All About Instagram - The Ultimate Guide (SEO, Facts, Stats)

Intro

Instagram has become one of the most popular and loved social media on the market. It is simple to use, there’s something for everyone, and it’s free.

But what is Instagram’s purpose?

How to use Instagram for business?

And can you use it for SEO and marketing purposes?

This is exactly what you’ll find in this article. What makes Instagram different is the timely updates that make it easier for users to track their activities. For example, it recently introduced a way to see sent follow requests on Instagram, which is not available on most of the other social media sites.

Of course, Instagram isn’t only used for personal reasons. It’s also a powerful marketing tool that every marketer should include in their campaign. Make sure to read until the end to know everything about Instagram.

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What Is Instagram?

Instagram is, as we all probably know, a social media platform, just like Facebook and Twitter. The platform mainly focuses on video and photo sharing via a mobile app as well as a web page.

Instagram allows you to edit and publish visual content and interact with followers through likes, shares, and comments.

You can easily join Instagram by creating an account, just like any other social media account and start growing your followers. The Instagram account consists of a profile, a news feed, and a real-time chat system. Once you post your photo or video, it is displayed on your profile.

Your followers will see your posts, videos, reels, and stories on their feeds. Likewise, you can see the profiles you follow and interact with them.

What Is The Main Purpose Of Instagram?

As mentioned previously, Instagram is mainly associated with photos and videos. Visual communication is the primary purpose of using Instagram.

From the very beginning, Instagram was created as a social media meant to help people capture moments. It was intended as an app to post photos from the valuable and happy moments of your life, enhanced by filters, captions, and hashtags to share those memories with other people on the internet.

However, Instagram kept adapting to new trends and shifting its focus over time. Nowadays, it is no longer just a photo sharing app. Instead, it has become a platform where anyone can share their message and lifestyle with people across the globe. Everyone can become an Instagram influencer if they follow the right steps. Influencers are now the central part of Instagram’s dynamic, and the platform is thriving thanks to their diversified content.

Why Do People Use Instagram?

Everyone can use Instagram. In fact, Instagram is one of the best platforms to make money! Businesses, influencers, freelancers, marketers, and bloggers use it to advertise their products, establish relationships with potential customers, or create brand awareness.

All you need is a good content idea for Instagram and you could become a social media celebrity overnight. Some of the Instagram influencers are killing it there.

Although business owners can make money on Instagram in many different ways, it is not the only reason why people and companies use Instagram. Instagram is so much more than a platform to advertise your business and make money. Let’s look at all the different reasons people choose Instagram over other social media platforms.

Capturing A Moment

Pictures speak a thousand words, and Instagram excels in displaying photos, infographics, and advertisements the right way to keep the users entertained.

For example, after a day out, you can share the photos to share your opinion, give feedback about an attraction, or simply create memories. And can also keep the moments saved on the Instagram Stories archive, so no need to use a cloud storage like OneDrive to store them.

Additionally, you'll be able to add hashtags and potentially become famous by only doing what you love. Of course, this is only one of the reasons Instagram is so popular.

Socializing

Of course, other than sharing photos and videos on Instagram, you will be able to interact with your followers and friends. Liking, sharing, and commenting on their posts is a way to make them feel good.

For Marketing Purposes

Instagram is one of the most powerful marketing tools you can include in a campaign. Whether you own a high-tech escape room in San Francisco or a rural alpaca farm in the Andes Mountains, Instagram is a valuable platform to promote unique products and services.

The platform allows you to upload photos and share stories to reach a broad audience easily. Also, since Instagram is linked to Facebook, you will be able to share the same content and ads on both platforms at the same time.

To Find New Customers

Finding new customers online is certainly not always easy. However, if you use the right tools and do it properly, it will be much more simple, and this is where Instagram comes in.

Getting new leads and reaching new customers has never been any easier, and you’ll gain a ton of visibility on Instagram if you target the right audience.

To Analyze Your Competitors

You can use Instagram to analyze your competitors. In fact, on Instagram, you’ll be able to check what works for them, the description length, the hashtags they use, and more.

Significant Instagram Stats

We all know that Instagram is a 10-year-old photo-sharing platform essential to many people’s daily lives. But what else do we need to know about it? Let’s go through the most significant and impressive Instagram statistics you should know.

Instagram Has Over 1 Billion Users

You read that right. Instagram has over 1 billion users worldwide. According to a report by Statista, the platform reached this milestone in June 2018 and has only been increasing since then.

140 Million Instagram Users Are Based In The U.S.

Out of all worldwide users, Americans are the biggest Instagram fans. However, they're far from being the larger part. In fact, according to an analysis by Statista, the countries with the most Instagram users are:

1. United States - 140 Million users
2. India: 120 million users
3. Brazil: 95 million users
4. Indonesia: 78 million users
5. Russia: 54 million users

As you can see, America has its fair share of Instagram users. However, millions of other users across all countries access it on a daily basis.

Instagram Recorded A 17.0% user growth in Western Europe in 2020

According to an estimation by eMarketer, Instagram will have recorded a growth in users by 17% in Western Europe in 2020.

