Marketers looking for a way to engage and 
grow their reach would be well advised to look at the meteoric growth and popularity of Instagram, a free online photo sharing and social network platform acquired by Facebook in 2012. Instagram allows members users to upload, edit and share photos with other members through the Instagram website, email, and social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Foursquare and Flickr. On Instagram, you can follow other users’ photo streams, be followed back by those users, and search for friends by name or find any friends that may have previously connected to you on other social networks.
Some just silly numbers!
Okay, just how popular has Instagram become since its founding in 2010? Here are 7 statistics that tell the story:
- Instagram has 100 million monthly active users. (Instagram)
- 40 million photos are posted per day. (Instagram)
- 28 percent of U.S. Internet users between the ages of 18 and 29 use Instagram. (Pew)
- 98 percent of Instagram photos posted by top brands are now shared to Facebook. (Simply Measured)
- 59 percent of Interbrand’s top 100 brands are on Instagram. (SimplyMeasured)
- There are 8,500 likes per second on Instagram. (Instagram)
- 1,000 comments are made per second. (Instagram)
How can your company use Instagram?
Understanding that individuals respond to sites like Instagram on an emotional level, small businesses taking the time to show what is important to the brand and to the core target customer are just where they would like to be. Smart business use Instagram as a snapshot into their company, and put a personal face to their small business and enrich relationships while doing so.
Private Picassos, a children’s art studio in New York City, found that by using Instagram to document their student’s progress, has resulted in parents commenting and sharing the photos, increasing their business. “I don’t do any paid advertising, so it’s a way to encourage your client to do the marketing for you,” director Valeen Parubchenko says.