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Instagram is a powerhouse when it comes to social media marketing.
But what makes Instagram attractive for B2B marketers in 2024?
The aesthetics and ease of use make Instagram one of the most engaging social platforms for consumers and companies alike, and that in turn makes it valuable for marketers. It is important to understand how Instagram works so you don’t miss a golden opportunity to target, engage and sell to customers on Instagram.
If you haven’t invested in Instagram, the time has come. If you’re not convinced, or you’re unsure how Instagram could work for your business, keep reading. I’m going to share with you 33 statistics that every B2B marketer should know about Instagram—everything from demographics to usage to posting frequency. This data comes from HubSpot, Pew Research Center, eMarketer, L2, Instagram, and Simply Measured to name a few.
Read on to uncover the statistics that’ll help you improve your marketing strategy.
But first: We all know that Instagram is taking off and quickly becoming a powerful channel for B2B brands looking to connect with their audience. But it’s not always easy to make Instagram work for B2B. So here’s a great video that covers some of the best Instagram advice for 2023:
Now let’s dive in to those stats:
Instagram User Statistics
1. Billion Monthly Active Instagram Users
If you’re questioning whether Instagram has the user base to justify spending your time and energy there—think again. In June 2018, Instagram reached the one billion monthly active user mark! That’s one in seven people—and double the users of just four years ago.
2. 500 Million Use Instagram Stories Daily
Instagram Stories, a Snapchat equivalent that lets users share what they’re doing in a slideshow format that disappears after 24 hours, now has 500 million daily users, an increase of 100 million from 2018.
3. The “Like” Button Is Used 4.2 Billion Times Per Day
Instagram has one of the highest engagement levels across social media platforms—in fact, more than 4.2 billion likes are submitted each day. One of the main reasons for this super-high engagement is that Instagram is all about visuals, which tend to grab our attention more than text.
4. Users Spend 30 Minutes Per Day On Instagram
People spend almost as much time on Instagram as they do on the Facebook app— Instagram’s daily use grew by 13.8% from 2019 to 2020, whereas Facebook’s daily use only grew 4.3% or 1.4 minutes. The more time users spend on Instagram, the more ads they see—and the more likely they are to notice your B2B business.
5. Users Are Purchasing Products They See On Instagram
More consumers are buying what they see on Instagram. It’s no secret that Instagram is powerful when it comes to promoting products. According to one study, 72% of Instagram users have purchased a product they saw on the app.
6. 70% Of Users Are More Likely To Buy Via Mobile
Over a third of Instagram users have used their phones to buy a product online, making them 70% more likely to do so than those not on the app. Instagram is a traffic goldmine for businesses—through product tags, the app directs users to a page where they can purchase the products they see.
7. 88% Of Instagram Users Live Outside The United States
Brands outside the U.S. will be happy to know the app has users around the world. In fact, Instagram reported that 88% of its users live outside the United States. This data shows the popularity of the app and the interest in visual content across many language barriers.
8. 71% Of Young Adults Use Instagram
Not only that—71% of the active users on the app are between 18 and 29 years old. Today’s business decision makers are getting younger; it pays (literally) to be where they are.
9. 71% Of US Businesses Say They Use Instagram
Given Instagram’s popularity, it should be no surprise that an estimated 71% of US businesses are using it to push their brand and in 2020 there were over 8 million business accounts. Like I said earlier, Instagram is a platform that cannot be ignored.
10. User-Generated Content Has A 4.5% Higher Conversion Rate
You might want to start mixing user-generated content—i.e., photos and videos from your customers—into your marketing campaigns. Instagrammers who see a user-generated photo have a 4.5% higher chance of conversion, which increases to 9.6% if they interact with the post.
11. 80% Of Users Follow A Business On Instagram
People aren’t shy about following businesses on Instagram, which gives B2B marketers a great opportunity to showcase their products without spending a huge amount of money.
12. The United States Leads The Number Of Active Instagram Users
Even though the majority of Instagram users live outside the U.S., as of January 2019, the country still leads the way in active Instagram users with 140 million. If your customers are in the U.S., there’s a good chance they’re on Instagram.
13. Instagrammers Are Discovering New Products And Services
83% of Instagrammers say they stumble upon new products and services via the app—and as mentioned above, they often go on to make purchases. The same study revealed that by having an Instagram presence, brands can make a positive impression on potential customers.
14. Instagram Has A Balanced Gender Distribution
With 39% of U.S. women and 30% of U.S. men using the app, Instagram has a pretty balanced gender ratio and globally the ratio is 51% female and 49%, male. Though the scale tips toward the female side, whatever your target demographic, you are likely to find it on Instagram.
15. Instagram Users Engage Most In The Afternoon
The best time of day to post on any social platform is when most of your followers are online. But when do most people use Instagram? CoSchedule examined a ton of data and found that the best times to post are 1:00 PM and 5:00 PM; however, B2B companies see high click-through rates at several times: 12:00 to 1:00 PM, 5:00 to 6:00 PM, and 8:00 to 9:00 pm.
16. Influencers Prefer Instagram For Collaboration
A study done by Zine discovered that 80% of influencers prefer Instagram over other platforms for brand collaboration. That means B2B marketers wanting to collaborate with influencers should turn to Instagram, even if only to find influencers for projects across other platforms.
B2B Statistics
17. 33% Of B2B Companies Are On Instagram
Instagram has been stereotyped by B2B marketers as a tool for B2C marketers. But that mindset is beginning to change. 33% of B2B companies are now on Instagram, and that number is rising. As B2B marketing continues to evolve, it’s important to embrace Instagram as a tool for building connections with clients, prospects, employees, and others in your industry.
