Instagram is the second most logged-in social media site for daily use and is therefore essential in order to reach a lot of people.
It is also very versatile and can be used for many different types of post.
Demographics
Although there is a very wide-ranging user base, Instagram’s demographic is slightly younger than that of Facebook. More than half of its users globally are younger than 34, and the 18-24 age group is the largest.
Its users have also been shown to be very engaged, with 60% logging in at least once a day, and average browsing time being around 53 minutes.¹
These statistics mean that Instagram is perfect for promoting new start-ups and less established organisations, as 83% of users have said that they discover new products and services on the platform.¹
There is also a prevalent culture of brands being socially conscious, and studies have shown that users respond best to brands which take a stand on social issues. 70% of users would prefer that brands engage in these kinds of issues, and nonprofits are the category of brand with one of the highest rates of engagement on the platform.¹
Due to this mindset among Instagram users, it is a perfect environment for social enterprises to reach people who will be willing to engage with the issues they are promoting.
Visual content
Even more so than Facebook, Instagram is a visual platform – it is centred around pictures and videos with captions rather than images to accompany text.
It is therefore perfect for displaying creative content that will draw the attention and stick in the memory of users and images can often have much more impact than even the most eloquently written text – a picture does paint a thousand words after all!
Interaction
Instagram’s algorithm is constantly changing and it is therefore impossible to completely tailor content and timing to get the best response.
However, the feed is not ordered chronologically but rather by relevance and interaction. Therefore, in order to reach more people it is useful to keep both your Instagram account and individual posts as active as possible, for example by continuing discussions underneath posts after they’ve been published.
Types of post
The three main ways to post on Instagram are main feed posts, Stories, and IGTV.
Main feed posts require between one and ten photos with a caption so are perfect for conveying general information or creating more of a narrative through the sequence of photos.
Stories can be used to easily command the attention of followers and can incorporate swipe-up links to quickly take a user to another site such as a donation page or a petition.
IGTV is designed for longer videos such as promotional videos or interviews.
Peak times
Peak times for nonprofit content on Instagram have been shown to Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 10am – 1pm. As with most other platforms, weekends show a dip in interaction.²
These data can be useful in showing the best times to schedule posts if an aim of your online marketing is to reach as many people as possible.
For more information, see our other posts on How to use Social Media for your Nonprofit, as well as how to use Facebook and Twitter for your Nonprofit.
References:
1. Jenn Chen, ‘Important Instagram Stats you Need to Know for 2020,’ January 2020, (https://sproutsocial.com/insights/instagram-stats/).
2. Mary Keutelian, ‘The Best Times to Post on Social Media in 2022’, July 2022, (https://sproutsocial.com/insights/best-times-to-post-on-social-media/).