Of course, they believe this growth is due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will eventually decrease over time.

eMarketer calculated that Instagram’s growth will then decrease to 4.8% in 2021 and 3.2% in 2022 when the pandemic will be over.

Both Men And Women Use Instagram Every Day

Some data to consider when talking about social media is the gender mix on the platform, and Instagram has got it pretty even.

According to the Report of Digital 2020 by Hootsuite, 51% of Instagram users are female and 49% are male, which makes the gender mix fairly even.

Though, in the United States, the difference is quite bigger with 43% of women using the app versus 31% of men. However, Instagram only publishes data for females and males, and not other genders.

Instagram Users Spent 30 Minutes Daily On Average In 2020

The time spent on social media has become important to most users and analyzing the time spent on each app is something all phones do nowadays.

The daily average time spent on Instagram in 2020 was 30 minutes. While this doesn’t seem much, it is actually an increase of 13.8% compared to 2019, or nearly 4 minutes.

Important Instagram Facts

Instagram is all about facts and how impressively quickly it became one of the most utilized platforms on earth. Let’s go through the most significant Instagram facts.

Instagram Turned 10 Years Old in 2020

Instagram was launched on October 6th, 2010 following the everlasting success of its owner company, Facebook.

The platform has now turned 10 years old in 2020 and it doesn’t look like they’re going to stop getting daily new users anytime soon.

Instagram Is The 11th Most Visited Website On The Internet

While it used to be higher, according to a report by Semrush, Instagram is the 11th most visited website on the internet in December 2020 with 871.39 million visits during that month.

Instagram is the 9th most popular Google query.

Out of all the Google queries, Instagram is the 9th most searched, as per the Digital 2020 report by Hootsuite.

33% Of The Most-Viewed Stories Are From Businesses.

Instagram has published a few important facts on its Business page, and one of them is the fact that 33% of the most-viewed Stories are from companies and businesses in general.

500 Million Users See Instagram Stories Every Day

According to its owner Facebook, 500 Million Instagram accounts visit stories every day. Other than that, 36% of Instagram users in the United States said that they love shopping and even consider it a hobby.

Does Instagram Impact SEO?

Without any surprise, Instagram can have a remarkable impact on your SEO. Creating a marketing strategy with your Instagram account will certainly allow you to push your sales and drive more traffic to your website.

But, how does Instagram impact SEO? Let’s dig deeper into it.

To Increase Traffic To Your Website

As a business, you want to advertise your products through your posts, stories, and IGTV.

Once your followers share your content within their networks and follow your links, more traffic will be driven to your website, contributing to the boost of your rankings.

Promote local SEO

Including the name, address, and phone number of your business, as well as appropriate hashtags, can play a crucial role in local search rankings.

If you’re willing to take your local SEO and business to the next level, you should definitely play with the Instagram algorithm.

Furthermore, you can also geotag your photos and videos to reach customers in a specific location. This will make you gain more visibility among the local audience and eventually expand your reach. Instagram allows you to search for content geotagged to a specific location; therefore, you can attract more local customers.

Optimize Your Captions With Keywords

Keywords are a big factor in SEO, and using them appropriately on Instagram will be extremely powerful in driving more users to your account and, therefore, to your website.

The Instagram Algorithm helps accounts link to each other depending on the topic, the captions, and the hashtags used in the captions.

For this reason, if you want to gain visibility and reach out to users that are already interested in products or services like yours, you’ll want to research and use appropriate keywords in both captions and bio.

Best Ways To Optimize Your Instagram Profile

Optimizing your Instagram profile is essential for both businesses and personal accounts. These are the things to consider if your campaign is all about increasing your search ranking and conversion rates.

Switch Your Profile To A Business One

When using Instagram, you’ll be able to choose either a private or business profile. Needless to say, you’ll want to make the most of your campaign.

Having an Instagram business account will allow you to activate Instagram ads, get analyzed data from Instagram Insights, and even sell your products through Instagram Shopping.

You’ll be able to analyze your audience, the post and story performance, follower growth, and even the demographic. This is an incredibly important point to optimize your profile, adapt it to your followers, become viral, and drive more sales.

Last but not least, Instagram business profiles have the option to set up business hours and location on their bio and that’s a useful asset to make it look professional.

Choose A Profile Picture That Represents Your Business

The first impression that users have when checking your profile will come from your picture and it immediately draws attention.

If you have a professional branded image such as Nike, Lego, or Burger King, that image is your answer.

Your profile picture must at least be 110px by 110px but, to get the best results we recommend you upload a 180px by 180px logo or image.

Choose An Easy To Find And Appealing Username

Finding and choosing an appealing username is crucial to identifying your brand and making your profile look better.

For instance, you can use your business names, such as @Nike or @bookingcom. This will allow you to rank on Google as well as users to find your business more easily.

In case your desired username is already taken, we advise you to take the first part of your business name and add an element at the end, such as @wordpressdotcom.

Conclusion

Instagram is a social marketing platform that continuously grows in popularity. For this reason, it is simply necessary to include it in your strategy.

The platform has around one billion active users and optimizing your profile will help you boost your overall SEO strategy.

Everybody enjoys a good story, and as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Join Instagram and take your marketing strategy and campaign to the next level.