Instagram is social media royalty. It remains one of the top platforms in the world, not just because it’s been around for a while (since 2010), but also because it’s constantly adapting to the evolving experiences its users expect. Stories, livestreaming, the Explore page, Shoppable posts, and Reels are just some of the popular features Instagram has successfully introduced to the market.

This is why Instagram is one of the most important platforms to take into account when planning your content strategy. 

For content creators and marketers, understanding Instagram statistics is crucial for creating effective data-based strategies. By looking at statistics and trends, you can identify your audience’s preferences, narrow down the content formats that work best, and identify the ideal posting times that will generate the highest engagement.

Table of contents

• Key stats
• Instagram user statistics
• Instagram post statistics
• Instagram engagement statistics
• Instagram stories statistics
• Instagram reels statistics
• Instagram advertising statistics
• Influencer marketing statistics
• Instagram trends and predictions

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Key stats

1. Almost 40% of Gen Z use TikTok and Instagram for search over Google, and 61% say they’re even more influenced by user-generated content (UGC) since COVID.
2. An Accenture study found that by 2025, shopping on social platforms like Instagram Shopping is expected to reach $1.2 trillion in revenue globally. This growth is predicted to be driven by Gen Z and millennial social media users, accounting for 62% of global social commerce spend.
3. According to a Hubspot report, one-third of these online shoppers and social media users mentioned that influencer recommendations are more important than recommendations from friends and family. 71% of businesses expect online influencers to become even more important to their future marketing strategies.
4. Online consumers are looking for “authentic and personalized” experiences from the brands they follow. A report by Nosto found that online audiences are 3.1 times more likely to say user-generated content is authentic compared to brand-created content.
5. The practice of adding a ton of hashtags to an Instagram post so it gets more visibility is obsolete in 2023. Studies have found that it can actually be detrimental to have more than six hashtags per post.

The top Instagram stats to know in 2023

Instagram user statistics

Let’s look at some user base statistics, including number of active users, location of Instagram users, and the most used devices.

• MAUs (monthly active users): As of January 2023, Instagram is the fourth-most-used social media platform, after Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp. That’s two billion people you can potentially reach with the right viewing and engagement tactics.
• DAUs (daily active users): No official sources have reported this number, only a quarterly report by Meta on Facebook DAUs. However, multiple sources, including Backlinko and Business of Apps, have reported that the number is more than 500 million DAUs for the photo-sharing app.

In terms of geographic distribution, the countries with the highest number of Instagram users are India (over 200 million users), the United States (143 million users), Brazil (113 million users), and Indonesia (89 million users).

There’s a caveat to these numbers though. Some studies have found that they’re inflated by bots and mass followers (people who use third-party apps and automated services to grow their Instagram audience).

In terms of Instagram demographics, more than 50% of global active Instagram users are 34 and younger, with men using it slightly more than women. A number that really illustrates just how many young people are on Instagram is the 17% of 18- to 24-year-olds actively using the app as of January 2023.

It’s important to call out the reports about social media’s adverse effects on teens, including platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat. Multiple studies have shown that vulnerable teens dealing with mental health struggles are more likely to be negatively affected by things like peer pressure, online bullying, and views of unrealistic lifestyles.

Instagram’s users have grown steadily over the past few years. In 2020, the platform had 1.04 billion users. In 2021, it was 1.21 billion. In 2022, it reached 1.28 billion. By the end of 2023, it’s estimated to grow to 1.34 billion. 

As of June 2023, the majority of the world is mostly using mobile devices to access the internet. In terms of type of devices, Instagram is the most downloaded app in the Play Store, with 70 million downloads, and the fourth most downloaded app by Apple users.

