Instagram analytics for DJs: what to post next.

Every DJ has looked at Instagram Insights, seen a number go up or down, and closed the app no wiser. The data is there. The decision is not. This guide is about turning the first into the second.

The four numbers that matter

• Reach, not likes. Reach tells you how many people saw the post. Likes mostly tell you how many already liked you.
• Saves and shares. A save means someone wants to come back to it. A share means someone put their name next to yours. Both outweigh likes.
• Follows from a post. The posts that bring new followers are the ones that travel outside your circle. Make more of those.
• Profile visits after a post. A post that sends people to your profile is doing the job of a flyer.

Read your posts by format, not one by one

Group your last thirty posts into formats: set clips, studio moments, flyers, carousels, stories from the booth. Then compare the average reach and saves for each format. Most DJs find one or two formats doing almost all the work, and a format they post often doing almost nothing.

When to post

Your best time is when your audience is awake and scrolling, which for a DJ audience often runs late. Insights shows when your followers are most active. Post set clips the day after a gig while the room is still talking, and flyers early enough in the week for people to make plans.

Look at your field, not just your feed

Your numbers make more sense next to the accounts around you: the venues you play, the promoters you work with, the DJs your audience also follows. If a peer's studio clips travel far and yours do not, the format is fine and something else is off. If everyone's flyers are flat this month, it is the season, not you.

Turn it into a weekly plan

• Every Monday, check last week's reach and saves by format.
• Pick three posts for this week: one proven format, one experiment, one collaboration or tag.
• Post the set clip within a day of the gig.
• Once a month, look at which posts brought followers, and do more of what they have in common.

Why we are building Riverlamp

Riverlamp does this reading for you. It looks at your account, your audience and the accounts you are connected to, and sends a plain language plan on WhatsApp every Monday: what worked, what did not, and three posts to make this week. The brand and design are complete, and the full stack build is next.