Instagram

Overview

Connect your Instagram and see how your posts are doing, right inside AMS. You get your headline numbers, a day-by-day chart, and every post ranked against your others, so you can spot what's working at a glance.

Connect your Instagram

You'll need an Instagram Business or Creator account. A personal account can be switched in the Instagram app, under your account type settings. It's free and only takes a minute.

1. Go to Integrations → Instagram.
2. Click Connect Instagram.
3. Sign in to Instagram if it asks, and approve the connection.
4. You'll land right back in AMS. That's it, you're connected.

AMS then brings in your past posts and up to two years of account history. This can take a few hours, and you don't need to keep the page open. While it's working, a note at the top of the Stats tab says so, and the number cards read "Your stats aren't in yet" until the first ones arrive. After that, AMS checks your Instagram once a day, so your numbers are always up to yesterday.

The Stats tab

Once you're connected, the Instagram page opens on Stats. From top to bottom: your headline numbers, a chart of how each day went, and a list of your posts.

Pick a time period

The buttons at the top pick the dates for the whole tab: 7 days, 30 days (the default), 90 days, Year to date, or 12 months. The numbers and the chart run up to yesterday, since today isn't over yet. Your posts list includes anything you posted today.

For exact dates, like last month, tap Custom dates, pick a From and a To day, and tap Show these dates. Everything on the tab uses those days, your posts list included. You can pick up to two years at a time.

The number cards

• Views — how many times your posts and Reels were seen. One person watching three times counts as three.
• Accounts reached — how many different accounts saw your posts. Each one counts once, however often they looked.
• Followers — your latest follower count, with how many you gained and lost, and the same two counts for the stretch before.
• Interactions — likes, comments, saves, and shares added up.

Under each number you'll see how it compares with the stretch just before, like "▲ 12% vs 5,410 the previous 30 days". When there aren't enough days to compare fairly (say you just connected), the card tells you that instead of showing a misleading jump. A dash (—) means there's no number yet. It never means zero.

Why new and lost don't add up to your total. Instagram counts new and lost followers separately from your total, and the two don't always match. So gaining 150 and losing 40 won't always move your total by exactly 110. Your total is the one to trust. New and lost are best for seeing which way things are going.

The chart

The chart shows one thing at a time. Pick Views, Accounts reached, New followers, or Followers above it. Days with no numbers are left as gaps, not drawn as zero.

• See one day. Hover over the chart (or tap it on your phone) to see that day's number. For Views, that's everything people saw from you that day, old posts and stories included.
• See what you posted. The small dots under the chart mark the days you posted. Hover over a day to see its posts, best first, with their views and reach. Handy for working out which post caused a spike. A post's numbers are its total so far, not just that day, so they won't add up to the day's total.
• Open a post from the chart. Click a post in that list to open it on Instagram. On your phone, tap a dot under the chart to see that day's posts, then tap one to open it. Tap anywhere else to close the list.
• Look at a few days together. Click and drag across the chart to pick a stretch of days. You'll get the total and the daily average for those days (on the Followers line, how your count changed from the first day to the last), and your posts list below narrows to just those days. Click Clear or Show all to go back.
• Why Accounts reached shows a daily average. The same person can see your posts on several days. Adding the days up would count them once for each day, so for a stretch you'll see about how many accounts you reach a day. For the number of different people over the whole period, use the Accounts reached number above the chart.

AMS starts saving your follower count on the day you connect. Earlier days on the Followers line are worked out from your daily new and lost followers, and they're drawn as a lighter dashed line so you know they're estimates.

Hide the numbers and chart

Mostly here for your posts? Click Hide overview above the number cards, and your posts move right up to the top. One short line keeps your headline numbers in view, like "52,866 views · 29,262 reached · +99 followers". AMS remembers your choice next time on this browser. Click Show overview to bring them back.

Your posts

Every post from the dates you picked, newest first. Click a column name to sort by it, like Views or Saves, to see your best posts at the top. Click a caption to open that post on Instagram.

• On a computer or tablet, you see every number for each post. Hide any you don't need with the sliders button by the search box.
• On a phone, the list starts short, with the numbers that matter most: Saves, Shares, Views, and New followers. Turn on more with the sliders button, and swipe the list sideways to see every column.
• Use All, Posts, Reels, or Carousels to show one kind of post.
• Search finds posts by the words in their caption.
• Export saves the posts you're looking at as a spreadsheet file, every page of them, with the same dates, type, and search.
• Reels get two extra columns, Avg. watch time and Skip rate. They show when you pick Reels, and you can turn them on for All with the sliders button.

