How to Calculate Reach on Instagram

Knowing how to calculate your Instagram reach tells you exactly how many unique people see your content, which is one of the most honest metrics for tracking brand awareness. This guide will walk you through what reach is, why it matters more than other vanity metrics, how to find and calculate it, and actionable ways to increase it. We'll give you everything you need to measure your performance and grow your audience.

What is Instagram Reach (And How Is It Different From Impressions)?

Before we go any further, it’s important to clear up the most common point of confusion in social media analytics: the difference between reach and impressions. They might sound similar, but they tell you two very different things about your content's performance.

• Reach is the total number of unique accounts that have seen your post, story, or Reel. If 1,000 individual people saw your post, your reach is 1,000.
• Impressions are the total number of times your content was viewed. If those same 1,000 people saw your post an average of three times each, your impressions would be 3,000.

Think of it like a billboard on a highway. Reach is the number of individual cars that drove past it. Impressions are the total number of times any car drove past it, including the commuter who drives by twice a day, every day. Both numbers are useful, but reach gives you a clearer picture of how wide of a net you’re casting. A high impression count with low reach means your existing audience is seeing your content repeatedly, which is great for engagement, but it also signals that you aren't reaching many new people.

Why Your Instagram Reach is a Big Deal

While metrics like likes and comments are encouraging, they don’t tell the full story. Reach, on the other hand, is a direct indicator of your content’s visibility and your brand’s potential for growth. Here’s why you should pay close attention to it:

• It Measures True Brand Awareness: Reach is the bottom-line metric for understanding how many eyeballs are actually on your brand. It answers the simple but powerful question: "How many people are we getting in front of?"
• It Validates Your Content Strategy: A growing reach suggests the Instagram algorithm favors your content and is pushing it to new audiences via the Explore page, Reels tab, and hashtag pages. If your reach is stagnant or declining, it’s a strong sign that something in your strategy - whether it's your format, topic, or timing - needs a tweak.
• It’s a Prerequisite for Everything Else: You can't get engagement, clicks, or conversions from people who never see your content in the first place. Reach is the top of the marketing funnel on Instagram. The larger your reach, the larger the pool of potential followers, customers, and brand advocates.

How to Find Your Reach with Instagram Insights

Instagram makes it fairly easy to track your reach as long as you have a Professional Account (either a Business or Creator account). If you're still using a Personal Account, you can switch over for free in your settings - it's the only way to get access to these valuable analytics.

Once you’re set up, you can find reach data in a few different places.

1. Finding Your Overall Account Reach

This gives you a big-picture view of how your account is performing over a specific timeframe.

1. Navigate to your Instagram profile.
2. Tap the "Professional Dashboard" button located right below your bio.
3. Under "Account Insights," tap "See all."
4. You'll land on the Insights Overview page. The first section is "Accounts Reached." Tap on it for a detailed breakdown.
5. By default, it shows data for the last 30 days, but you can tap the date range in the top left corner to select a different period (like the last 7 days, 14 days, or the previous month).

In this detailed view, Instagram even shows you a breakdown of reach by followers vs. non-followers, which is fantastic for understanding if your content is breaking out beyond your core audience.

2. Finding Reach for an Individual Post, Reel, or Story

Reviewing the reach of specific pieces of content helps you identify trends and pinpoint what’s working best.

For Feed Posts and Reels:

1. Go to the specific post or Reel you want to analyze.
2. Tap the "View Insights" link directly below the photo or video.
3. A pop-up will show you key metrics, with "Accounts reached" displayed prominently at the top.

For Stories:

1. Open your active story or navigate to your Story Archives.
2. Swipe up on the story you want to check.
3. Tap the small bar graph icon (Insights).
4. Here, you'll see "Accounts Reached" as the primary metric for that story slide.

How to Calculate Your Instagram Reach Rate

While the raw number of accounts reached is helpful, its real power comes from context. Reaching 5,000 people is amazing if you have 1,000 followers, but it's less impressive if you have 100,000 followers. This is where Reach Rate comes in. It's a simple percentage that shows you what proportion of your followers you've reached.

