Instagram Engagement Stats PR Pros Need to Know

Social listening and media monitoring platform Mention launched its fourth annual Instagram Engagement Report in collaboration with Hubspot to identify changes in trends and insights, collecting data from 100 million public posts across 1 million users to determine insights for marketers to reach and engage audiences. 

The report speculates that pandemic-related surges in Instagram usage sped up the launch of numerous e-commerce features such as Instagram shops, Instagram Guides and IGTV advertising, and with these in play Instagram continues to require thoughtful allocation of resources to maintain market position and properly nuture brand-consumer relationships.

Instagram Engagement Report Highlights

• Carousel posts overtook both single image and video posts as the most engaging type of post this year, with 62 likes and 5 comments as the norm.
• The average engagement rate of any kind of post overall decreased by 0.84% in 2021 to 1.42%.
• The majority of users (53.6%) have less than 1,000 followers increasing 1.25% since 2020.
• The best caption length overall for most engagement in the 1,000-2,000 character range, meaning that championing story-telling can help drive more engagement and display authenticity on posts.
• The most influential brands on Instagram are Lamborghini, Netflix Brasil, Anastasia Beverly Hills, and Givenchy Official, from the Top 50 profile list.
• The gender ratio of most influential personalities on Instagram is 40% female and 60% female, from the Top 50 profile list. 
• Beauty and cosmetic industry related accounts received the most engagement.
• Smaller Instagram accounts are seeing steady growth and finding new ways to reach audiences, as the majority of accounts have less than 1,000 followers (53.6%), a slight decrease compared to 2020 results (52.35%).
• Beverly Hills, California, comes in first in the Top 50 cities for engagement globally.

Compared to last year, this year’s report shows changes across the most engaging post types, top geotagged locations, and hashtag. Additionally, the report shows a decrease in engagement rates overall, compared to 2020 findings (2.26%), causing some concern for increased competition on the platform to engage audiences.