A new social media study reveals Instagram content performance data and insights that reveal the benefits of integrating more Reels into an Instagram posting strategy.

In a new social media study consisting of the analysis of more than seven million Instagram business posts, Socialinsider – a social media competitive analysis and benchmarking tool – has revealed Instagram Reels outperform all the other Instagram content types when it comes to most of the key performance metrics for social media, such as engagement, reach or impressions.

As a result of the social media predictions regarding the tremendous video content consumption increase, Instagram has experimented with multiple video formats over the years in an attempt to come up with that one form that would become the next significant social trend, securing its position as the most inventive and favored platform.

However, with TikTok finding that successful formula first, Instagram’s only option was to start replicating it so that it could keep itself aligned with the social media users’ new navigational preferences.

Marketing Technology News: From Hype to Reality: How to Successfully Implement ChatGPT in Your Marketing Campaign

Normally, as a consequence of the growing demand for short-form content that was inspired by TikTok’s rising, this new format type is expected to become the best-performing one across multiple social networks. Already confirmed by various social media studies, this also applies in Instagram’s case, where Reels deliver the highest KPIs.

With an average reach rate of 30.81%, Instagram Reels are the recommended content type for marketers to integrate into their Instagram posting strategy, especially when launching social campaigns aiming to increase brand awareness.

Ultimately, this may be the very reason why brands have expanded their Instagram Reels usage over the past year, that, according to data, has increased by 57.4% in 2023.

From an engagement rate perspective, Reels equally score the maximal values, with an average of 1.23%.

Nevertheless, according to data, compared to last year’s numbers, Instagram Reels, as well as all the other content types, have faced a visible engagement drop. This can partly be explained by TikTok’s significant and continuous expansion but also by the overall engagement decrease that’s happening across all social media channels, that another one of Socialinsider’s social media studies pointed.

Lastly, Instagram Reels are again the most appropriate content type to be leveraged by marketers that are aiming to optimize their brands’ Instagram content for saves, in the case of the smallest profiles. The most logical explanation for this is that lower budgets for production may, in the end, serve as a more authenticity driver, which is what the nowadays social media audiences are most looking for.

“To increase their social media performance, brands should integrate all types of content in their Instagram content strategies, as each content format serves different objectives.” – said Adina Jipa, Founder & CMO at Socialinsider.

Top global companies, including TBWA, VMLY&R, Booking.com, Rolls-Royce, Volvo, and Mitsubi, use Socialinsider to enhance their social media performance. Users can experience the benefits of Socialinsider’s comprehensive features and analytics firsthand with a 14-day free trial.

Marketing Technology News: MarTech Interview with Kamakshi Sivaramakrishan, Founder and CEO of Samooha