The calculation is straightforward:

(Total Reach / Your Total Followers) x 100 = Reach Rate %

For example, let's say you want to calculate the reach rate for a specific post:

• Your Reach for the post: 2,500 accounts
• Your Follower Count at the time of posting: 10,000 followers

The calculation would be:

(2,500 / 10,000) x 100 = 25%

Your reach rate for that post is 25%. This means the post was seen by a number of people equal to one-quarter of your entire follower base.

You can apply this same formula to your overall account reach over a specific period. For instance, if you reached 40,000 unique accounts over the last 30 days and have 10,000 followers:

(40,000 / 10,000) x 100 = 400%

Whoa, 400%? Yes! A reach rate over 100% is not just possible - it’s the goal. It signifies that your content reached far beyond your own followers and was discovered by a huge number of non-followers. This is a clear indicator that the algorithm is promoting your content.

What's a "Good" Instagram Reach Rate?

This is the million-dollar question, and the honest answer is: it depends. A "good" reach rate can vary wildly based on your industry, niche, audience size, and content format. However, here are some general benchmarks to keep in mind:

• 10-30% for a Feed Post: If a standard photo or carousel post is reaching this chunk of your audience, you’re doing reasonably well. The algorithm doesn't show every post to every follower.
• 30-60%+ for a Feed Post: This is a strong performance, signaling your content is highly engaging and getting good initial traction.
• 100%+ for a Reel: Reels are built for discovery. If your Reels aren't consistently hitting at least a 100% reach rate (meaning they reach more people than you have followers), there’s room to optimize your Reel strategy. Viral Reels can achieve reach rates in the thousands of percent.

Instead of fixating on these numbers, the best approach is to benchmark against yourself. Track your own reach rate monthly and focus on gradual improvement over time.

6 Actionable Strategies to Supercharge Your Instagram Reach

Calculating your reach is just the first step. The goal is to grow it. Here are proven strategies to get your content in front of more people.

1. Create More Reels: Let's be direct: if you want more reach on Instagram in 2024, you need to create Reels. Instagram is still heavily prioritizing its short-form video format and pushing it to non-followers on a scale that photos and carousels simply can't match. Focus on creating valuable, entertaining, or inspiring video content that hooks viewers in the first three seconds.
2. Use a Smart Hashtag Strategy: Don't just copy and paste 30 random tags. Use a mix of broad, niche-specific, and community-focused hashtags. The goal is to appear in smaller, more relevant hashtag feeds where your post can gain early traction before hopefully ranking in larger ones. Treat hashtags like SEO keywords for your content.
3. Stimulate Saves and Shares: The algorithm loves it when users save or share your content. This signals that your post is high-quality and worth showing to more people. Create content that people will want to reference later (e.g., tutorials, checklists, resource lists) or share with their friends (e.g., relatable memes, inspiring quotes, funny videos).
4. Use the Collaboration Feature: Partner with another creator or brand in your niche and use Instagram's native "Invite a Collaborator" feature. When you do, the post appears on both of your profiles and is shown to a portion of both your audiences, instantly doubling its potential reach.
5. Post at Peak Times (But With a Twist): Posting when your audience is most active gives your content the best possible start. Check your Instagram Insights ("Total Followers" section, scroll to the bottom) to find your unique peak hours and days. But here’s the twist: try posting 30-60 minutes before that peak time starts, so your content has time to gain a little initial engagement as momentum builds.
6. Engage Immediately After Posting: The first hour after a post goes live is critical. Don't just post and ghost. Stick around and reply to every comment that comes in. This immediate burst of engagement tells the algorithm that your post is sparking conversation, encouraging it to push it out more widely.

Final Thoughts

Understanding your Instagram reach goes beyond simple numbers, it offers a clear view into your brand's visibility and content effectiveness. By consistently tracking your reach rate and implementing strategies to improve it, you can move away from vanity metrics and focus on what truly matters: genuine audience growth.

Here at Postbase, we built our analytics dashboard with this exact focus in mind. Seeing which posts are hitting, where your audience is growing, and what content is driving real reach shouldn't require jumping across different screens or spreadsheets. Our goal is to provide you with a clean, unified view of your performance so you can spend less time digging for data and more time creating content that connects.