Key takeaways and tips

• Higher daily and monthly active users mean a more engaged audience. This should influence how often you post content to Instagram over other social media platforms. An engaged audience is also more likely to interact with your content, leading to more visibility, reach, and conversions. But do it thoughtfully so you can stand out from the noise—aim for consistent and meaningful content that provides value to your audience.
• A high daily active user rate means your audience is using Instagram at all hours of the day. Use your analytics tools to identify when your Instagram followers are most active and experiment with posting at different times to see when you get the best engagement. 
• Incorporate timely content into your posting strategy. This could include sharing live updates, behind-the-scenes content, or tapping into current trends and events that align with your brand. Timely content can create a sense of urgency and encourage immediate engagement from your active audience.
• Leverage interactive content. Instagram Stories and Live videos can help you engage your audience in a more interactive and immediate way. These features are particularly effective for capturing the attention of an engaged audience. Use polls, Q&As, and countdowns to encourage participation.

With Descript’s simple and powerful video editing process, you can quickly produce timely content, like live updates and behind-the-scenes videos. This agility lets you easily tap into current trends and events, giving you immediate engagement from your audience.

Instagram post statistics

It’s hard to know how many posts are made on Instagram per day, as Meta doesn’t release these figures, but different sources report the same number: users upload about 100 million posts daily.

In terms of the average number of likes and comments per post, here’s a breakdown sourced from a study by Mention:

Notice that video remains the most engaging type of content on Instagram across all types of interactions.

These are the Instagram posts with the most activity to date:

• Highest number of likes: If you need proof of football’s (AKA soccer’s) popularity around the world, particularly outside of the US and Canada, just look at the most liked picture on Instagram: Lionel Messi celebrating Argentina’s 2022 World Cup win against France.

• Highest number of comments: At 43 million comments, it’s a giveaway post by Greek influencer and YouTuber Alexandros Kopsialis.

In terms of average number of followers, at least 49.94% of Instagram users have between 1,000 and 10,000 followers. Here’s the breakdown, according to a study by Mention:

Wondering who the top players are? Here’s a list of the top 10:

1. Instagram (@instagram): 648 million followers
2. Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano): 597 million followers
3. Lionel Messi (@leomessi): 481 million followers
4. Selena Gomez (@selenagomez): 426 million followers
5. Kylie Jenner (@kyliejenner) 397 million followers
6. Dwayne Johnson (@therock): 388 million followers
7. Ariana Grande (@arianagrande): 377 million followers
8. Kim Kardashian (@kimkardashian): 363 million followers
9. Beyoncé (@beyonce): 315 million followers
10. Khloé Kardashian (@khloekardashian): 311 million followers

Key takeaways and tips

• Video remains king. Focus on creating high-quality video content that resonates with your audience. Use Instagram’s video features, like Reels, to boost your reach and interaction rates. With Descript’s intuitive video editing features — including cutting, rearranging, and adding captions — you can produce polished Instagram videos that captivate your audience and align with your content strategy.
• Set realistic goals. Use average likes and comments per post to set achievable engagement goals and monitor the performance of your content based on those benchmarks.
• Collaborate with micro-influencers. You don’t have to work with pop stars and elite football players to have a wider reach. Micro-influencers (between 1,000 and 10,000 followers) with niche audiences can be more cost-effective and effective for targeted campaigns. Descript makes it easy to manage this collaboration with user permissions and project comments. Collaborators can add comments to a project file or a published link.

Instagram engagement statistics

Right now, social media managers agree that the average engagement rate to aim for is between 1% and 5% — which becomes increasingly difficult the more followers you have. Hubspot has a free calculator to help you figure out where you stand within that range.

As of 2022, Instagram users spend an average of 12 hours per month using the app. This number varies a lot when you dig into individual countries. Turkey, for example, rules the monthly usage chart at 21 hours per month, followed by Argentina, Indonesia, and Brazil.

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A report by The Wall Street Journal found that Instagram users are spending an average of 17.6 million hours per day watching Reels. Per user, that’s an average of 151 minutes a day.

What is the best time of day for posting on Instagram? Different studies have different answers to that question, but one thing they can all agree on is that it depends. It depends on your audience, on where they live, and on their demographics and online behavior patterns. Figure out when most of your followers are online and then aim to post around those times in order to game the algorithm’s priority on most to least recent.

