The average post reach rate of Instagram is declining. You can measure it simply with the help of two factors:
- The total number of followers a brand has
- The total reach of a specific brand post
These factors are affected this year on different social media platforms, especially Facebook and Instagram. However, Instagram has experienced a more rapid change in its reach rate than Facebook. This result has been derived after the detailed analysis of 1 million posts on these two platforms, so it is worth discussing why it is happening.
According to the analysis, the average post reach rate of Instagram has declined by 20% this year. It was 16.33% in January 2021 and later reduced to 13.51% in January 2022. The change seems even more drastic compared to the earlier dates. The Social Insider Analyst has observed that the reach rate dropped by 29% compared to last year’s values.
In July 2022, the monthly average post reach of Instagram was 13.51%. It’s still better than the average figure of Facebook (8.6%). However, the decrease is drastic as it is 8% less than the average value of January (9.31%). It turns out to be a more significant drop compared to August’s average value last year, which was 10.43%.
According to the analysis, brands may want to consider using the popular Instagram Reels after considering the dreadful drop in the average reach rate of regular posts. Reels on Instagram have a considerably higher reach rate than other types of posts, regardless of the number of followers a profile would have.
Now, let’s talk about the engagement rate by reach, as it has proved to be more stable on Instagram in the last year. It is determined by dividing the total engagement by the number of posts published on Instagram and then by the total reach it gets. Social Insider analysts further explained “Reach” as it represents the total number of new viewers a post gets. In contrast, “Engagement by Reach” refers to the total number of interactions a post receives from the new views or viewers. It’s a more insightful revelation than the one that considers the number of followers, as it shows how relevant a post turned out to be for the users who see it.
In this regard, Instagram has shown solid statistics. Its average value is reported to be 3.35% in July, which stayed up from the start of the year. By then, the average was 3.26%. The average value of July is down compared to the peak point that Instagram reached in June (3.53%). However, when you look at the bigger picture, the trend line is steady, which matters the most.
On the other hand, Facebook doesn’t seem to perform well in terms of its engagement rate by reach. There has been a constant decline in its average value in recent months. In February, the average value was relatively high (2.01%). It went down to 1.4% in July, a terrible decline of about 30% in 5 months. It might be shocking for a few that Facebook has lower engagement rates than Instagram. However, the stats clearly show how brands struggle to interact with their followers through the posts they share on Facebook rather than Instagram.
Wrapping Up
The reach rate of Instagram has been affected in the past few months. However, Instagram Reels helps get more reach than other posts. Moreover, when you take the engagement rate by reach into account to measure the performance level of both Instagram and Facebook, Instagram seems to be doing better than Facebook as it has maintained an average value of engagement rate by reach, which means the new viewers it gathers by every post actually end up interacting with the content.
