How to Use Instagram’s New Competitor Insights for Growth

Instagram has introduced a new Competitive Insights feature inside the Professional Dashboard, giving businesses and creators a fresh way to measure performance against their competitors. This update helps you understand where you stand, what’s working for others in your niche, and how to refine your strategy for better growth.

What Is Instagram’s Competitive Insights?

Instagram’s Competitor Insights allows business and creator accounts to compare their performance with up to 10 competitor profiles. As seen in early screenshots shared by marketing advisor Sarah Roizman, the feature provides a clean side-by-side breakdown of:

Follower growth trends
Posting frequency (Reels, feed posts, ads & more)
Individual post performance of competitors — even if like counts are hidden

This tool aims to give professionals a broader context for how they’re performing within their industry.

What Instagram Competitor Insights Shows (and Doesn’t Show)

While the feature is helpful, it’s currently quite basic. You get numerical comparisons, but you don’t get:

In-depth analytics
Visual graphs comparing performance
Group comparisons across multiple competitors
Insights on views, shares, engagement quality, or link clicks

So, while you can see who posts more and who grows faster, you don’t get the full picture behind why their content is working.

Are These Insights Actually Useful?

The tool can be valuable—but with limitations.

Follower growth isn’t always the best metric for evaluating success. Today’s Instagram algorithm prioritizes content relevance over followers, meaning views, shares, and engagement matter more than raw growth numbers. As user behavior evolves, many people engage with content without ever following the account.

This is where the current Competitor Insights falls short:
it focuses mainly on post volume vs. follower growth, which doesn’t necessarily reflect true content performance.

Read Also: How to Use Meta’s Click-to-Message Ads for Better Conversions

What Metrics Should You Actually Focus On?

To grow effectively on Instagram, your strategy should be aligned with these three core stages of social media marketing:

1. Awareness

Follower growth
Post reach
Views
Shares
Saves
Engagement rate

2. Nurturing

Views retention
Likes
Comments & replies
Clicks
Saves

3. Conversion

Website clicks
Shares-to-click ratio
DM inquiries
Link tap-throughs

These metrics give you a complete view of how your audience moves from seeing your content → engaging → converting.

So, How Can You Use Instagram’s Competitor Insights for Growth?

Even with limited data, you can still extract valuable learnings:

✔ 1. Understand Posting Frequency Standards

See how often top competitors post across Reels, feed, and ads. This helps you define your own consistency benchmark.

✔ 2. Spot High-Performing Content Formats

Look at which of their posts perform best — especially Reels or carousel posts — and use similar formats in your strategy.

✔ 3. Track Market Trends

Sudden competitor growth spikes can signal trending topics or content opportunities.

✔ 4. Benchmark Your Progress

Compare your follower growth with industry averages to understand whether your brand is ahead or falling behind.

✔ 5. Use It as a Presentation Tool

For agencies, creators, or marketers, this feature is great for showcasing competitor positioning to clients or team members.

Final Thoughts

Instagram’s new Competitor Insights is a promising addition, even if it currently offers only surface-level comparisons. As Instagram evolves, we may see more advanced analytics like:

View comparisons
Engagement quality analysis
Click-based performance insights
Multi-competitor grouped comparisons

Until then, treat this tool as just one piece of your overall strategy — not the full story.

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