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.

Start selling online now with Shopify

Start your free trial

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 1.89%. 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 189 of them either leave a comment on a post, give it a like, or both.

→ Click Here to Launch Your Online Business with Shopify

Average Instagram engagement rate by post type

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 3.38% of Instagrammers who view photo posts engage with them.

Meanwhile, the average Instagram engagement rate for carousel posts is 1.1%. 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.

Of the different types of Instagram posts, standalone video posts generate the least amount of interaction from users. The average Instagram engagement rate for video posts is 0.78%, 1.11 percentage points lower than the average across all post types.

Start selling online now with Shopify

Start your free trial

Want to Learn More?