Instagram doesn’t let you see who views your profile, the platform keeps that information private. You can who viewed your Stories or who joined your live videos, but not a list of profile visitors.

This curiosity isn’t just personal, and many small business owners and influencers often want to know who their visitors are. Unfortunately, no matter how badly we want it, regular users simply cannot see a list of who viewed their profile.

However, there are a few metrics you can see, and if you want to increase the number of profile viewers you have there’s a way to get that done too.

What Instagram Does (and Doesn’t) Let You See

Whenever you post an Instagram Story, you can see exactly which accounts viewed that story, but this information is only available while the story is live and up to 48 hours in the archive.You will see the usernames of everyone who watched, but keep in mind that some people might view your story but never visit your main profile, and vice versa.

If you go live on Instagram, you can see who joins the live session in real time every time someone starts watching your live video. Once the live session is over, however, you can’t pull up a list of everyone who watched the recorded version

If someone likes your photo or leaves a comment, you obviously see their username and of course you always have access to your list of followers

Instagram shows a view count for videos and Reels you post, but it’s all aggregated so you won’t know who specifically watches your video unless they interact with a like or comment.

If you convert your account to a professional one, Instagram gives you access to Insights which provides analytics like how many profile visits you got in the past week, or the reach of your posts.That number tells you people are checking out your page but Insights still won’t tell you who those visitors were..

Why Instagram Hides Profile Viewers

The main reason is privacy. Instagram has to balance the privacy of users with the features it offers, and if everyone could tell who viewed their profile, people might stop freely browsing and engaging.

Other social networks have different approaches. LinkedIn, for example, will show you some of the people who viewed your profile but it serves a professional purpose, and even there, users can choose to browse in private mode if they don’t want to be seen. Instagram, being more social and casual, chooses not to reveal this info at all as a way to keep the browsing experience relaxed. 

There’s also a safety angle because if someone is stalking or harassing users by constantly checking their profile, not giving out that visibility can actually protect the target. 

From a technical and business standpoint, keeping this data private also prevents misuse. If it was possible to know every visitor, businesses or influencers might aggressively approach those people which would turn casual browsing into a marketing minefield.

Third Party Apps

You’ve probably seen or heard of apps claiming something to help you find out who viewed your Instagram profile, but the truth is that none of these apps work. Instagram’s own systems and policies prevent outside apps from accessing data about profile views, and the Instagram API doesn’t give out info on who visited a profile so any app claiming to know who looked at your page is either making a wild guess or, worse, trying to scam you.

Some of these apps will show you a random or generic list of usernames and claim those are your “profile stalkers”, because it’s easy to pull your follower list or see who liked your posts but it’s basically a party trick.

Some third-party apps ask you to log in with your Instagram credentials, but if you do this you risk your account’s security and using them can violate Instagram’s terms of service so avoid any app or service that claims it can show you who viewed your Instagram page. 

Profile Views Count For Businesses

If you want to know how many people are checking your page, the one legitimate way of doing this is to swap to a professional account to unlock the Insights feature.

On the Insights dashboard, under the “Overview” section, it’ll show Profile Visits over the last 7 days and some accounts now, Instagram also displays a little counter below your bio that only you can see. Either way, it’s still just numbers and not a list of usernames.

Also, note that when you switch to a professional account, your profile becomes public and private accounts cannot get these insights. 

Should You Be Concerned About Who’s Viewing You?

If you’re truly concerned about privacy or specific people seeing your posts, there are ways to control that, and the simplest way is by making your account private. With a private account, only people you approve as followers can view your photos, stories, and videos. Random visitors won’t see any content beyond your bio and profile picture.

Alternatively, if someone you don’t trust is already following you, you can remove them from your followers or even block them. They won’t be notified, and it quietly prevents them from seeing your future posts. 

If you want to post something but only let a select group see it, use the Close Friends feature. Even if other followers come snooping around your profile, they won’t find that particular story unless they’re on the list. 

What You Can Control

Instead of worrying about secret viewers, think about increasing your content’s reach and interaction in positive ways. The first step is to keep posting interesting stuff on a regular basis – the more you share things people like, the more likely they are to see it, share it, and follow you.

You should also pay attention to hashtags. By using relevant hashtags, you make your posts discoverable to people who don’t follow you yet and when you engage with other users you increase your visibility. 

Next, keep up with new features, since Instagram tends to reward users for trying them. For example, when Reels were first introduced, accounts that posted Reels often saw a boost in reach. 

Finally, consider promotional services to boost your numbers. You can buy Instagram views for your videos or Reels to make them look more popular and increase the odds of them appearing on the Explore page or in user’s feeds as suggested content.