18. Instagram Generates 20 Times More Engagement Than LinkedIn
Instagram is one of the strongest social platforms for engagement. According to TrackMaven, Instagram produces 20 times more engagement than LinkedIn for B2B brands.
19. 98.9% of Interactions with Fortune 500 Companies Come in the Form of “Likes”
In 2016, TrackMaven analyzed 40,000 Instagram posts from B2B and B2C Fortune 500 companies. They found that 98.9% of interactions with these brands come in the form of “likes” rather than comments, which indicates how businesses should expect to engage with their audience on Instagram.
20. Instagram Offers Higher Interaction Rates For B2B Brands
B2B brands, on average, see 22.53 interactions per 1000 followers per post on Instagram, which is many times higher than Facebook, LinkedIn and X (formerly known as Twitter).
21. 13% Of B2B Brands Rank The App As “Very Important” Or “Critical”
Instagram has made it simpler for marketers to step outside the box, but when it comes to B2B, they view the platform differently. Only 13% of B2B brands rank Instagram as “very important” or “critical” for their social media marketing. Clearly, more work needs to be done to get B2B brands on board with Instagram—but brands that make the platform a priority can get ahead of the curve.
Content Marketing Statistics
22. Instagram Interactions Are Increasing
Engagement with branded Instagram posts increased by 29% between October 2017 and May 2018, meaning that brands are getting increasingly more mileage out of their posts on the platform.
23. 69.2% Of Marketers Use Instagram
In 2018, 69.2% of marketers used Instagram for business purposes. This year, it is expected that nearly seven in ten U.S. marketers will use Instagram as part of their work.
24. Instagram Has A Massive US User Base
Instagram is second only to Facebook in the size of its U.S. user base. It was estimated that 37.4% of users had accessed the tool at least once per month in 2018.
25. Instagram Has An Impact On Buyers’ Shopping Habits
Instagram helps 80% of users decide whether to purchase products. The app is helping change the shopping process for users. People are able to use Instagram to find what is popular and new, research a product before making a purchase, and decide whether to buy the product or not.
26. Posts With A Location Get More Engagement
Geotags allow your content to be found anytime a user searches for or clicks the location attached to it. Instagram has continued to grow this feature, so it’s not surprising to see that posts with a location have 79% more engagement than those without.
27. 65% Of Top-Performing Brand Posts Feature Products
Research from L2 found that 65% of the top-performing posts from brands on Instagram feature products. Product posts beat lifestyle content (43%) and images or videos from celebrities or influencers (29%). But if you alter your strategy to feature more products, you need to ensure they are shoppable, which means users can click the image to see product details (e.g., cost).
28. Videos Generate More Engagement Than Photos
People like visuals—but they especially like videos. In fact, videos generate 38% more engagement than photos. If video isn’t in your Instagram marketing arsenal, it should be—post a mix of photos and videos to keep your Instagram followers engaged and coming back for more.
29. 50% Of Instagram Captions & Comments Contain Emojis
Like I said, there’s no question that Instagram is a powerhouse for visual content—even the captions and comments display images in the form of emojis. With help from iOS and Android keyboards, 50% of captions and comments on the platform contain at least one emoji. And there are 2,823 emoji options to choose from as of the most recent release (June 2018).
30. Posts With At Least One Hashtag Receive 12.6% More Engagement
Instagram hashtags are popular! That’s because they work. Research shows that posts with at least one hashtag elicit 12.6% more engagement than posts without hashtags.
31. 7 Out Of 10 Hashtags On Instagrams Are Branded
One of the best ways to launch a campaign on Instagram is with a branded hashtag. A branded hashtag is special to your business. It can be as simple as the name of your business or product, or a phrase you create for a specific promotion. If you choose to use a branded hashtag, you’re in good company: According to a study by Simply Measured, 7 out of 10 hashtags on Instagram are branded.
32. Instagram’s Ad Revenue Will Reach $10 Billion in 2019
The growing marketing potential of Instagram has predictably resulted in growing ad revenue. In 2019, Instagram is expected to pull in $10.8 billion from advertising, and we can expect even higher numbers in the 2020s.
33. 25% Of Ads Are Single Videos
While photo ads are still dominant, videos have gained in popularity. In fact, 25% of Instagram ads are single videos. These types of ads can be up to 60 seconds long, but be warned—engagement tends to drop as the length increases. If B2B businesses can hook their target audience within 30 seconds, users are likely to stick around.
34. Instagram Influencer Marketing Is Up 48% in 2019
We all know that Influencer Marketing in B2B is taking off. Based on recent stats; it looks like the wonderful world of Influencer Marketing that Instagram is thee channel where this is taking off the most. According to a recent report, there was an increase of 48% in the number of posts shared on Instagram using the hashtag #ad.
Instagram Statistics Recap
In a rush and couldn’t read them all?
That’s OK—here are the top eight Instagram stats every B2B marketer should know:
- Instagram has one billion active users a month.
- 4.2 billion likes are submitted on Instagram each day.
- 33% of B2B companies are on Instagram.
- Users spend an average of 30 minutes a day on Instagram.
- 65% of top-performing brand posts on Instagram feature products.
- Videos produce 38% more engagement than photos on Instagram.
- Instagram generates 20 times more engagement than LinkedIn for B2B companies.
- 13% of B2B brands rank Instagram as “very important” or “critical.”
Understanding these Instagram stats is all well and good, but it’s what you do with the information that will ultimately make a difference to your bottom line. It’s worth taking some time (and perhaps doing more research) to determine how each piece of data might lead to improvements in your B2B marketing efforts.
Which stats surprised you? Leave a comment—we’d love to hear from you!
If you’re eager to learn how to leverage Instagram as a B2B business, you’re in luck! Check out How To Use Instagram for B2B Marketing in 2023 for tips to help grow your brand.
[Updated Jan 07, 2023]
