Notes on reach, engagement and growth
Plain explanations of how Instagram actually distributes a post, what the numbers on your own account are telling you, and what is worth changing. No hacks, and no numbers we cannot stand behind.
Instagram reach
How Instagram decides who sees a post, and what actually changes that.
Why is my Instagram reach so low? The honest answer
Reach falls for a small number of boring, fixable reasons. Here is how Instagram actually decides who sees a post, and what you can change this week.
Engagement
Likes, shares, saves and comments: what they signal and what they do not.
Are Instagram saves private? What the poster can see
Nobody is told you saved a post, and your saved list is yours alone. But the poster does see a save count. Here is exactly where that line sits.
Are Instagram shares public? It depends how you share
Three different actions all get called a share, and only one of them is public. Here is who sees each one, and what the original poster is told.
Do Instagram reposts show on your profile? Five cases
Resharing on Instagram is five different actions, and most never touch your grid. Here is where each one lands, and where the engagement is counted.
Do Instagram saves matter? What a save really signals
A save is the most expensive thing a viewer can hand you, and that is exactly why it moves reach. Here is the mechanism, without an invented multiplier.
How many shares on Instagram is good? Find your own number
No one can hand you a share count that means good. Here is how to read your own Insights and build a benchmark that actually fits your account.
How to get more saves on Instagram (and how many is good)
A save is a promise to come back. Here is what earns one, why asking for saves underperforms, and how to work out how many saves is good for you.
What Instagram saves are, and why they beat likes
A save is the one button that costs the viewer something. What saving does, where saved posts live, and why the app reads it as a strong signal.
What are shares on Instagram? Four kinds, not one
A DM send, a story add, a repost and the external share sheet all count as shares. They do different work. Here is what each one actually does.
Are Instagram share counts accurate?
Share counts are real, but they lag, they settle, and two Insights screens can disagree. What is counted, why the numbers differ, and how to read them.
How Instagram counts shares, and why yours looks off
The share counter counts actions, not people, and most of those actions are private. What increments it, what does not, and why the number lags.