Instagram Content Spotlight PDF

Instagram
Content Spotlight
The main lessons, techniques, and strategies
we learned from the world’s best marketing
teams around the world
Introduction
As Instagram reaches new heights each day, it's become mandatory for any brand to join in. Instagram’s
popularity amongst brands, however, is not due to usage alone, but to the per-post engagement rate which is
higher than any other social platform.
Awareness. Engagement. Sales… Instagram
As of June 2018, there are nearly 1 billion monthly active users which, again, makes Instagram one of the most
important and powerful marketing channels of our time. That is why we decided to help marketers out by
showcasing what tactics and strategies get ROI from Instagram.
To that end, we chose the 9 most popular industries and dug deep to find the top 10 brands that have a
remarkable presence on Instagram. Through this report we want to provide insights into the ways big brands
succeed in digital marketing. We put each successful brand and piece of content in the spotlight and extracted
valuable and actionable lessons that marketers can take away.
We didn’t want to leave anything out which is why we went beyond content. We looked at the teams behind
brands and analysed the behaviour, interactions, approval workflow, and the way marketing teams collaborate
on content creation. Because for any Instagram post, there’s an army of professionals who created, contributed,
collaborated.
planable.io | productlead.me | Instagram Content Report 2

A Collaboration Between...
Planable is a collaboration platform for ProductLead is an innovative one-stop-

brand content. With Planable, social shop SaaS marketing-tech ecosystem
media teams work better together and helping brands understand and harness
save time on coordinating content. The the power of Social-Media through: Big
product makes it easy to visualize, Data Analytics, Visual Commerce,
approve, and publish social content from One2One communication at scale, and
one shared space. Omnichannel integrations.

Table of Contents
Industries 05
Instagram Main Stats & Best Practices 07
Most Used Type of Content 15
Top 5 posts per industry & Lessons Learnt 19
User generated content 35
Collaboration 38

Industries &
Content
Our team has analysed over 100 brands succeeding on Instagram with followers
between 1681 and 101M from all over the world. We have evaluated more than one
thousand posts in total to draw the following results.
Industries
Automotive Fashion Beauty
FMCG Home & Deco IT&C
Media Pharma Travel

Average Likes/Post per Industry
Automotive 132.7K
Fashion 77.8K
Beauty 45.5K
FMCG 23.1K
Home&Deco 9.4K
IT & C 50.3K
Media 94.2K
Pharma 611
Travel 7.6K

Most Liked Post per Industry

Lamborghini | 548K likes Nike | 1.12M likes Anastasia Beverly Hills |
“Light embracing speed. It’s Lamborghini “Just a small-town kid with big-city 267K likes
Aventador SVJ.” dreams. #justdoit“ Beautiful #AnastasiaBrows
@makeupbyriquelle
planable.io | productlead.me | Instagram Content Report Total likes: 2.9M likes overall 8
Instagram Main Stats
& Best Practices
From over 100 brands, we looked at the main stats in terms of likes, comments,
shares, and types of content. And then we dug deeper to understand what it is that
these top brands do to get such results.
FMCG Home & Deco IT & C

Starbucks | 226K likes H&M Home | 45.4K likes Apple | 366K likes
“❤ Some mo-mints are made for sharing. “...love you more @vicfrid! ❤☕ #HMHome “As soon as I was ready to give up, the fog
❤ #PeppermintMocha” #coffeelove“ lifted.” Commissioned By Apple.
#ShotoniPhone by Vivien L. @vdubl
Media Pharma Travel

National Geographic | 538K likes La Roche-Posay | 11.6K likes Airbnb | 49.2K likes
“Photo by Stephen Alvarez “Between the toes… #tobecontinued “There’s no such thing as a bad view of
@salvarezphoto…” #saveyourskin“ Lake Como…”
Average Comments/Post per Industry
Automotive 480
Fashion 572
Beauty 2275
FMCG 414
Home&Deco 78
IT & C 424
Media 481
Pharma 10
Travel 105

Posts With Most Comments per Industry

Tesla Motors | 2.7K comments Aerie | 21.2K comments Benefit | 71.4K comments
“Track Mode rolling out today” “Happy holiday sweeps! Tag a friend below “🚨MAKEUP YOUR VANITY
to enter for your chance to win 2 undie #GIVEAWAY! 🚨 Two winners will
bundles & $50 gift cards.” receive $1,000 in #Benefit product…”
planable.io | productlead.me | Instagram Content Report Total comments: 138K comments overall 13
FMCG Home & Deco IT & C

