Brands that are not already on Instagram may want to take a closer look at the social media platform, as shoppers have generally positive perceptions about the brands that are there. Individuals interviewed for a global survey by Facebook IQ report that they perceive brands on Instagram as being popular, creative and entertaining.
Just a note about the survey: Facebook surveyed 21,000 people aged 13-64 from 13 countries. All participants reported that they use Instagram at least once a week.
Some 78% of all survey respondents said they perceive brands on Instagram as being popular, while 77% said the brands are creative and 76% see the brands as being entertaining. In the US, there are some minor percentage differences, with 81% perceiving brands as popular and 79% as creative. However, the third-highest perception for Americans was the brands they see there have relevance (77%) for them.
Beyond brand metrics, these positive attributes are leading Instagram users to take action. Almost 9 in 10 survey participants (87%) said they took some sort of action after seeing product information on Instagram, while almost 8 in 10 (79%) of respondents said they searched for more information about a product after seeing it the social network. Nearly two-thirds (65%) said they visited the brand’s website or app.
Product information on Instagram is also leading to sales, which is good news for those marketers who are allocating more of their marketing dollars to Instagram and Instagram Stories. Some 46% of global Instagram users report making a purchase online or offline after encountering a brand on the platform.
For more than one-third (37%) of respondents, seeing product information on Instagram drove them to visit a retail shop, while 3 in 10 (31%) started following the brand’s account online. Instagram also gets people talking, with 29% of respondents saying they talked to someone about a product they saw on Instagram.
While the findings above reflect the responses of all respondents surveyed, the responses from US users are only minimally different from the survey as a whole.
Instagram Is A Place To Discover and Research Products
In January, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg told investors of plans to increase commerce on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp. More recently, Episerver released a report that revealed that social media is the first place 1 in 8 online shoppers go for inspiration.
While the Facebook survey shows that more than 8 in 10 total respondents said that Instagram helped them to discover new products and services, the survey also points out that Instagram is useful to shoppers beyond the inspiration and discovery stages of their buying journey. Just over 8 in 10 (81%) said Instagram helps them to research products and services, and a similar percentage (80%) said it helped them to decide whether to buy.
Once again, the US findings mirror those of the global responses. However, brands that are targeting a US audience might take note of how their content impacts US shoppers. Nearly half (48%) of US respondents said that brand content helps in discovering new products, while 51% said that it helped them to find new information about a product or service.
About the Data: Facebook-commissioned survey of 21,000 people aged 13-64 in AR, AU, BR, CA, DE, FR, IN, IT, KR, TR, UK, US and aged 18-64 in Japan), Nov 2018. All participants said they used Instagram at least once per week. Survey response styles might vary across countries due to cultural differences, but scale anchors remained fixed within each country.
