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Analytics & Insights

Understand your social media performance and optimize your strategy

Overview

The Analytics Dashboard provides comprehensive insights into your social media performance. Track impressions, engagement, reach, and more across all your connected platforms.

Track Performance

Monitor impressions, engagement, and reach for all your posts

Identify Trends

See which content performs best and when your audience is most active

Platform Breakdown

Compare performance across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and more

Current Analytics Status

Live analytics are integrated for Instagram and YouTube. Facebook analytics coming in Phase 2.
Data Collection: Analytics are collected from platform APIs every 6 hours for Instagram, and in real-time for other platforms. Some platforms have a 24-48 hour delay before metrics become available.

Dashboard Overview

Key Metrics Cards

At the top of the dashboard, four metric cards provide a quick snapshot:

Total Posts

Number of posts published during the selected date range

Total Impressions

How many times your posts were seen (includes multiple views by same person)

Total Engagement

Sum of all likes, comments, shares, and saves across all posts

Avg. Engagement Rate

Average percentage of people who engaged with your content

Date Range Selection

Use the date range selector in the toolbar to view analytics for:

  • Last 7 days
  • Last 30 days (default)
  • Last 90 days

All charts and metrics update automatically when you change the date range.

Chart Visualizations

The dashboard includes several charts:

  • Engagement Over Time: Line chart showing daily engagement and impressions trends
  • Platform Breakdown: Pie chart comparing engagement across different platforms
  • Posting Times Heatmap: Visual guide showing when your posts get the most engagement
  • Top Posts Table: List of your best-performing posts ranked by engagement

Account-Level Metrics

In addition to post performance, Postle tracks account-level metrics for platforms that provide them:

Followers / Subscribers Count

Total number of followers or subscribers on each platform. Updated every 6-24 hours.

Profile Views (30-day)

How many times your profile was viewed in the last 30 days.

InstagramAvailable for Instagram Business accounts

Account Impressions (30-day)

Total impressions across all your posts in the last 30 days.

InstagramAvailable for Instagram Business accounts

Account Reach (30-day)

Unique accounts that viewed any of your posts in the last 30 days.

InstagramAvailable for Instagram Business accounts

Account-level metrics are stored in your connected accounts' metadata. View them by going to Settings → Accounts and clicking on an account card.

Post-Level Metrics

Each published post collects detailed performance data:

Impressions

How many times your post was shown to users. This includes multiple views by the same person.

Reach

How many unique accounts saw your post. Always less than or equal to impressions.

Engagement

Total interactions with your post, calculated as:

Likes + Comments + Shares + Saves

Engagement Rate

Percentage of people who engaged with your post:

(Engagement / Impressions) × 100

Saves / Bookmarks

How many users saved or bookmarked your post for later. High saves indicate valuable content.

Video Views

For video posts, how many times the video was played. Platforms count this differently (3 seconds on Instagram, etc.).

Platform-Specific Metrics

Different platforms provide different metrics. Here's what's available:

Instagram

Instagram

  • Impressions (how many times your post was seen)
  • Reach (unique accounts that saw your post)
  • Saves (how many times users bookmarked your post)
  • Profile visits (from your post)
  • Video views (for Reels and video posts)

Data delay: Instagram Insights become available 24-48 hours after posting. Postle fetches updates every 6 hours.

YouTube

YouTube

  • Views (how many times your video was watched)
  • Watch time (total minutes watched)
  • Subscribers gained (from this video)
  • Likes and dislikes
  • Comments
  • Shares

Data delay: YouTube Analytics update within a few hours but can take up to 24 hours to finalize.

Facebook

Facebook

  • Post reach (organic + paid)
  • Engagement (reactions, comments, shares)
  • Clicks (link clicks, photo views, etc.)
  • Video views (for video posts)

Data availability: Real-time, but full insights available after a few hours

Understanding Metrics

Impressions vs Reach

This is one of the most confusing pairs:

Impressions

Total number of times your content was displayed, regardless of clicks or engagement

Example: If Sarah sees your post 3 times (scrolled past it twice, then came back), that's 3 impressions

Reach

Number of unique users who saw your content at least once

Example: Even though Sarah saw your post 3 times, she only counts as 1 person in your reach

Rule of thumb: Impressions will always be equal to or greater than reach. If impressions are much higher than reach, it means people are seeing your content multiple times.

What is Engagement Rate?

Engagement rate is the percentage of people who interacted with your content:

Engagement Rate = (Total Engagement / Total Impressions) × 100

Example calculation:

  • Your post got 50 likes + 10 comments + 5 shares + 15 saves = 80 total engagement
  • It had 2,000 impressions
  • Engagement rate = (80 / 2,000) × 100 = 4%

What's a Good Engagement Rate?

Benchmarks vary by platform and industry:

  • InstagramInstagram: 1-3% is average, 3-6% is good, 6%+ is excellent
  • FacebookFacebook: 0.5-1% is average, 1-2% is good, 2%+ is excellent
  • XTwitter: 0.5-1% is average, 1-3% is good, 3%+ is excellent
  • LinkedInLinkedIn: 2-3% is average, 3-5% is good, 5%+ is excellent

Why Some Metrics Have Delays

Different platforms process analytics at different speeds:

  • Instagram: Insights API has a 24-48 hour delay before data becomes available. This is a platform limitation, not a Postle issue.
  • YouTube: Initial views appear quickly, but full analytics (watch time, retention) can take 24 hours to finalize.
  • Facebook/Twitter: Most metrics are available within a few hours of posting.
Postle fetches analytics from platform APIs every 6 hours for Instagram and in real-time for other platforms. The "Last updated" timestamp shows when data was last refreshed.

Data Accuracy Considerations

Important Notes

  • Analytics numbers may differ slightly from what you see natively on each platform due to API limitations
  • Some platforms (Instagram) don't provide all metrics via their API
  • Deleted posts will no longer have analytics data available
  • If you disconnect and reconnect an account, historical data may be reset

Using Analytics to Improve

Identifying Top-Performing Posts

The "Top Posts" table shows your best-performing content. Look for patterns:

  • Content type: Do videos perform better than images? Do carousel posts get more engagement?
  • Topics: Which topics resonate most with your audience?
  • Format: Do educational posts outperform promotional ones?
  • Length: Short and punchy vs. long and detailed?

Understanding Audience Behavior

Use the Posting Times Heatmap to see when your audience is most active:

  • Darker colors indicate higher engagement during those hours
  • Schedule posts during peak times for maximum visibility
  • Test different posting times and track the results
  • Remember: optimal times vary by platform and audience demographics

Optimizing Your Posting Strategy

  1. Replicate success: When a post performs well, create similar content
  2. Reduce underperformers: If certain content types consistently underperform, post them less frequently
  3. Test and iterate: Try new formats, topics, or posting times and measure the impact
  4. Platform-specific optimization: What works on Instagram might not work on LinkedIn - optimize for each platform separately

A/B Testing Content

Use analytics to run simple experiments:

Example Test: Image Style

  1. Post 5 times with professional photography
  2. Post 5 times with casual behind-the-scenes photos
  3. Compare average engagement rate for both groups
  4. Use the style that performs better
Track changes over time by exporting analytics data to CSV (available in the dashboard toolbar). This helps you identify long-term trends and measure the impact of strategy changes.

Next Steps