Instagram turns a big 10 years in 2020 and it’s safe to say that the social networking app has changed many lives during its existence. The visual-centric platform that began as a photo-posting app has grown into a source of income for creators and a new sales channel for businesses.
Instagram has been able to maintain its user base fairly consistently over the last year. In 2019, the percentage of US adults who use Instagram rose from 35% to 37% and the active reported users have held steady around 1 billion people.
Knowing platform-specific statistics help you better understand how to set up your Instagram strategy. Based on this data and 2020 social trends, you’ll be prepared with a clearer picture of what’s to come.
Click through the anchor links below to access the categories of statistics you’re most interested in.
Instagram user statistics
Age & gender
Compared to Facebook, Instagram is a network of younger users. According to Statista, more than half of the global Instagram user population is younger than 34 years old. It’s the second most preferred app after Snapchat for teenagers in the US.
The 18–24 year old age group is the largest of the demographics. Overall, there’s a mostly even split between the genders with 51% female and 49% male.
Geography
Because Instagram has been around for nearly a decade and has become increasingly influential, it boasts a global user audience. The highest concentration of users is in the US at 116 million users. Next, is India at 73 million users and Brazil at 72 million users. In the next few years, the international user market will soon surpass the US user base. This means there’s plenty of opportunities for international brands to market to their consumers.
Instagram usage statistics
Now that you know who uses Instagram, it’s time to explore how they use the network. Usage statistics help you understand what actions people on the platform are taking and which part of the marketing funnel to put them in. If users log in only once a month, then it’s not worth it to dedicate much time to that network.
How often Instagram is used
About six in 10 Instagram users log in at least once daily. It’s the second most logged in social media site for daily use after Facebook. Twenty-one percent of users log in weekly and 16% log in less often than that.
Instagram’s usage has risen since 2013 but the growth has tapered off. Between 2019 and 2019, the number of US adults who use the platform only grew two percentage points from 35%.
Instagram users spend almost as much time on the platform as Facebook users. They browse for an average of 53 minutes per day versus Facebook’s 58 minutes per day. Time spent on a social network is a strong indicator of an engaging platform. And engaged users are more likely to be interested in your brand’s content. Combined with the daily login statistics, Instagram’s user base is only projected to grow.
Active users
It’s projected that the number of Instagram users in the US will reach 125.5 million active users by 2023. The network surpassed the 1 billion monthly active user mark in June 2018.
Instagram users with the most followers
Besides Instagram’s own account, quite a few celebrities use the platform. Surprisingly, Beyonce doesn’t currently clear the top five of popular users. The accounts with the highest number of followers include Cristiano Ronaldo at 1967.68 million followers, Ariana Grande at 171.5 million and The Rock with 171.5 million followers.
How brands use Instagram
When 90% of accounts follow at least one business on Instagram, it goes without saying that brands want in on the marketing action, too. The platform’s users aren’t fatigued by brand presence either. According to a survey, 78% say that they see brands on Instagram as popular, 77% as creative, 76% as entertaining and 72% as committed to building community.
Instagram has become known as an ideal fit for e-commerce marketing. The platform is often used as the discovery portion of the sales funnel. Eighty-three percent of Instagram users discover new products and services on the platform.
Working with influencers
Influencer marketing is its own industry now with individuals relying on it as their sole source of income. With a planned influencer strategy or campaign, you can also take advantage of this trend.
By sector, the top three industries working with Instagram influencers include 91% of luxury brands, 84% of sports clothing and 83% of beauty brands.
According to surveyed marketers, 89% indicated that Instagram was the most important social media channel for influencer marketing.The Instagram influencer market has not been saturated yet, which is an encouraging sign for brands who still want to try the strategy out.
Advertising
As brands continue advertising on Instagram, parent company Facebook will rely more heavily on its advertising dollars. By the end of 2020, Instagram ad revenue is projected to be at 30% of the entire company’s ad revenue.
Because of increased engagement with Stories, advertisers are spending more money on Instagram. Compared to Facebook, ad spending on Instagram is 23% higher, according to an internal study.
One in three Instagram posts that contained the hashtag #ad were Story posts. With the new Creator type account, 2020 might see a change in how sponsored content is displayed and analyzed.
This is exciting because it means that there are some incredible growth opportunities available for advertisers on Stories. Instagram also recently added the branded partnership tag to IGTV, so a new content type might soon crop up in influencer advertising opportunities.
Taking a stand
It’s become more and more common for brands to take a stand on social and political issues. While a risky move, it can be rewarding in a way that strengthens a brand’s image.
According to our report on brands creating change, 70% of consumers want brands to take a stand on social issues and 66% of them who want brands to take a stand on social media say it’s because they believe that brands can create real change.
When brands do take a stand, 36% of consumers say they’ll purchase more from a company. Of course, you don’t want to just pick any issue to take a stand on. Forty-three percent of consumers want brands to take a stand when it impacts the business directly and 38% want it when it relates to the brand’s values.
Instagram features stats
Now that Instagram Stories has been around for a few years, it’s more clear how brands and users are investing in them. Stories has become an integral part of the app as well as the development of the Shopping feature. New to the scene is IGTV, a feature to keep an eye on in 2020.
Stories
The Snapchat feature clone has become a popular feature with a prominent space at the very top of the app. According to Instagram, over 500 million accounts use Instagram Stories every day.
This usage has far surpassed Snapchat’s own 190 million total daily users statistics.
Shopping
The Shopping and checkout feature is relatively new to Instagram. Without leaving the app, users can now search for products, add to a shopping bag and checkout.
Shopping is a strong feature that will surely become even more developed in the future. After seeing a product or service on Instagram, 79% searched for more information, 37% visited the retail store and 46% made a purchase.
Selling on Instagram is a valuable feature for brands who sell products. It’s yet another sales channel for brands to pull consumers in. When 65% of consumers visit the brand’s website or app after seeing a product, it makes Instagram an even more powerful marketing tool. To fully take advantage of selling, add call-to-action links directly in Stories or ads that you run. Product tags on Instagram will also enhance the shopping experience for users.
Instagram content trends
Knowing average engagement rates and trends help marketers plan their future Instagram strategy. If, for example, videos were starting to become more engaging, then marketers would invest in more video production.
Engagement rates
At a median of 1.60% engagement rate, brands with the highest engagement rates include higher education at 3.96%, nonprofits at 2.40% and sports teams at 2.40%.
Best time to post
The best time to post on Instagram, based on Sprout’s own research, is Wednesday at 11 a.m. and Friday at 10–11 a.m.
The worst day to post is Sunday and the worst times to post are late nights and early mornings 11 p.m.–3 a.m.
Creating the best Instagram user experience
This is more of a prediction than a statistic. With Instagram’s latest investments in off-feed features, like IGTV, Stories, the Explore page and Shopping, the common trend here is to make the user experience all-encompassing. Why leave the app when you could watch a TV episode, buy your favorite makeup brush and discover a new shoe style all in one go? The thing to prioritize for marketers in 2020 will be to keep an eye on Instagram’s feature development, which will help you determine the next big investment on the platform.
Act on these Instagram statistics
Now that you’re armed with fresh 2020 Instagram statistics, it’s time to build up your new year marketing strategy. Follow us @SproutSocial to share your 2020 goals.