In 30 seconds:
- Digital marketing on Instagram expands the capacity of companies of all sizes to both harness trends and set them.
- Features such as Instagram Shopping and Ads mean eMarketers can transform the social platform into a literal one-stop shop.
- The demographics of the platform skew young — but people of all ages make up their user base.
Instagram marketing statistics are nice to know, sure. But they’re more than that. Having them in your locker can help you prioritise your social media marketing strategy and get buy-in from stakeholders.
It’s worth letting you know at this point that “Instagramming” is now officially a verb.
They Instagrammed yesterday, they Instagram today, and they will Instagram tomorrow.
And companies have cottoned on to how active the use of this platform is.
According to a 2022 Statista report, 79% of businesses promote their products and services on the platform.
So it’s become less a question of whether to use the visual platform for its brand-boosting brawn, but how? Here we’ll take you through the Instagram stats that are important to know — and how you can use them to your advantage to generate revenue for your business.
How effective is Instagram marketing?
The short answer? Very.
- Over 2 billion monthly active users.
- And 81% of those users use it to research products and services they are interested in.
- It’s been downloaded over 3.8 billion times.
- It grew over the pandemic and made an estimated revenue of $47.6 billion in 2021.
- While Facebook is still at the top of the list in terms of size and activity, Instagram is the most influential in terms of purchase decision influence for teens and young adults.
- When asked which social media platform they spend the most time on, UK Gen Zers said TikTok (34%) and Instagram (25%). (compared to Youtube (21%), Snapchat (11%) and Facebook (7%)
- However, when split by gender, Instagram was the platform females said they spent the most time on (33%) (followed swiftly by TikTok (32%).
What are the demographics of Instagram users?
Here’s who is on the platform, according to this 2022 Statista report:
Source: Stastista
The highlights?
- 17.1% of users are men between 25 and 34.
- More than half of the total users are younger than 34.
- Every age group is represented. Even if audiences are smaller in certain brackets, tapping into these markets through this avenue is not without potential.
How much time do users spend on Instagram?
- Users spend approximately 11.2 hours monthly on the platform, putting it in fourth place among popular social media platforms.
- Instagram users spend an average of 28 minutes on the platform per day.
How do users feel about the platform?
Heading back to our own research report:
- 34% of Gen Z respondents said the purpose of Instagram is for ‘keeping up with friends and family’, followed by ‘lifestyle inspiration’ (15%).
- Firstly, it’s primarily visual.
- Secondly, it’s specifically geared towards the needs of businesses.
Here’s what that means in detail.
Instagram as a visual marketing platform
Instagram is a visual platform fuelled by video and photo sharing rather than text. It’s not hard to see why this fact alone would make marketing professionals sit up and pay attention.
Visual marketing transcends language barriers and hits us in the gut in ways we can’t always fully articulate in words. A platform that makes this its focus is inherently brimming with potential for creative storytelling that will impact its audience in exciting new ways.
We know, for example, that:
- Most people remember 80% of what they see and only 20% of what they read.
- 70% of companies invest in visual marketing strategies.
- When reading text, people retain about 10% of a message. When watching video, on the other hand, viewers retain about 95% of the content.
Instagram statistics for business
- Over 90% of Instagram users follow a business.
- 1 in 2 people have used Instagram to discover new brands.
- And 2 in 3 people say the network helps foster meaningful interactions with brands.
- 50% of people are more interested in a brand after seeing it on Instagram.
- …and that number is higher for Instagram Stories. 58% of users say they’re more interested in a brand after seeing it in a Story.
- Finally, 50% of people have visited a website to purchase a product or service they saw on the app.
Influencer marketing is all about having your product or service big-upped by the right people — publicly.
Through this, Instagram creates an intimacy between companies and consumers that was simply not available in the past. When executed effectively, Instagram marketing campaigns via Instagram influencers is like having your company as the special guest at a private party of customers already fully aligned with your offering.
And this kind of closeness is not only available to multi-billion dollar corporations (although they make good use of it, too). It’s possible for companies of all shapes and sizes to get in on the action.
In fact:
- Almost half of the influencers on the platform are ‘micro influencers’, with 5K to 20K Instagram followers.
This is great news, as influencer-generated content performs better than branded posts.
- 61% of consumers trust influencer recommendations, compared to 38% who trust brand-produced content.
- 60% of marketers shared that influencer-generated content drives more engagement compared to branded posts.
In our discussion on recession marketing, we delve into how influencer-driven brand awareness can help in a time when the goalposts are ever-shifting, consumers are nervous, and budgets are being cut.
Influencer marketing is available to all budget types and, if creatively and effectively conceived, can mean weathering (and even thriving) in all financial storms.
Beyond creating brand awareness, the platform then helps businesses out in the following through the following features: Instagram ads and Instagram Shopping.
