There are 1 billion monthly active users on Instagram from across the world. You're most likely one of them, and why not? Instagram isn't just a great platform for posting photos and connecting with people online.
Instagram is also an amazing place to boost your business and become an entrepreneur. Many people of all ages have found financial success through Instagram's platform. Getting there won't happen overnight though.
The process takes time, dedication, and a lot of hard work. Understanding the basics of an Instagram story viewer is a start to understanding how to grow your account. Do you need more information on Instagram viewers and how it all works?
Continue reading our guide below for everything you need to know about Instagram story viewers and why they're so important.
Read More: How to Build a Personal Brand on Instagram: A Quick Guide
Who Is an Instagram Story Viewer?
Instagram story viewers are not the same as your likes or followers. A private Instagram story viewer is an account that views your actual story. A story is a short video clip or photo that's added to the top of your Instagram app.
You add stories by clicking on the "+" button at the top of the screen. Then, instead of selecting, "post," you'll select, "story." Posting a story does not post to your profile unless you select that option.
After you post a story on your account, other accounts or people can then view those stories. These are your Instagram story viewers.
Why Are Instagram Story Viewers Important?
We live in a world where the number of likes someone receives on social media holds more weight than how well someone's ability to monetize their Instagram account. It's nice to have hundreds or thousands of likes on your posts, but there's much more to Instagram than who gets the most likes.
Instagram story viewers are important because your stories are a way to generate more traffic to your page. If you set your profile to public, then all other accounts (ones that don't already follow you) can also see your stories.
After an account sees your story, they can then visit your profile and choose to follow you.
Other accounts who view your story can even like the story and share it with others. When accounts share your story, this then increases traffic to your account!
How Can You See Who Viewed Your Story?
To see the number of views on a story, you'll need to click on your own story. This will be at the top left of the app. If you have a story posted that you haven't viewed yet, your profile picture will be highlighted in red.
Click on your circle profile picture to access your current stories. You'll then need to swipe up. After you swipe up, you'll be able to see how many people viewed your story and who.
Instagram provides a list of the accounts that watched the story. On that list, some viewers will have small red hearts by them. These viewers have liked your story.
Scroll through the list of viewers to see all the accounts. To the right of the accounts, there will be a messenger icon and three dots in a line. Click the dots to either block, remove, hide the story, or view the profile of this account.
How Long Can You Acess These Views For?
Do keep in mind that stories are only available for 24 hours. After 24 hours, your stories will disappear and you'll no longer be able to view who watched them. However, there is a trick to getting around this.
Click on your small profile picture at the bottom right of the app. This brings you to your profile. Once there, click on the three lines located at the top right of the app.
Then, select, "archive." At the top of the screen, it'll read one of the following:
If it doesn't already say, "stories," then you can click on the small arrow to the right to switch to the archive section you want to access. You can now access story views and likes for 48 hours, rather than 24. Once it's been 48 hours, however, you won't have access to this information anymore.
You will be able to see all of the stories you've posted and can choose to share, turn them into a highlight, delete, and more. You can also choose to save your story in your phone's gallery before the 24 hours is up or by accessing the story in your archives.
How Do You Find More Information About the Viewers?
You've seen how many people viewed your story and who those people are, but how can you gather more information about your stories and the viewers? Switch your account to the public to access more insights. After doing this, you can then watch your story, swipe up, and click on the bars located to the left of the viewer count.
This will then show you an overview of your story insights. The overview will tell you how many accounts were reached, how many content interactions there were, and how much profile activity the story generated. You'll also see your reach, replies count, shares count, navigation, and details for the profile activity.
This information is important to have because it helps you determine which stories do better than others, so you can then tailor your story content.
What Are Some Ways to Boost Story Views?
Boosting your story views is beneficial because the more people who view your stories, the more engagement your account has. By posting high-quality content on your stories with interesting Instagram captions, you'll get more engagement. You can also choose to boost your stories.
To boost your stories, click on the arrow pointing up that's located under your story when you swipe up. Instagram allows you to answer questions in regards to how you want to boost your story or what reasons you want to boost it. Do keep in mind that only stories with hashtags, polls, location tags, or other tags can be boosted.
Is the List of Viewers in a Specific Order?
Some Instagram users believe that the list of story viewers is in a specific order. Unfortunately, there's no exact answer to this question since Instagram has never released information about this algorithm. However, you may find some similarities in how Instagram lists the viewers.
For starters, anyone who likes your story (a red heart will appear next to their name) will be listed first. Then, accounts that you interact with more than others will come next but are in no specific order. The rest of the list is in no specific order and trying to determine what order it's in isn't beneficial for anyone.
You'll notice each time that the same accounts will appear at the top of the list but the order will always change.
How Do Instagram Stories Differ From Highlights?
Instagram highlights are old stories that you've posted that you then chose to highlight. Once you choose to highlight a story, it'll remain on your profile. Other accounts can see these highlights anytime they visit your profile.
You can also create different highlight sections or titles. For example, you might have a section of highlights titled, "Gym." This is where you'll highlight all of your workouts or gym photos and videos.
You can then edit these highlights when desired, create reels from them, and more.
What Are Some Features Provided on the Story Feature?
Some great tips to retain Instagram followers are to use all of the wonderful features Instagram provides for stories and posts often. When creating a story, you'll see multiple circle options at the top. These options allow you to edit and create your story.
You can tag another account in your story or a paid partnership. You can also add text using various Instagram fonts, stickers, create a poll, ask questions, tag the location, insert a link and music, and more! Don't forget to add effects and use the draw tool also.
Get creative with it and explore all of the features to create a unique and aesthetically pleasing post.
Read More: 8 Professionally Rewarding Ways to Make the Most of Instagram MarketingLet's Boost Your Instagram Story Viewer Knowledge and Gain Followers
When you understand who an Instagram story viewer is and why these views are so important, you can begin to gain followers and boost your account's engagement. Your story views might not be as exciting as receiving likes, but the more views your stories have, the more accounts that are interacting with your profile.
Use all of the information given above to help you start creating awesome Instagram story content and keep track of those viewers! For more topics similar to this one, continue to check back here on a regular basis.
