Instagram experienced a huge amount of growth in 2020. These Instagram statistics prove just how valuable the network is to your business.
2020 was a year of new developments at Instagram, with some interesting new Instagram statistics emerging along the way. Now much more than a photo-sharing platform, Instagram has launched a ton of features to help businesses market and sell directly from the app.
As you plan your Instagram marketing strategy for 2021, it’s important to know the latest facts about this very popular social network. To make sure you’re working with the right information, we’ve compiled all the most important Instagram stats you need to be aware of this year.
Bonus: Download a free checklist that reveals the exact steps a lifestyle photographer used to grow from 0 to 600,000 followers on Instagram with no budget and no expensive gear.
Instagram officially launched on October 6, 2010, and a million people had created accounts by December of that year.
The first ever Instagram post actually came a few months earlier. On July 16, 2010, when co-creator Kevin Systrom posted a test photo of a dog.
Even though Instagram is primarily used through a mobile app, it still cracks the top 10 for website visits. People may be viewing your posts on a larger screen than you think.
The top 10 searches include generic terms like weather and news. Facebook, Google, YouTube, and Amazon also feature in the top 10, and all ahead of Instagram. But, again, this is a great showing for Instagram since it is primarily accessed through an app.
Since Instagram is primarily a mobile platform, this stat bears more weight than website visits. For active users of a mobile app, Instagram is outranked only by Facebook, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger.
Who exactly is using Instagram? These Instagram user statistics reveal the details of Instagram’s audience right now.
That makes Instagram the second-ranked traditional social network in terms of active users, behind Facebook.
When considering all social platforms, Instagram ranks sixth – behind Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and WeChat.
Americans are the largest Instagram audience, but they’re very far from the majority. Rounding out the top five countries for Instagram users are:
This is important information when thinking about how to define your target audience on Instagram, and what kind of content to create.
That’s an 8% increase over Q3 2020.
Sure, we just told you that the U.S. audience represents only 12% of all Instagram users. But it’s still an important audience that’s growing consistently.
Keep in mind that while Instagram does have a huge reach in the U.S., it does not reach everyone. That’s why understanding your audience is so important.
The region will end 2020 with 132.8 million users, eMarketer predicts. That’s an increase of 19.3 million users since 2018.
Before the pandemic, eMarketer had predicted only 5.2% growth for the region. They revised their estimate upwards twice this year.
Source: eMarketer
Kazakhstan might not have the most Instagram users, but it is the country where Instagram reaches the highest percentage of the population: 72%, to be precise.
Rounding out the top five countries with the highest%age reach are:
If you’re marketing to people in these countries, Instagram could be an especially effective platform for both organic content and paid Instagram posts.
However, in the U.S., a substantially higher percentage of women (43%) use Instagram than do men (31%). And it’s worth noting that Instagram does not publish advertising data for genders other than “female” or “male.”
These discrepancies show that you can’t make assumptions about demographics on Instagram—or any other social network. And you definitely can’t make assumptions about the demographics of your own followers.
Instead, use social media analytics tools to get detailed information about your own audience, for a better content strategy and ad targeting.
For more details, check out our post that breaks down all the key Instagram demographics for social media marketers.
That’s despite Instagram user guidelines that require users to be 13 years old before they can create an account. Among kids aged 9 to 11, 11% use Instagram.
Now that you know who’s using Instagram, let’s look at some Instagram usage stats to reveal how they’re using the network, and how often.
That’s an increase of almost 4 minutes over 2019. If that doesn’t sound like a lot, consider that it’s a 13.8% jump. Before the pandemic, eMarketer predicted time spent on Instagram would increase by only 1.5% in 2020.
In comparison, Facebook users only spent 1.4 more minutes per day on the platform in 2020, an increase of 4.3%
Source: eMarketer
During those 30 minutes on the platform, a large portion of Instagram users are checking out business profiles. Is yours one they might want to visit?
And 2 in 3 people say the network helps foster interactions with brands.
While the Instagram stat above shows people research purchases in the platform, this confirms that people are making purchases directly from Instagram.
With all the new shopping and e-commerce features rolled out this year, it’s easier than ever for brands to sell products directly within the app. If you’re not using Instagram’s shopping features yet, check out our post on how to sell products on Instagram.
The Explore tab is a place for Instagram users to discover new content and new accounts to follow. Getting your content featured on Explore is a key way to expose your brand to new followers.
Why should marketers care? It’s true this is a pretty random Instagram statistic. But it’s a good example of how regional variations can affect perception.
Could this cookie preference extend to Instagram posts and ads? Only testing can tell you for sure. Testing is the only way to know for sure what colors, words, and content (or cookie) types connect best with your audience.
Popular holiday cookies by state on Instagram 👀
Which ones stay and which ones go? 🍪😋🍪😋 pic.twitter.com/SKKhOfSdbj
— Instagram (@instagram) December 17, 2020
That’s nowhere near the percentage of people who get news from Facebook (36%), but it’s still worth considering when thinking about how to roll out new product launches and other brand announcements.
