Instagram Demographics in 2021: Important User Stats for Marketers
Who exactly are the one billion people using Instagram every day? An intelligent understanding of Instagram demographics is essential for savvy marketers.
Who exactly are the one billion people using Instagram every day? An intelligent understanding of Instagram demographics is essential for savvy marketers.
Instagram demographics give marketers a way to get to know the people behind the numbers.
And with more than one billion people on the social network across the globe, there’s a lot of people to get to know.
Demographic insights should inform your Instagram marketing strategy, especially if you’re new to the platform. You can also use demographics to compare your current Instagram audience to audiences you’d like to reach, whether through organic marketing or Instagram ads.
Learn about age, location, gender, and other Instagram demographics so you can tailor your strategy and content for the right audience.
Download the complete Digital 2021 report—which includes online behavior data from 220 countries—to learn where to focus your social marketing efforts and how to better target your audience.
Benchmark your Instagram demographic research against these key stats:
*Official Instagram stats appear in Facebook reporting under Family metrics, which estimate the number of unique people who use Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and/or WhatsApp over a given period. Less than 3 in 10 Americans know that Instagram and Whatsapp are owned by Facebook.
People who use Instagram are among the most likely to be active on other social networks— especially Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and TikTok. A recent poll of users aged 16-64 finds that almost half of Instagram users also use TikTok.
Source: Hootsuite
Source: Hootsuite
The younger the Instagram user, the more likely they are to use the social network multiple times per day. A poll by Ipsos breaks down the percentage of people who logon more than once a day by age:
11% of U.S. parents say their 9-11 year-olds use Instagram, finds a poll by Pew Research Center. Instagram requires account holders to be at least 13 years old, but younger users can run accounts managed by parents or guardians.
Source: Pew Research Center
In terms of advertising reach, the top countries and territories with the largest audiences on Instagram are the United States, India, Brazil, Indonesia, and Russia. Between October 2019 and 2020, India saw a 20% growth in its ad audience size—a pace that could soon see the nation overtake the United States for the top position.
Source: Hootsuite
Spotlight on the United States
Stats based on Pew Research Center’s most recent findings
Spotlight on India
Facebook’s average revenue per user is 11 times higher in the U.S. and Canada than it is in the Asia-Pacific region. According to Facebook, the difference is “primarily due to the size and maturity” of online and mobile ad markets in each region. Stats for Instagram have not been released, but they’re likely similar.
Facebook’s 2020 Annual Report notes the percentages of duplicate accounts are “meaningfully higher in developing markets such as the Philippines and Vietnam as compared to more developed markets.” By and large, the largest relative growth in Instagram ad audience size took place in East Asian countries.
Source: Hootsuite
Notice anything missing? Yes, Instagram has been blocked in China since 2014.
When considering gender demographics on Instagram, it should be noted that the site provides three options: male, female, and not specified. While “not specified” is available, a great deal of research and reporting is limited to binary classifications.
Spotlight on the United States
Spotlight on India
Source: Statista
No matter the Instagram demographic, people use the social network to delve into their interests. Recent research commissioned by Facebook finds that 91% of people polled say they use Instagram to follow an interest. In India, it’s 98%.
The research finds that the top interests on Instagram are travel (45%), music (44%), and food and drink (43%). Bucking the trend, people in India favour technology as their top interest. In Argentina, Brazil, Korea, and Turkey, film ranks in the top three. Among parents in the UK, the top five interests are food, travel, fashion, beauty, and unsurprisingly, parenting.
Source: Facebook
We break down key Instagram demographics by interest below.
Travel
Sports
Music
Events
An overwhelming 90% of people on Instagram follow brands. But they don’t just follow your business for pretty pictures. Across 13 markets surveyed by Ipsos, the majority of people want to see brands post fun (55%) real (53%), and creative (53%) content.
Put Instagram demographics to work in your social marketing strategy. When you get to know the people behind the numbers, engagement and follower numbers tend to go up.
Ready to put your Instagram user demographic insights to work? Start scheduling and publishing posts alongside all your other social media channels directly from the Hootsuite dashboard. Try it free today.
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