Key takeaways and tips

• Tailor your content to regional trends. Understanding the variation in monthly app usage across different countries allows you to tailor content and campaigns to regional trends and preferences. By identifying the regions with the most activity, you can allocate resources strategically to better engage these audiences.
• Post video content, including Reels. The average daily hours spent watching Reels indicates that videos, particularly Reels, are really engaging. This means you should prioritize video production, take advantage of Reels’ popularity, and incorporate short, visually appealing videos to increase engagement and reach.

Descript empowers you to produce captivating Instagram videos using intuitive editing features, including adding colorful captions and refining video transitions.

Instagram stories statistics

According to Instagram internal data, Stories are viewed by at least 500 million users every day (head and shoulders above Snapchat’s 397 million daily active users). The average reach rate per story depends on the number of followers an account has. In general, the rate sits between 4% and 9% of total follower count.

You can calculate what your average story viewing rate should be using this formula: Total reach / follower count x 100.

It’s hard to know exactly which Stories have been viewed the most, since this information is private to each account. The last time Instagram released these figures was in 2017, a year after the launch of the Stories feature. The top spots went to J Balvin, Lele Pons, Emily Ratajkowski, Chloë Grace Moretz, Chiara Ferragni, Bella Hadid, Shay Mitchell, Candice Swanepoel, and Nick Jonas.

According to social media marketing platform Flick, the average monthly Story completion rate on Instagram is 86.6%. The most successful types of content shared on Instagram Stories vary depending on the type of account, but here’s a rough breakdown:

• Interactive content: Polls, Q&As, quiz stickers — any type of Story that asks the audience to interact with your account.
• Content that stands for something: Content about diversity, inclusion, sustainability, and human rights, and how you and/or your brand are championing those causes.
• Trending content: Memes, pop culture, and breaking news coverage.

Key takeaways and tips

• Study the best. Look at what successful brands and content creators are doing. Study the storytelling techniques and content strategies of top-performing Instagram accounts using Stories. Try to spot trends and then use those in your own Instagram Stories.
• Make engagement a core metric. Aim for higher completion rates and more types of engagement through interactive and meaningful content.
• Lean on the fleeting nature of Stories. Stories don’t last forever, the way your carousels and Reels do, so you can have more fun with them. Incorporate trending topics, memes, and current pop culture and “online” events into your Story content to stay relevant and capture the attention of your audience.

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Descript’s free video editing tools — like templates — simplify the process of creating engaging Instagram videos for your Reels or Stories. You can edit your videos effortlessly, similar to working on a document. Adding captions, animations, and waveforms can be done with just a few clicks.

Instagram Reels statistics

A study by Instagram found that 9 out of 10 users watch videos on Instagram every week. The average reach of Instagram Reels depends on your number of followers but, overall, Reels reach a much higher number of people than photo posts and carousels.

Just like with Stories and image posts, how often you should post Reels depends on your specific audience. Some experts recommend four to seven Reels per week, while others have found success with three to four Reels per week.

The most viewed Instagram Reels are a mix of genres, including comedy skits, viral challenges, and heartwarming content. Four of the top spots are occupied by Khaby Lame, a social media personality. This Reel has over 11 million likes:

Embed: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CTNBI_3Irpl/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=45e32e04-fb4a-47ed-91a0-849920bdff14

According to a 2022 study, the average number of likes on Instagram Reels is around 1,000. Reels also average 18 comments and 239 saves.

