everyone may be a fan. Some creators feel that brands will be looking to hire influencers with higher views over engagements, when the latter is more of a marker for better influencer performance.

Brands may need to make room for more paid media or shift budgets around. With views as the top metric, paid will become more essential for brands looking to drive any engagement goals versus awareness.
From a brand’s perspective, keep this change in mind, as it will be important to see what’s driving high view counts. Be ready to adapt your strategy for content that can help push views, such as creating new social trends and collaborating with partners. Also take into consideration which content format(s) bring home the most views.

It’s also important to benchmark your brand’s content performance regularly against industry benchmarks. See how your Reels and other content items are performing among competitors and other industry brands, especially considering views. This effort will help you stay relevant in the industry.

Since the app is showing more content to users that it thinks they want to see, (from both followers and non-followers), brands should appeal to this algorithm to further their reach and views.

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