Instagram is a company that was founded by Kevin Systrom, an American, in collaboration with Michel Mike Krieger, a Brazilian. This is an application allowing the sharing of photographs and videos through stories or posts. The application was launched for the first time in 2010.
The first part will allow the analysis of the Instagram business. A second part will analyze the Instagram company benchmark.
Instagram business
The Instagram app is used by over a billion users worldwide every day. 75% of users are located outside the United States, the founding country of the application. The name of the application comes from the connection of the words “ insta ” which literally means camera and “gram” from telegram. So, the app is used literally to transmit photos and videos.
Since 2012, the Instagram application has been owned by the Facebook group, for the modest sum of one billion dollars. Advertising is Instagram's main source of revenue, estimated at $9.08 billion in 2019 in the United States. This turnover has continued to increase since 2019, reaching $12.32 billion in 2020 and $15.65 billion in 2021, again for the United States. In 2022, worldwide, Instagram's revenue from ads was estimated to be over $54.16 billion. As such, Instagram represented more than 16% of Facebook's entire turnover in 2018.
Since 2016, Instagram Stories users have continued to increase. In 2017, the number of stories on Instagram exceeded that of Snapchat. In December 2018, Instagram surpassed the number of stories posted by Whatsapp. Since 2019, Instagram and Facebook have been side by side regarding the publication of Stories.
Benchmark analysis of the Instagram company
First, what is the concept of benchmarking?
Benchmarking can be defined as a marketing or quality management technique for a company's services and products. This mode of analysis consists of the study of the sectors represented by management, organization, etc.
In order to carry out the benchmarking analysis of the Instagram company, we will move on to a competitive analysis of the sector.
Snapchat is an application used daily by 18 million people in France. The vast majority of Snapchat users are between the ages of 18 and 34. Snapchat ranks fourth in terms of use of social networks for all ages in France, behind Youtube , Facebook and Instagram, but ahead of Twitter. Regarding “Generation Z”, namely populations aged between 15 and 24, Instagram is the second most used social network in France, behind Snapchat. Then TikTok, Facebook, Whatsapp, Messenger, X (previously Twitter) and finally Discord are positioned.
In 2020 , Instagram had 46% male users in France and 54% female users by deduction. In 2021, men have gradually progressed in their use of Instagram to reach 47.8% of uses of the social network. Women, for their part, fell to 52.2% of uses, according to a study conducted by Soprism . These figures of course express the shares of active users of social networks, whoever they may be. According to this same study, 12% of users are graduates of the secondary sector: namely high schools or universities. The two regions leading the way in terms of Instagram usage are the Ile de France region at 22.8% and the Rhône Alpes region at 10.5%.
Concerning the age group extending between 25 and 49 years, Facebook is at the forefront of the social networks used. Thus, 60% of individuals in this age group use Facebook daily. Snapchat and Whatsapp come in second place, with 35% of people using it. This is followed by Messenger, with 31% of daily users in France, then finally Instagram with 29% of users. Concerning the age group extending from 50 years to over, Instagram only represents 8% of uses. Facebook, Whatsapp and Messenger are positioned on the podium. Snapchat no longer represents more than 6% of uses here.
Every day in France, individuals spend an average of 56 minutes on Snapchat, 34 minutes on TikTok , 19 minutes on Instagram, 5 minutes on Facebook and 4 minutes on Twitter.
Unlike many of its competitors, Instagram offers several types of publications. Thus, it can be a classic publication, a sponsored post which corresponds to advertising, lives , stories remaining ephemeral or permanent through featured stories, a messaging allowing exchanges between different members, so-called IGTV videos allowing the publication of long videos or real ones, which are videos of maximum 15 seconds.
Conversely, Snapchat does not offer as many services. Disclosure of stories is possible, publicly or privately. The exchange of messages privately, photographically or not, is also possible. Posting photographs permanently, like permanent stories, is not possible. TikTok also does not have the same features as Instagram . Videos can be posted, and lives produced. However, photo posts , for example, are not possible.
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To conclude, we can say that Instagram has created a real place of choice in the world of social networks since 2012, whether in France or in the world in general. Instagram indeed seems to bring together the functionalities of several social networks in a single point: Snapchat, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Whatsapp, Messenger.
Indeed, Instagram brings together in one place instant messaging, publication of stories publicly or privately and ephemerally or permanently. Videos are also published in different formats, and transmitted as stories. In the space of a few years, and through advertising, Instagram has enabled the generation of billions of dollars in revenue for the Facebook group, which owns everything.