Key takeaways and tips

• Adjust your Reels strategy based on analytics. Use these average engagement metrics as benchmarks to assess the success of your Reels. Analyze the engagement patterns of your audience and refine your content strategy based on how they behave.
• Adapt your content calendar to best practices — and be consistent. Plan a consistent Reels posting schedule based on the posting frequency recommended by experts. By consistently providing valuable and relevant content, you’re nurturing brand advocates that will help you expand your reach through word of mouth.
• Encourage meaningful interactions. Response rates to messages, comments, and inquiries are crucial indicators of engagement. Timely and personalized responses show attentiveness to your audience’s needs and inquiries, which encourages even more engagement.
• Leverage user-generated content (UGC). User-generated content is a valuable tool for driving engagement. Encourage your followers to create and share content related to your brand. UGC fosters a sense of community, strengthens brand loyalty, and boosts overall engagement.

Instagram advertising statistics

After Facebook, Instagram is the second most-used platform by advertisers. The survey showed that at least 80% of digital marketers use the platform to promote their business.

Instagram supports multiple ad types to help users target their audience with precision, including carousels, Reels, Stories, and Instagram Shop posts. Ads can appear in people’s Instagram feeds and Stories as they interact with the brands they follow. 

Experts agree that Story ads are the best performing ad type on Instagram due to how immersive they are. In terms of the type of Story ads your audience is most likely to tap or swipe up on, a Hubspot survey found that image-based ads with light text are the most popular. A separate study by Iconosquare also found that single-image ads are the best performing. 

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According to Social Status, the current average view-through rate (VTR) for Instagram ads has been growing at an unprecedented rate since the start of 2023 — 108.67% as of July.

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The cost of Instagram ads depends on your bidding model. 

• If you go the cost-per-click (CPC) route, the rate varies between $0.50 and $1.00, depending on the products or services that you offer. 
• If you choose the cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM) model, that’s roughly between $2.50 and $3.50.
• For the cost-per-engagement (CPE) model, engagement is defined as any interaction between the Instagram user and the ad, not just clicks. The cost per CPE is between $0.01 and $0.05.

A study by eMarketer found that by the end of 2023, 58.5% of Meta’s $121.90 billion in ad revenue worldwide will come from Facebook. The remaining 41.5% will come from Instagram, whose ad revenue is growing faster than Facebook’s.

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Due to the high number of daily active users on Instagram, the return on investment (ROI) for Instagram advertising campaigns tends to be positive across the board, with some case studies showing ROI rates as high as 300%. A Shopify study found that Instagram users spend an average of $65 per referred sale.

You can reach at least 996 million people via Instagram Stories, and at least 1.32 billion users on the main feed. 

Key takeaways and tips

• Prioritize Instagram in your ad campaigns. The fact that 80% of digital marketers use Instagram for advertising shows that the platform has a significant reach and effectiveness for businesses. Make sure you’re allocating your budget and prioritizing accordingly.
• Focus on Story Ads. Story ads — static images in particular — stand above the other types of ads as the best-performing ad type, so you should focus on creating immersive and visually appealing content for the format. Focus on crafting compelling Stories that encourage engagement and interaction from your target audience.

Influencer marketing statistics

In terms of influencer marketing stats, Instagram micro-influencers see the highest engagement rates across the board. In 2022, influencers with 1,000 to 10,000 followers had an engagement rate of 2.53%. 

Influencer Marketing Hub broke down the cost of partnering with Instagram influencers based on follower count. It can cost between $10 and $10,000 per post, depending on the number of followers an influencer has.

‍Business of Apps shared an average pricing breakdown for an influencer in the 100,000 to 250,000 follower range:

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There’s little reference to ROI in the published influencer marketing stats for recent years. This is because ROI on influencer marketing is dependent on the business and the specific influencer marketing strategy. This type of marketing relies on influencers being adept at placing the brand, product, or service in front of their followers when they’re most active, and that varies from account to account.

However, we can look at studies that ask Instagram users how they interact with influencers. Some of them show that over half of users have purchased a product after seeing it used by an influencer.

