Brands have experienced the most significant adoption rates on Instagram during the last twelve months, according to the latest Social Media Inflation Index published by content analytics platform TrackMaven. Enterprises saw median monthly followers grow by more than six per cent, which is three times greater than on Facebook.
The 2016 study attempted to answer whether a rising global population and an increasingly digitally native audience will lead to a boost in engagement for brands on social media. It was projected that the number of social network users will soar to 2.44 billion by 2018, which will equate to almost a third of the world’s population.
Explosive growth
TrackMaven used its own digital analytics software to analyse almost 27,000 brands across every industry on each of the five major social networks – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest – during 2015.
The results showed that Instagram is currently experiencing explosive growth, with an average follower increase of between six to eight per cent month-over-month. Brands generally saw a 100% per cent rise in follower numbers on an annual basis on the platform, which puts it clearly ahead of Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
It was good news for the majority of those engaged across the five major social major networks, as there was a 42 per cent median growth in followers annually overall. Brands grew their audiences by almost a quarter on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, while the smallest annual growth of 20 per cent was recorded on Pinterest.
The study also found that there were seasonal shifts for growth in followers. For example, brands on Pinterest saw the biggest rise in numbers during the summer months. There was then a dip between September and November before they soared again during the holiday season in late December, 2015.
Finally, TrackMaven noted that Facebook’s clean-up of inactive accounts last year made a major impact on follower growth, as the likes of Pepsi and Dr. Pepper lost more than one million page likes each during the process.
