Do You Use Instagram for Marketing? Study Says 50 Percent of Fortune 500 Do

Instagram is gaining massive popularity among consumers and brands alike. But many small businesses still don’t know exactly what to do with the platform.

If you’re still unsure about exactly how to use Instagram to benefit your business, it might help to look at what other successful businesses are doing with the platform. Those are exactly the types of insights released in a new study by TrackMaven. One of the most interesting tidbits from the report is that only 50 percent of Fortune 500 companies have adopted the use of Instagram, with those at the top of the list showing a higher adoption rate than those near the bottom.

In addition, the Fortune 500 Instagram Report features trends and statistics about how Fortune 500 companies have used Instagram, including the most popular times and days to post, and even what filters are most popular.

For example, Fortune 500 companies tend to post the most content on Thursday and Friday each week. However, those accounts actually see the most engagement on Sundays, which is the least popular day for posting among those companies. So that high engagement level is likely due to a lack of competitors posting and clogging users’ feeds.

Time of day can be another important factor in the success of Instagram posts. Noon Eastern Standard Time is the most popular time of day for Fortune 500 companies to post. However, the study found that posts shared between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. Eastern actually saw the highest levels of engagement. Again, that’s likely due at least in part to fewer posts from competitors during that time frame. But it could also be worth noting that consumers on Instagram tend to check the app during their leisure time. So brands that think of social media as a job that they should tackle between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday could really be missing out on some key engagement on Instagram.

There are also a few other interesting tidbits included in the report. For example, posts that include a question mark or hashtag symbol in the comments tended to get more engagement, while those that included exclamation points got less engagement. And while the vast majority of Fortune 500 companies’ Instagram posts include no filter, Mayfair or Hefe seemed to be the most popular filters used by these companies.

Is it Time to Use Instagram for Marketing?

Overall, Instagram can be a powerful marketing tool when used the right way. It’s clear from the report that even some Fortune 500 companies don’t have a clear understanding of exactly what is going to bring them the most engagement on the platform. But if you’re able to think about your target customers and what types of posts they’re likely to engage with, you might just be able to build a strong Instagram strategy that really works for your small business.