In an industry that’s constantly changing and being updated, new Instagram stats can give insight into social media trends, and reveal actionable insights that can help improve your marketing in a major way. Instagram has been skyrocketing in popularity since its debut in 2010, and marketers have tried to tap into the potential that comes with its widespread adoption. Staying up to date with the latest research is a great way to make sure that you’re using the most current best practices.
Luckily for you, we’ve rounded up some key takeaways from recent studies containing fascinating Instagram stats:
1. The best platform for engagement? Instagram.
Social media analytics website Locowise recently conducted a study of 2,500 Instagram profiles and their activity this past April. They found that Instagram, compared to Facebook and Twitter, is the best platform for getting reactions from one’s social media followers. Average engagement per post on Instagram was 2.81%, while Facebook and Twitter lagged behind significantly, with 0.25% and 0.21% respectively. The research revealed that likes account for most of the engagement on Instagram, and that photos are more likely to garner attention than video posts.
Another study by social media analytics provider Quintly echoed these results. Their research showed that Instagram is a hub for interaction – with five likes or comments for every 100 followers. While that may not seem like a lot of responses, the data shows that this is almost 10 times higher than Facebook’s interaction percentage. Quintly also broke down their findings into this helpful chart, which shows how many interactions you could potentially expect based on how many followers you have.
2. Not all color schemes are created equal.
You may think that all it takes to receive likes and comments on Instagram is high-quality, interesting content. While that certainly helps, a study from Curalate revealed that certain color schemes and trends garner more likes than others. Users favor images with one dominant color as opposed to many different colors, with 17% more likes for the monochromatic photos. In fact, the dominant color itself can affect responses, with images featuring blue generating 24% more likes than red. There isn’t one formula that will attract Instagram users to your photos, but Curalate’s research found that photos with high levels of light and texture attract more attention.
3. Looking for engagement? Mention friends and colleagues.
According to Simply Measured, @mentions within Instagram captions can result in 56% more engagement. While it may seem intuitive to keep captions short and sweet in an app that’s so visually dominant, users respond to posts that mention other users. However, don’t go mentioning all your followers in one post; Instagram monitors accounts that abuse the mention feature, and will deactivate you if you go overboard. The best strategy is to incorporate mentions naturally. For example, if you’re at a conference sponsored by another business, best practice would dictact you mention them and any relevant speakers in a post about the event.
4. Location-tagging is vastly underutilized.
If you’re not including your location in your posts, you should be! The same study by Simply Measured found that brands that include their location may receive up to 79% more engagement. Instagram Photo Maps are one of the ways users can stumble across your content, so it makes sense to increase your odds by opting in to this feature. although research shows it can be beneficial, most brands haven’t caught on to this yet. Out of 6,075 Instagram accounts studied, only 307 had tagged their location. That’s just 5.1%. And it’s so easy to do, people. Get on it.
Social media success depends on many variables, but factoring in the results from the latest research can help give you a leg up. You may want to set up your own experiments to determine what content is most successful for your brand. The more you know, the stronger your Instagram presence will be!