From a photo-sharing app launched 10 years ago to the present day, Instagram has become one of the most popular platforms ranking among the top downloads in every App Store across all phone brands. With features that respond so well to the needs of modern consumers, it is no surprise that today the platform's users range from school and university students, working-age adults, and celebrities, all the way to brands of nearly every type.

As a result, for marketers who must rely on this channel as a primary one, knowing the platform's various trends is essential. Simply put, it is a matter of soaring or sinking: take a single wrong step and everything you have built up could vanish before your eyes. That is why, in this article, Relevant Audience has gathered 8 marketing statistics on Instagram that every marketer should keep in mind in 2026, which will point the way toward planning your strategy for the year ahead. If you are ready, let's dive in.

10 Instagram Statistics Every Marketer Should Know in 2026

Number of Instagram users

According to the latest statistics compiled by eMarketer, in 2022 Instagram now has as many as 1.3 billion users worldwide. From 2019 to 2021, the number of Instagram users worldwide grew by as much as 383 million Users. Most notably, in 2020 Instagram surpassed one billion users for the first time, even though experts from various institutions had previously predicted that the day Instagram would surpass 1 billion users might not arrive until 2024. A key part of this rapid growth may be the result of the world facing the COVID-19 pandemic, which prompted people to stay home and use social media platforms more.

So, for anyone who is starting a business and wondering whether investing time and effort into a social media channel like Instagram is worthwhile, the platform's user statistics can serve as a good indicator to some degree.

Hashtag usage on the platform

Since the hashtag (#) was born in 2007 on Twitter, the hashtag has become an essential element that has spread across nearly every platform for social media users, Instagram included. Hubspot compiled statistics and found that the average post on Instagram contains as many as 10.7 hashtags per post.

However, if anyone thinks that using hashtags will help boost a post to reach more users, they may need to think again, because studies have found that using more than 6 hashtags in a single post significantly reduces Engagement. Therefore, the best approach is to use only as many hashtags as necessary and ones that are relevant to the content.

The age range of platform users

Statista, a leading research and statistics website, revealed that 70.8 percent of Instagram's billions of monthly users on the platform are under 35 years old, based on data collected as of April 2022. The most popular age group is those aged 25 to 34, accounting for 31.7%, followed by those aged 18 to 24, accounting for 30.2%.

Understanding the age range of users allows a brand to decide which platform is most suitable as a channel for planning its online marketing strategy. So, if a brand's target is young people, Instagram is another platform that fits the bill perfectly. Start jumping on new trends on the platform and create content that is appropriate and responsive to the interests and needs of your target audience.

How much time, on average, do people spend on Instagram each day

According to statistics collected by Recode, Instagram users spend an average of 53 minutes per day, almost the same as Facebook users, who spend an average of 58 minutes per day.

The time spent on Instagram is extremely important for brands, because the longer people spend on the app, the more opportunities a brand's various campaigns have to reach users.

Brands are using Instagram more

As Instagram has grown more popular, it is no surprise that more than 200 million businesses and brands have come to do online marketing on the platform. According to Instagram's data, more than 70% of consumers turn to Instagram to inspire their next decision to purchase a product or service. So, for brands or businesses looking to drive sales, using Instagram as one of their online marketing channels is essential.

Sponsored Content is growing

The trend of Sponsored content on Instagram continues to grow in popularity with no sign of slowing down. According to statistics collected by Socialbakers, Influencers' use of the hashtag #ad in their content increased by as much as 133%, a result of various brands increasingly using Influencer Marketing strategies, which has led brands to rely more on influencers, well-known figures, and celebrities in their advertising campaigns.

IG Stories continue to boom

Since IG Stories launched back in 2016, users have been sharing stories on the Story feed across as many as 500 million accounts every day. As technology rolls in, people's worlds begin to change, especially the culture of sharing personal stories every day that has now begun. Instagram reinforces this idea with the IG Story feature and its many playful tools, marking yet another way for brands to increase their reach to platform users.

People love following brands on IG

As mentioned, Instagram is not a platform for the general public alone, but also includes businesses and brands that come in to share in this market. According to statistics compiled by Mention, 50% of Instagram users always follow at least 1 brand.

So, as a brand looking to drive sales or increase its reach to more users, using Instagram Business, another of Instagram's solutions developed to let brands use their accounts more professionally, is worthwhile, whether that means creating a profile that can specify various details, or examining other in-depth insights that can be applied to your online marketing strategy going forward.

Final thoughts

Over the past 10 years, Instagram has proven itself to be an effective platform as one of the marketing tools for online marketing. We hope that the statistics we have presented today help answer the question of why your brand should not hesitate to start marketing on Instagram right now.

Source: Oberlo

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Relevant Audience is a company that provides Digital Performance Marketing Agency services, with the main goal of delivering digital marketing services that help businesses reach the target audiences searching for their products or services at the right time, place, and device, through various online channels. Our services cover Search Marketing, Social Media Ads, Search Ads, and SEO (Search Engine Optimization), all the way to Influencer Marketing, and we are also part of the Google Partners program.

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