What the rates mean

A rate compares a post's numbers with how many people saw it, so a small post and a big one can be compared fairly. "Everyone who saw it" is the post's Accounts reached, so each person counts once. On a phone, turn the rates on with the sliders button by the search box.

• Engagement rate — out of everyone who saw it, how many liked, commented, saved, or shared. Say 1,000 accounts saw a post and it got 50 likes, comments, saves, and shares in all. That's 5%.
• Save rate — out of everyone who saw it, how many saved it. People save what they want to come back to, so this is one of the best signs a post landed.
• Share rate — out of everyone who saw it, how many shared it, like sending it to a friend or adding it to their story.
• Skip rate (Reels only) — out of every time your Reel played, how often people swiped past it in the first few seconds. Lower is better.
• Avg. watch time (Reels only) — how long people watched your Reel, on average, each time it played.

A dash (—) means there's no rate for that post, either because Instagram didn't share the number or there wasn't enough to work it out from. It never means zero.

What the colors mean

Each number in your posts list is shaded by how it did compared with your other posts of the same kind in the same dates. Reels are compared with Reels, and posts with posts, so one kind doesn't drown out the other.

• Dark blue ▲ — Top 10%. One of your best.
• Light blue △ — At or above the middle.
• Light orange ▽ — Below the middle.
• Orange ▼ — Bottom 10%.

Each shade has its own mark, so you can tell them apart without seeing color. Tap a shaded number (or point at it on a computer) to see what it means in words. When most of your posts share the same number (like 0 shares), they all count as the middle and show light blue. A number stays unshaded only when there are fewer than 5 posts of that kind to compare with. For Skip rate, lower is better, so blue still means it did well.

Ask your AI assistant

If you've connected Claude or ChatGPT to AMS, it can read these same Instagram stats. Ask it to "review my Instagram" and it'll look at your numbers and posts with you, then help you plan what to post next. A few more ideas:

• "Which of my Instagram posts did best lately, and what do they have in common?"
• "When's the best time for me to post on Instagram?"
• "How did my Reels do this month compared with last month?"
• "What should I post next week?"

The Stats tab also has a card with ready-made questions you can open in your assistant or copy. The first one matches the time period you picked, like "the last 90 days". With your own dates, it asks about the last 30 days.

Connected your assistant a while ago? If it says it can't see your Instagram, reconnect it once from Integrations → AI Assistant. Not set up yet? See Connect your AI assistant.

The Connection tab

Your Instagram name and the day you connected sit at the top of the page. The Connection tab has everything else about the link between AMS and your Instagram:

• When AMS last updated your stats.
• Past posts — whether your older posts and history have finished coming in. If AMS couldn't bring them all in, it says so here with a Reconnect Instagram button. Reconnecting asks for them again.
• Reconnect — Instagram asks you to approve the connection again every so often. When it does, the page opens here with a Reconnect Instagram button. Your saved stats are safe, and reconnecting picks up where you left off.
• Disconnect — stops AMS checking your Instagram. The stats already saved stay in AMS.
• Want to stop sharing but keep your stats? Use Disconnect here, not Instagram's own settings. Removing AMS in Instagram deletes your saved stats.

Common questions

Why are my numbers a day behind? AMS checks your Instagram once a day, and the cards stop at yesterday because today isn't finished yet.

Why does a card or day show a dash? Instagram didn't share a number for it. That can happen for days before you connected, or if Instagram was slow to answer. AMS shows a dash rather than a zero, so you're never misled.

Why does 12 months say "Only 42 of the previous 365 days have stats to compare"? Instagram only shares about a year of daily numbers (two years for accounts reached), so there's little or nothing from the year before to compare with fairly. AMS tells you that rather than showing a misleading jump.

Can my team see this? The Instagram page is for business admins, so team members won't see it.

Will disconnecting delete my stats? No. Your saved stats stay, and reconnecting the same account picks up where you left off.

What if I remove AMS in Instagram instead? That's different from Disconnect. In Instagram, Settings then Apps and websites lets you remove AMS. When you do, Instagram asks AMS to delete your data, and AMS deletes all your saved Instagram stats.

• Connecting again brings back your posts and daily numbers.
• Some things can't come back: story results, follower counts older than 30 days, and past audience breakdowns.