As one of the most popular social media platforms today, there’s no question that Instagram’s power to reach consumers and help businesses grow is immense.
With so many different types of content businesses can post on the app, it helps to know the average engagement rate on Instagram, sorted by post type, to gauge the success of your Instagram marketing strategy.
Overall average engagement rate on Instagram
According to the latest Instagram engagement stats, the average engagement rate for all types of Instagram posts by business accounts is 2.18%. This statistic looks at the total number of likes and comments a post receives and compares it with the number of followers the account has at the time of posting.
In other words, this average Instagram engagement rate means that of every 10,000 followers an Instagram business account has, around 218 of them either leave a comment on a post, give it a like, or both.
Average Instagram engagement rate by post type
Instagram post type | Average Instagram engagement rate |
All Post Types | 2.18% |
Photo Posts | 2.69% |
Video Posts | 2.21% |
Carousel Posts | 1.16% |
Taking a deeper look at the average Instagram engagement rate by post, we see that of the different types of Instagram posts, photo posts have the highest success at encouraging user interaction. As many as 2.69% of Instagrammers who view photo posts engage with them.
Meanwhile, the average Instagram engagement rate for video posts is 2.21%, which is 0.03 percentage points above the average across all post types.
This is followed by carousel posts, with an average engagement rate of 1.16%. These are posts that have multiple photos or videos and can be browsed through by swiping left. Social media analysts say the relatively high engagement rate for such posts comes from the fact that they’re more interactive, which encourages users to spend more time viewing the post.
The number of slides used in carousels also influences the average Instagram engagement rate of these posts. According to a study on Instagram engagement stats, carousels that use up all 10 slides (the maximum) tend to have higher engagement rates. On the other end of the spectrum, carousel posts with just four slides receive the lowest interaction. The study also shows that carousel posts with a mix of videos and photos also tend to generate higher engagement.
Average Instagram engagement rate by follower count
Number of followers | Average Instagram engagement rate |
Fewer than 10,000 followers | 0.79% |
10,000 to 100,000 followers | 0.77% |
More than 100,000 followers | 0.70% |
Instagram engagement stats show that interaction rates also vary according to the number of followers an account has. The general trend indicates that the more followers an Instagram account has, the lower the engagement rate.
Engagement rates are the highest for users with fewer than 10,000 followers, receiving an average Instagram engagement rate of 0.79%. It is followed by accounts with 10,000 to 100,000 followers, with 0.77%. This figure falls to 0.7% for users with more than 100,000 followers.