Video is the key focus for Instagram right now, with platform chief Adam Mosseri repeatedly noting that video engagement is growing, and that it needs to lean into that trend in order to best serve its users.
But how significant is video on Instagram, and which formats are driving the most engagement?
This new chart from HypeAuditor provides some insight:
The HypeAuditor team analyzed 77.6 million Instagram posts throughout July 2022 to measure the latest engagement trends, based on format.
They found that:
- The most commonly posted type of content on Instagram remains image posts, at 42% of all posts. Carousels came in second, at 26%
- But look at that ‘Estimated Reach’ bar – Reels, despite being the third most popular post option, are seeing the most reach on the platform, by a notable margin. HypeAuditor measured relative Reach by analyzing the number of people who saw each post, based on public data
- Reels are also generating a lot more Likes, though image posts still generate more comments, at least based on this sample set
The data shows that Reels are the best option, at present, for maximizing reach and engagement in the app – yet even amid the rising hype around short-form content, most users are not posting Reels as yet.
That could present significant opportunity to get more attention for your Reels content, if you wanted to try it out, and it may well be worth running your own experiments, with these results in mind, to see what type of response you get to your own short-form clips.
There’s a reason that Meta is emphasizing Reels so much, and it’s worth considering this in your IG strategy.
You can check out HypeAuditor’s full IG post analysis report here.