The key is to attract genuine interest, and when real people start interacting with you because they enjoy your content, you won’t need to wonder as much about who’s viewing your profile. By not knowing every visitor, you get to share freely without overthinking who’s watching.

Does your social media marketing mix include Instagram? Or, are you just focusing on Facebook, which has the highest monthly active users globally?

Well, if you’re not advertising your business on Instagram, a platform with over 2 billion monthly active users, spending approximately 33.9 minutes daily, you’re missing out.

When done right, advertising your business on Instagram can be more effective and help you create a loyal audience. And here, I’ll share how you can target those billions of potential customers, as well as some exclusive benefits of Instagram marketing.

So, let’s begin!

How To Advertise Your Business on Instagram

Creating an Instagram marketing campaign is fairly straightforward, and you can set it up in a few simple steps:

Get Started With the Basics

The first step is to set up a business profile on Instagram. If you’ve already created an Instagram account, you can also switch it to a business profile.

Once this is done, optimize it as much as you can. Add a display picture, preferably your business logo. Other than this, optimize your business profile by adding a headline and a link to your website. You can also add different collections of your product’s photos or add customer reviews. The goal here is to quickly inform potential customers about your business at a glance.

Choose How You Want to Advertise

There are several ways you can advertise your business on Instagram, for instance:

• Reels
• Videos
• Stories
• Carousels
• Hashtags
• Sponsored Posts
• Influencer Marketing

Here, the good news is that Instagram doesn’t restrict the use of these methods simultaneously in your marketing mix.

However, keep in mind how your target audience interacts on Instagram. For instance, if they loyally follow influencers on Instagram, then get them on board and spend a major chunk of your budget on this marketing channel.

This way, you can get effective results from your marketing campaigns. And at the same time, have fewer marketing channels to monitor.

Engage Your Customers

Instagram is a dynamic social media platform. And, if you don’t engage your target audience, they might switch to another brand.

There are a few things you can do to ensure that your target audience is hooked to your brand. You can organize giveaways, conduct live sessions, offer responsive customer support, or hire influencers to do your bidding.

Get Help From Marketing Tools

If you’re already advertising on different social media platforms, Instagram marketing can feel like there’s too much on your plate. On top of that, if you’re using multiple marketing channels on Instagram, managing everything simultaneously can be difficult.

However, I suggest you get help from marketing tools like Hootsuite or HubSpot. You can get an interactive dashboard on these tools, where you can automate and schedule posting on multiple platforms.

Plus, they also offer detailed analytics to analyze how your marketing campaigns are performing on different social media platforms.

On a side note, ensure you have a reliable connection to run these tools. While you’ll also need it for Instagram marketing, these tools are bandwidth-sensitive. These tools are capable of generating real-time analytics of your active marketing campaigns, and hence need an active internet connection.

Speaking from experience, I had to switch to a fiber connection, Optimum Internet, because my previous internet plan wasn’t capable of supporting these tools. But now, I can easily manage multiple marketing campaigns and analyze their performance like a breeze.

Benefits of Instagram Marketing

Now that you know how to advertise your brand on this platform, let me explain a few major benefits of Instagram marketing.

Reach a Massive Audience

As I mentioned above, Instagram has 2 billion monthly active users, and this makes it an ideal platform for marketing. As an e-commerce store, I’ve found a large audience on Instagram. And if you’re running a clothing brand or selling other products, you can easily reach the relevant audience on this platform.

Create Targeted Marketing Campaigns

Instagram offers several marketing channels for advertising. You can create reels, detailed videos, post stories, hire influencers, and more on this platform. With so many options to choose from, you can easily engage the targeted audience in different ways.

Mix of Organic and Inorganic Strategies

While marketing on other social media platforms can be expensive, you can choose organic advertisements and still be effective. For instance, other than sponsored ads and influencer marketing, posting reels, videos, carousels, stories, or collections is free.

Track Your Campaign Performance

Other than analytics tools like Hootsuite and HubSpot, which I mentioned above, you can also analyze your campaign’s performance with Instagram.

With Ad Insights, you can analyze your campaign’s key metrics like impressions, likes, shares, comments, and conversion rates. Also, solely relying on Instagram’s analytics tools can significantly reduce your marketing cost, as you won’t need to pay for third-party tools.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to pay to create a business profile on Instagram?

No, you can create a business profile for free on Instagram.

How much do Instagram influencers charge?

In most cases, how much an influencer charges depends on the number of their followers. Also, if they have expertise and a loyal audience in your brand’s niche, they might be costly to hire.

Can I create a store on Instagram?

Yes, you can create an Instagram store without spending any money.