The number of Interbrand 100 brands with an Instagram account has grown to 71 as of Q3 2013, per a new study [download page] by Simply Measured, up from 59 at the beginning of February and now rivaling adoption of Google+ (73) and Pinterest (74). While the percentage of existing accounts that are active has stalled (at 65%) from the last study released in May, the results indicate a jump in the percentage of accounts posting photos on a weekly basis, along with a corresponding hike in the percentage drawing large audiences.
In this latest report, among brands with Instagram accounts, 57% posted at least a single photo per week, up from 40% just a few months ago. Brands appear to be reaping the rewards of those efforts in the form of increased follower numbers: in Q3, 44% of the accounts had at least 10,000 followers, up from 34% in the prior period, while 19% had at least 100,000 followers, up from 16%.
Not surprisingly given those figures, engagement with brands is increasing, up by 350% over the past year following a 70% increase in the number of Instagram posts in that time period by top brands.
The study includes some interesting figures on engagement rates:
- Likes account for 99% of engagements, with comments (the only other form of engagement) at 1%. By comparison, a recent Adobe study indicates that likes account for 87% of engagement on Facebook, although the sample base of brands is different.
- Engagement is highly concentrated among a small subset of brands: the top 10 by engagement accounted for an outsized 83% of all engagement, with these brands comprising just 33% of posts and 65% of total followers.
- Brands are seeing more engagement via photos than videos, despite a recent report showing that some brands’ Instagram videos are going viral.
- More than 8 in 10 posts by top brands include at least one hashtag.
- Only 30% of the brands use filters, down from 42% in the last study.
An analysis of the demographics of Instagram users can be found here.