In the U.S., 26% of people aged 18 to 24 have recently used Instagram specifically to access coronavirus news.
Instagram users are social butterflies: 92% of them also use YouTube, and 86% use Facebook. Interestingly, less than half of Instagram users (43%) also use TikTok.
Memes are a serious trend on Instagram. Does that mean your brand should create a post for every new meme? No. But if the meme fits, it might be worth a try.
Meme accounts embody some important lessons that all Instagram marketers should learn. We explain them all in our post on what brands can learn about Instagram marketing from meme accounts.
With half a billion people using Stories every single day, it’s clear that Stories are an important channel for brands. The stats below further emphasize why you should try Stories, if you haven’t already.
Bonus: Download a free checklist that reveals the exact steps a lifestyle photographer used to grow from 0 to 600,000 followers on Instagram with no budget and no expensive gear.
Get the free guide right now!If you’re not using Stories yet, listen to the Instagram stats: 2021 is the year to start. Not sure what to post on Stories? We made a list of 20 Instagram Stories ideas to get you started.
Purchase intent is one of the best results you can get from your social media efforts. Don’t miss out on all those clicks.
That’s just a small increase from 85% in 2019. Entertainment account Stories saw the largest increase in completion rate, from 81% to 88%. Sports account Stories have the highest completion rate, at 90%.
That’s an informal figure based on a poll on the @InstagramforBusiness Story.
Launched in May 2020, Instagrammers can mention a business directly within the sticker to give their followers a preview of the business’s account.
People are not just interacting with their friends and family on Instagram. Almost everyone who uses the app follows at least one brand.
That ranks it ahead of LinkedIn but behind YouTube, FaceBook, and WhatsApp.
It’s a clear indication that Instagram is an important business tool, whether you’re marketing to consumers or other organizations. If you’re not sure how Instagram would fit into your B2B marketing strategy, check out our post on how to use social media for B2B marketing.
To make the most of that content, make sure to post at the right time.
We analyzed more than 250,000 Instagram posts to uncover the best times to post for 11 different industries. Find the results in our post on the best times to post on Instagram.
Growing your Instagram following can feel like a very slow game. But there are strategies you can use to outpace the Instagram follower stats and bring in more followers faster. We outline 35 of them in our post on how to get more Instagram followers.
That means you should expect approximately one engagement for every 100 followers. Engagement is apparently highest for photos posts (1.03%), followed by carousel posts (0.86%) and video posts (0.75%). But that will vary by industry and audience preferences.
Hootsuite’s social team, for example, finds that carousel posts get triple the engagement of regular posts.
Keep in mind that larger accounts get lower engagement rates, while accounts with a small but dedicated audience see higher ones. An Instagram business account with fewer than 10,000 followers sees an average 1.55% engagement rate, which drops to 0.62% for a business account with more than 100,000 followers.
Instagram is a highly visual medium, making it a perfect place for fashion brands to showcase—and even sell—their wares.
When Instagram ads are correctly targeted and visually appealing, they’re a highly effective means of connecting with new customers.
That’s 19% of adults aged 13 and over. This represents a 7.1% quarter-on-quarter increase in advertising reach in Q3 2020.
To be specific, this Instagram stat refers to users aged 13 to 17. That makes Instagram third in terms of youth advertising reach, behind Facebook (123 million) and Snapchat (91.9 million).
That forecasted figure represents a big jump from $13.86 billion in 2020 and just $9.45 billion in 2019.
Stories ads give brands the opportunity to create engaging full-screen experiences that connect with Instagram users.
Instagram users expect Stories to be more casual and less polished. Stories ads shot on mobile feel more like organic content and less like a hard sell.
This stat is specifically focused on add-to-cart objectives, but it’s worth experimenting to see how use of text affects your Stories ads for other advertising objectives.
Stories ads have a built-in call to action (like Swipe Up) at the bottom of the screen, but this can be easy to miss. Adding an enhanced call to action helps increase the chances viewers will interact with the ad.
Followed by behind-the-scenes posts, interviews, and news coverage.
Think about what kind of fun, quick, easy-to-implement instructions related to your business or niche you could convert into a short Instagram video content that inspires engagement.
That makes IGTV videos a good way to draw potential new eyeballs to your account. Of course, the first step is to get on the Explore page.
Captions are an important element of inclusive design, which is just good business.
Automatic captions, rolling out on IGTV today. 🙋♀️
Go to your settings and turn on video captions or find the option in the video drop-down menu.
Captions will be available in 16 languages to start. Stay tuned for updates as we expand to more surfaces and countries. pic.twitter.com/g3zBUBjCDr
— Instagram (@instagram) September 15, 2020
The Patriots have the highest engagement with their Reels. They see an average 121,800 engagements per Reel, compared to 21,600 engagements per video.
Save time managing your Instagram presence using Hootsuite. From a single dashboard you can schedule and publish posts directly to Instagram, engage the audience, measure performance, and run all your other social media profiles. Try it free today.
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