It’s Been 2 Months Since the Instagram API Changed: What It Means for Businesses

In mid-December 2018, Instagram changed its API access to restrict data available for measurement and analysis through third-party tools. Most likely a step to demonstrate Facebook’s (Instagram’s parent company) new commitment to tighter controls on user data, the changes also makes it more difficult for businesses to track the conversations around the brand.

If you haven’t already made changes to how you research and track behaviors on Instagram, be aware that there are now new limitations.

Individual Account Authentication / Pooled Data

Prior to the change, third-party tools could show aggregate data across their accounts, allowing you to see broad trends across your industry and others.

Now, your third party tool must be authenticated with your Instagram business account, in order to access data. This severely restricts the amount of research that brands will be able to do on what’s happening trend-wise and keyword-wise on Instagram.

With this in mind, make sure that all of your Instagram accounts are flipped to business accounts, so that you can hook them up to your tools and track data.

Hashtag Limits: 30 per Business

Each company is only able to track 30 hashtags per rolling 7-day period. Therefore, brands must be more thoughtful about tracking (and replacing) specific hashtags around campaigns, brand names, and products, as well as broader industry hashtags.

Ask yourself: what must you understand about the conversations happening amongst your audience?

No More Location Searches

For brands with physical locations, you won’t be able track tags within third-party tools, so if this is an important part of how you track conversations, be sure that you are manually exporting activity on a weekly basis.

Key Takeaways on How the Instagram API Updates Impact Businesses

Because the API changes mean that there are more restrictions on how you can research activity on Instagram, be sure that you are being thoughtful about what metrics you use to track the behaviors of your audience.

Driving to actions that you can inherently track (e.g. click the link in your bio, comment, use a specific hashtag) is absolutely key.