Key takeaways and tips

• Measure ROI with custom campaigns. As standard ROI metrics might not be readily available for influencer marketing, social media managers can design custom tracking mechanisms, such as unique promo codes or referral links, to assess the effectiveness of specific influencer campaigns.
• Niche down. Look for micro-influencers whose content aligns with your brand’s niche or industry. An influencer’s expertise and relevance to your products or services ensure that their audience is genuinely interested in your offerings, resulting in higher engagement and better brand fit. For example, if your brand sells fitness products, you’d seek fitness influencers who have an engaged audience interested in health and wellness.
• Look at an influencer’s business account, not just their pricing deck. Assess an influencer’s engagement metrics, such as likes, comments, and shares, to gauge the level of interaction they have with their followers. High engagement rates indicate an influencer’s ability to connect authentically with their audience.
• Prioritize influencers who maintain their unique voice while authentically promoting products. Authenticity is crucial in influencer marketing. Review an influencer’s content and engagement to ensure they genuinely resonate with their followers. Look for signs of authenticity and transparency in their posts and collaborations.

Instagram trends and predictions

When you look up “Instagram trends and predictions” for any given year, you’ll get a long list of results from a lot of different experts. So, we compiled the common trends and predictions for 2023 and beyond, as reported by the following sources:  

• Hootsuite
• Sprout Social
• The Instagram blog
• Later
• Influencer Marketing Hub
• Social Insider

Keep it real with user-generated content

Across these studies of Instagram trends, one thing is clear: authenticity and reality remain a top priority for social media audiences. Important audience segments like millennials and Gen Z value authenticity and relatability in their marketing, making user-generated content (UGC) a powerful tool to connect with these audiences. 

Japan-based retailer MUJI launched an Instagram hashtag contest to promote its pens. The company asked followers to submit their creations by posting pictures of their art tagged with #MujiPenArt. By the end of the campaign, the company had more than 8,000 submissions it could share to showcase the versatility of its pens.

Be sure to include UGC campaigns or contests to incentivize participation and generate more engagement from your followers.

Stand for something

It’s not surprising that online audiences have developed an increasing social consciousness, given the state of the world. Amid the onset of a global pandemic, a rocky economic landscape, environmental decline, and an ongoing war, it’s only natural that social media consciousness reflects the world at large.

This means that Instagram users expect more from the brands they follow. Brands that align with their followers’ values and social causes — namely around sustainability and social issues defining modern life — are likely to resonate more.

Take outdoor retailer Patagonia, for example. The brand’s marketing strategy centers around promoting causes that support the environment and promote sustainability, like its campaign post to spread awareness about turning Vjosa into a natural park in Albania.

Diversity and inclusion matter

Across the board, these studies of Instagram trends agree on another trend: Brands that represent and celebrate diversity in their marketing efforts are likely to attract a more engaged and dedicated audience. This means that brands should make a concerted effort to reflect the diversity of their audience by representing various ethnicities, backgrounds, and abilities across their content.

You can do this in a number of ways, either by producing your own content that reflects the diversity of our world, or by partnering with influencers who can create the content for you.

Sephora’s “We Belong to Something Beautiful” campaign showcased local stories in the US and Canada. The mission of the campaign was to highlight that there is no singular expression of beauty.

Instagram Stories are the backbone of influencer marketing

Instagram Stories are a key component of influencer marketing. Some studies show that 96% of influencers publish content on their Stories regularly. 

Adidas is an example of a brand that has successfully used Instagram Stories for influencer marketing. It’s partnered with athletes, fitness enthusiasts, and lifestyle influencers to promote its products through engaging and dynamic Stories. Instead of traditional advertisements, Adidas collaborates with influencers who align with its brand values and aesthetics.

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In order to promote its NMD footwear line, the brand partnered with two film photographers to create a series of videos they would feature in their Stories. The campaign resulted in increased awareness with Adidas’s core audience — the brand gained over 10 million earned impressions in the first 48 hours.

This year and beyond, expect even more influencers to leverage Stories to connect with their audience, showcase products, and drive engagement. You can work with influencers whose strategies leverage Stories, or you can use your own to offer behind-the-scenes glimpses and product tutorials.