How to Track Instagram Stories

Since Instagram stories disappear after 24 hours, Instagram story tracking is often challenging for brands. For instance, how can you tell if a new influencer is a good fit for your brand if you can’t see what they posted last week? And how can you keep an eye on the competition without making screenshots of their stories everyday?Instagram stories are one of the most popular types of social media content, with over 500 million users sharing stories every day and 86% of Instagram users posting stories every day. For brands, this presents an incredible opportunity to reach a massive and highly engaged audience. This makes Instagram story tracking all the more essential.

Why should you track Instagram Stories?

Stories are one of the most popular types of content. We’ve done some number crunching and found out that – overall – 80% of all Instagram content is published on Stories, while only 20% of content is published as feed posts. In some industries and niches (think of fashion bloggers for example), the stats of Instagram Stories are even higher.

But as Stories expire within 24 hours, stories are often a big, unknown black box for social media teams – even those with big budgets and a decent social media monitoring toolkit.

How to track Instagram Stories

While social listening (referring to the activity of monitoring brand mentions on social media) became the norm for many, social media managers are still faced with finding and tracking Stories manually.

This might work for a limited set of accounts, but it becomes an impossibility for a larger set of accounts. That’s why we at Kolsquare launched Instagram Stories monitoring, enabling teams to monitor their brand mentions and competitors, as well as influencers, on Instagram Stories.

Here’s how it works.

Here’s how you do it:

1. Log into Kolsquare.
2. Open the “Brands” tab.
3. Simply search for ‘Adidas’ and hit go.

You’ll see an overview of the brand’s performance and the top Instagram posts, stories, and reels from creators:

You can click on “Go to stories” to see more Instagram stories from creators working with Adidas.

With OCR technology, we uncover hidden brand mentions—even if it’s just your logo and you haven’t been tagged, like this:

Use Case 2: Instagram Story Analytics

Kolsquare proves you with key metrics of any brand’s Instagram stories.

You can check the data to get an idea of how your own stories are performing, and then benchmark the engagement against the competition. Whose stories get more likes and drive higher media value? Kolsquare makes it easy to find out.

Simply click on “Statistics” to find valuable metrics related to Instagram stories.

First, you’ll see the number and percentage of one-time collabs, short-tterm collabs, and long-term collabs, broken down by format. The pink color signifies Instagram stories:

You can also check our the average and overall reach, media value, likes, and comments, as well as engagement rate:

To check out the breakdown of Instagram stories vs other formats, just scroll down. You’ll see an overview of how the brand leverages different formats:

Use case 3: Find & monitor influencers on Instagram Stories

Trying to find the right influencers for your brand? Let’s say you’re doing research on potential influencers and content creators that might fit your brand.

Until now, unless you tracked those influencers manually on Instagram and took screenshots of their stories, you couldn’t really monitor them in an effortless way. Maybe you’re a health brand and you want to work with someone who genuinely leads a healthy lifestyle. Or sustainability is important to you, and you’re looking for someone who embodies those values.

1. Open the “Discover Creators” tab and type in the name of the influencer. You’ll see an overview of their KPIs and Instagram posts, reels and stories:

1. Click “Go to Stories” to see a complete list of all stories. You can filter for branded and non-branded stories, and choose a time-frame of up to two years:

1. To dive into the details of a particular Insta story, just click on it. You’ll see the content, brands tagged, and KPIs like reach and estimated media value:

This gives you a feel of the person’s content so you can figure out if you want to work with them.

Use Case 4: Analyze your competitor’s Instagram strategy & collaborations

OK. Let’s be honest. As social media managers, we regularly check what our competitors and other companies in our industry are doing. We analyze their social posting behavior and we dig into data points to learn about their social media marketing.

With Instagram monitoring by Kolsquare, you can get more insights on their Instagram creator strategy and see exactly who they are working with.

Here’s how you can do it:

1. Log into Kolsquare, open the “Brands” tab. Type in the name of any company and hit “Search.”
2. Click “Creators” and you’ll see an overview of all the creators the brand has worked with.
3. Click the downward arrow to zoom in on the Instagram stories, posts, and reels each individual influencer has created for the brand:

Make the invisible visible. Request your personal demo.

This is just the beginning. If Instagram Stories is still some sort of black box in your organization, or you want to skip the complex and time-consuming process of Stories reporting, or you just want to see what others are doing in your industry, we highly recommend giving Instagram Stories monitoring a try.

Learn more about Instagram Stories monitoring or book a demo to see Kolsquare in action.. Our influencer marketing specialists are happy to help you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is tracking Instagram Stories important for brands?

Tracking Instagram Stories is important because they represent a significant portion of content on the platform, with 80% of all Instagram content published as Stories. This allows brands to engage with a large audience and monitor their performance effectively.

How can brands track Instagram Stories?

Brands can track Instagram Stories by using Kolsquare, which allows them to monitor brand mentions, competitors, and influencers. Users can log in, search for a brand, and access an overview of performance and Stories.

What metrics can Kolsquare provide for Instagram Stories?

Kolsquare provides key metrics such as the number of collaborations, average reach, media value, likes, comments, and engagement rates for Instagram Stories.

How can brands find and monitor influencers on Instagram Stories?

Brands can find and monitor influencers by using the "Discover Creators" tab in Kolsquare, where they can search for influencers, view their KPIs, and access a complete list of their Stories.

What insights can brands gain from analyzing competitors' Instagram strategies?

Brands can gain insights into competitors' Instagram strategies by using Kolsquare to analyze their social posting behavior, collaborations, and the creators they work with, helping to inform their own marketing strategies.