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What Does Navigation Mean on Instagram?

Plixi Team

Jun 12, 2024 9 min read

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Are you interested in figuring out what does navigation mean on Instagram? It refers to analytics within Instagram Insights for your stories’ content. It’s worth knowing what the different metrics mean within the Navigation tab to help you analyze performance. 

However, once you interpret the data on Instagram Insights, you’ll need to develop a strategy for improving content. We’ll provide a few tips to take your Instagram Stories content to the next level

Here at Plixi, you can grow your Instagram account to new heights. We are an Instagram growth service that targets the right audiences for your niche.

What Does Navigation Mean on Instagram?

What Does Navigation Mean on Instagram Story?

Are you interested in figuring out what navigation means on Instagram stories? It’s a section within Instagram Insights that informs you about Instagram Stories’ performance. You can use the Navigation metrics to gauge the success of your stories and make changes for improvement. 

Now, let’s take a closer look at the different metrics within Navigation on Instagram Story. This will help you understand what information they share and what it means for the quality of your content.

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What Does Navigation Forward Mean on Instagram Insights?

Do you want to know what navigation forward means on Instagram Insights? The Forward Taps metric refers to the number of times users scroll forward from your story content. You’ll notice that your Forward Taps metric will be very high for most of the content. That’s because scrolling forward is the default way that people use Instagram Stories. 

When looking at the different stories on Instagram Insights, you’ll see that most of your content has a high forward percentage. However, when you notice one with a low percentage, it should concern you. It might be that the content is not interesting, thus causing viewers to stop watching. Here are three more helpful IG Insights you should know about:

1. Back Taps

A Back Tap refers to when a user presses the left-hand side of a screen while viewing the story content. A higher percentage of Back Taps is a positive metric since it indicates the users find the content interesting. It also contributes to multiple views from a single person, which increases the number of views

Also, a high Back Tap percentage may positively affect the Instagram algorithm. This, in turn, can increase the number of people who see your Instagram Story content. You may want to investigate content that received a lot of backtaps for the winning formula. 

2. Next Story Swipes

Next Story Swipes refers to when a user who is viewing your Instagram Stories moves onto the next account. This indicates they no longer wish to view your content and want to see something else. However, you might have no more stories to show, and the users move on for that reason. 

However, when you spot story content with a high Next Story Swipes count, take a closer look. Perhaps the content is not up to your usual standards that you can improve in the future. 

Exit Story Taps

Exit Story Taps means that the user has stopped viewing Instagram Stories. This metric doesn’t necessarily mean that a piece of content is performing poorly. After all, users have to leave IG Stories at some point. However, when you see one piece of content has a very high Exit Story Taps count, you should investigate. You can count it as a clue to help you figure out the poorly performing content.

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How To Improve Instagram Stories Content

Are you looking for different ways to improve your Instagram Stories content? In this section, we’ll share five best tips for ensuring your audience loves the content you publish. Get this right, and you can see your followers and viewers skyrocket. 

1. Invest in Professional Editing

Instagram Story content with the right editing can really stand out. However, if you have no experience editing video content, you need to hire professional help. This could be a social media marketing agency or a freelance specialist. 

In any case, they need to have the skills for editing content so that it’s engaging and captivates the audience’s attention. When outsourcing, it’s important to look at the quality of their past work. Also, determine if their skills align with your objectives. 

2. Know Your Target Audience

You need to create stories that match the interests of your target audience. The content should align with the purpose behind your content. If you are growing a personal brand, you can include any content you find of interest. However, you must show how it links back to you and why you’re sharing the content. 

On the other hand, brands should ensure the content is niche or industry-specific. This ensures that users who follow your account will find the content useful or interesting. However, it’s also good to mix things up by adding content outside of your regular rotation of topics. This can provide your audience with much-needed variety.

3. Research Your Competitors

Are you running out of ideas on what type of content to include in your stories? Then, analyze your competitors’ accounts and see what stories they publish. This will give you a lot of ideas you can use for inspiration. 

However, to view competitor stories, you will need to follow their accounts. This step is worth taking so you can see who you’re up against and the latest strategies. Following niche-specific trends will help you keep up to date.

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4. Leverage Instagram Analytics

Take advantage of your Instagram analytics data to figure out how to improve your story’s content. Here are some ideas to point you in the right direction: 

  • Hashtags: Within Instagram Insights, you can determine the performance of your hashtags. Hence, you can uncover the ones that drive the most traffic and use them in future posts. Keeping an eye on hashtag performance should be an ongoing process for optimization. 
  • Navigation metrics: As mentioned above, make sure to take note of the Instagram navigation tab. Here, you can glean vital data about the performance of your stories. 
  • A/B split testing: It’s a good idea to test how adding different features to your content increases the viewership. For example, you can see how adding captions affects engagement metrics compared to leaving them off. There are an endless number of tests you can run for continual optimization.

Note that to use Instagram Insights, you must have an Instagram business account. Also, you can have more than one Instagram account tied to your username. You’ll need to switch between them in the settings menu. 

5. Share Quality Videos and Pictures

You can’t take shortcuts when it comes to the quality of your videos and pictures. Fortunately, most modern smartphones have a good enough camera to record content that you can upload. However, investing in equipment will set you apart from competitors. 

This can include a higher-resolution camera or a drone. Getting drone footage can help secure content that most competitors won’t bother. Also, you can use AI-based techniques to improve the visual look of your content. This can make up for any shortcomings during the shooting process.

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Other Valuable Instagram Insights Data

You can view more than the navigation tab on Instagram Insights. It’s important to inspect a wide variety of data to improve your account as a whole. Here’s a list of what else you can find on Instagram Insights:

  1. Advertisements: You can view the performance of your Instagram advertising campaign. This allows you to figure out the return on investment (ROI) and if it’s worth running them or making alterations. However, you should also use marketing software to get even more data about optimizing campaigns. 
  2. Awareness metrics: This is a combination of metrics that provides information on the size of your Instagram audience. This includes impressions, viewers, shares, and more. You can break this information down by content piece. It’s great for figuring out what content is working the best with your Instagram target audience. 
  3. Follower information: When you acquire 100 followers, you’ll receive extra information about your audience. This includes their geographic location, age range, times they’re most active, and more. You can use this information to understand better what your audience wants. 
  4. Engagement: You can monitor the content engagement within your insights console. The information you can monitor includes comments, likes, saves, shares, and replies. You want your content to have high engagement metrics since that helps you win and get more viewers.
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Pin Instagram Story To Profile Page

Did you know that you can pin a single Instagram Story to your account profile page? This allows you to welcome new users and potentially increase the number of followers. For example, you can create a story that acts as a welcome message. This helps you express more since the bio text has a limited number of characters.

Using this strategy to get more followers is worth the hassle. That’s because, with more followers, you can get better brand sponsorship deals or achieve additional sales. Also, when selling Instagram accounts, the number of followers matters.

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Pay Attention To IG Navigation

It’s a great idea to use the IG navigation tab to figure out the performance of your Instagram Stories. You’ll need to compare the metrics of different content to see what’s working the best. Consequently, you can double down on the best pieces of content by creating something similar. 

Now that you know “what does navigation mean on Instagram,” use the feature for yourself. You’ll see that getting story insights is an excellent way to improve your content systematically. 

Are you looking for strategies to grow your Instagram account? Then, take advantage of the services provided here at Plixi. We provide a combination of an in-house algorithm and Instagram influencers to target specific audiences. So what are you waiting for? Start growing and gaining Instagram followers today.

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