Instagram ads
An Instagram ad is essentially paid advertising that can appear as a story, reel or post (more on this in a moment).
And it’s worth the investment:
- Instagram ads have the potential to reach over 1.2 billion people.
- The platform is set to reach about 40 billion U.S. dollars in sales in 2023 in the United States.
Recently, the platform announced that they’re now offering AR ads, taking brand interaction to a whole new level. Through immersive experiences, users can do everything from trying on sunglasses to keying into important causes.
An oncological foundation in Poland, for example, created an AR filter to help musicians create fundraising videos. (If you’re specifically interested in the latter, we’ll give you the scoop on how to drive action through social media health campaigns.)
AR advertising shows more than a little promise:
- Researchers state with 90% confidence that AR ads outperform BAU ads.
- Campaigns that incorporate AR have a 59% lower cost when it comes to driving brand awareness.
Instagram Shopping
Instagram Shopping gives users the option of making in-app purchases, meaning you can create a virtual storefront for your customers to buy from without them having to head through the hurdles of leaving the app.
Users can browse your products and services and be given relevant information, like pricing and product descriptions. They’re then able to check out without hassle.
As a retail method, it appears to be working.
- Over 130 million users click on a shopping post a month.
- And 44% of people use Instagram to shop weekly.
- Collection ads — basically more than one ad in one — increase conversion by 6%.
What statistics can you see on Instagram?
Instagram insights is available to all Instagram users with business profiles, and offers valuable data regarding your account’s followers and how they are engaging with your brand.
You’ll also be able to see how exactly they’re engaging. Are Stories doing it for them? Reels? Live videos?
If you are making use of paid ads and Instagram Shopping, the platform provides key metrics on these elements too.
Which Instagram features do audiences use and how?
When it comes to how Instagrammers use Instagram, these four ingredients are on the menu: Reels, Stories, live videos and posts. You get to make your own unique cocktail to the tastes of your audience.
While the concept of posting has long been in our lexicon, reels and stories are newer additions to the scene.
Here’s what you need to know.
Instagram Reel statistics
Consider this Instagram’s answer to TikTok’s popular short, vertical videos. They’re 15 seconds long with both audio and visual components and the option to incorporate fun effects.
Interestingly, your number of followers impacts the kind of reach you’re likely to get from Reels:
- If you have fewer than 5K followers, chances are, you’ll have the highest reach rate — 39.46%.
- An account with 5-10K gets an average reach rate of 30.06% for their reels.
- If you have 50-100K, you’re likely to get a 10.7% average reach rate.
- If you have over 100K followers, your reach rate is likely to go up again, getting to about 25.62%
Source: SocialInsider
Instagram Stories statistics
The magic of Instagram Stories is that they don’t live forever — only 24 hours, to be precise. You then have the option to pop them on your profile or let them take a bow.
As a marketing tool, this ephemeral content works incredibly well:
- Millennials love ‘em, with 60% of this generation either posting or watching Instagram Stories.
- They’re used by 36% of businesses to promote their products.
- Global ad revenue from Instagram Stories is projected to reach 20.3 billion dollars in 2023.
- The most popular activity for Instagram users in the U.S. is to watch Instagram stories:
Source: FinancesOnline & eMarketer
Instagram engagement statistics
It’s no secret that Instagram’s average engagement rates have been changing a lot recently. So how can you get on the right side of the Instagram algorithm and create Instagram posts that get the highest engagement?
The first tip: focus on Instagram Carousel posts and Instagram Reels.
- The average engagement rate for feed posts has decreased by 44% since 2019.
- The average engagement on Instagram business account posts is 0.83%
- Instagram has a 1.50% engagement rate for video posts.
- Reels receive more engagement than regular video content at a rate of about 22%.
- When using all 10 carousel slides, the average engagement rate of Carousel posts goes over 2%.
- But don’t forget Instagram Stories. Brand Stories have an 86% completion rate.
- Entertainment account Stories saw the largest increase in completion rate, from 81% to 88%. Sports account Stories have the highest completion rate, at 90%.
- Think of more ways to get interactive, too. 57% of people like seeing polls and quizzes from brands on Instagram.
Instagram marketing statistics: the bottom line
This social network’s potential as a marketing tool is only on the rise. The visual nature of the platform, in-app shopping capabilities, and paid social avenues make Instagram for Business an unparalleled avenue for engagement with your target audience.
While Instagram demographics skew younger, people of all ages embrace this platform to connect with their family and friends and to entertain themselves with the adorable antics of their favourite animals, they most certainly also use it to keep up with trends and shop, making it a hot favourite for marketers.
If you’d like to work with our expert team to get your Instagram account on the rise, your Instagram advertising converting or Instagram influencers singing your praises, get in touch. We’ll craft the perfect Instagram marketing strategy to meet your individual brand’s needs.
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