Starbucks | 11.4K comments Target | 753 comments Netflix | 11.7K comments
“It’s heeere! Get the limited-edition “When milk gets in the holiday spirit. 🎄 😋 “Puberty is getting messier.
#Reusable #RedCup, free today, when #OnlyAtTarget #MarketPantry“ @bigmouthnetflix Season 3 is coming
you buy a holiday beverage!⁣⁣ ⁣” soon.”
Media Pharma Travel

Disney Channel | 5.5K comments La Roche-Posay | 127 comments Visit Dubai | 8.6K comments
“Light embracing speed. It’s Lamborghini “Even between the buttocks! “Would you try this? Tag a friend who
Aventador SVJ.” Prevent skin cancer, become a #SkinChecker“ would dare 😄 “
Average Followers/Account per Industry
19.4M
12.8M
11.5M
9.77M
948K
56.9K
3.6M
3.1M
3M
Most followed account

@natgeo with 100M followers

Most Followers | National Geographic
Experience the world through the eyes of National Cultural encounters of generations and the planet.
Geographic photographers. Authenticity in every Take a look at these young men who posed for a
picture. On Instagram they’re sharing photos by portrait in South Sudan, perhaps best known for
photographers who have spent months and months years of conflict and war. Its people are also
living and photographing on the remote islands, brimming with talent and resilience. NatGeo
frozen seas, or documenting village life. Instagram presents the reality around the world.

Average Engagement Rate/Post per Industry
Automotive 1.37%
Fashion 0.5%
Beauty 0.4%
FMCG 0.7%
Home&Deco 1.19%
IT & C 0.94%
Media 0.51%
Pharma 3.02% Highest engagement rate

@target 12.47%
Travel 0.71%

Highest Engagement Rate | Target
The Christmas Fever
We’re not surprised to see a retail brand the category winner of

engagement rate. And when we say retail, Target naturally comes to mind
as it is one of the top retail brands in the United States.
Ecommerce sales were expected to increase 15.3% in 2018 during the

Christmas season. This post simply captioned “Joy to the world, new
#homedecor is here” has brought the attention of more than 40K people
who double tapped. Target has a 12.47% ER as most users are asking
directly about the products in the image - size, colours, stock availability
and if this will fit their room. And people asking questions directly about the
product is the dream, isn’t it?

Most Used Type of Content on Instagram
Total: 1200 posts Based on likes
Image 864
46.6M likes
Carousel 116
2.77M likes
Video 220
7.90M likes

The Three Types of Posts on Instagram
Image. Carousel. Video.
When analysing the best type of performing content we were not surprised to see single images as the main
winner of the category. It outweighed its two competitors with 70% on the most used type of content, most
performing when it came to likes, and most engaging when it came to comments.
Most commonly, brands use carousels to showcase multiple products or for additional details about what is
pictured in the first image of the carousel post (like product or a service). On the other side, brands are trying to
get creative with carousels using different scenarios and landscape images split into multiple assets.
With the increase in video popularity, individuals and brands are quickly learning the ins and outs of video and
video optimization on Instagram. They’re all looking to improve their posts, engagement, and diversify their
content on the page.

Most Popular Types of Content Based on
Comments
554.9M comments 15K comments 158.5K comments
Image Carousels Videos

How to Create Top Performing Posts
High-Quality Visuals. Quality counts a lot more than most marketers imagine.No matter the gear,
whether it’s an old iPhone or a high-end professional photographer, you have to carefully select
the content you’re publishing. Make sure only the best assets make their way to your page.
A Great Caption. It’s no surprise that storytelling is the main tactic in marketing. Your caption
should use the basics of good copywriting, the needed clarity, engaging-style, interesting-topic,
and required call-to-actions.
#Hashtags. Adding relevant hashtags will significantly improve your chances to be discovered
organically by the Instagram community. It gives you a better chance of attracting new followers
and getting more engagement.
Community building. The experts on Instagram already know that the key to building their
account is engaging with their audience all the time. You should be replying to all the comments
as much as you can.

Top 5 Posts in Automotive
Lamborghini Lamborghini Porche
527K likes 426K likes 281K likes

Neutral sentiment Positive sentiment Positive sentiment
Audi Lamborghini
256K likes 219K likes

Neutral sentiment Positive sentiment

Automotive Best Performing Post | Lamborghini
Bold. That’s exactly what we see in the picture. Lamborghini

Aventador screams power, speed, engineering talent and a very
strong performance. Lamborghini has won this category because
they’re smartly using the Instagram’s Algorithm to their own benefit.
The Instagram post is strong, has a very eye-catching image, uses all
the hashtags like #Supercars #Instacars #CarsWithoutLimits
#Lamborghini to characterise what’s in the image and make it easily
discoverable to car enthusiasts not following the brand on Instagram.
Lamborghini overall keeps the same style in all of their Instagram

posts. If we look at the grid, it builds up a personality with highly
powerful names, like Huracan, Aventador, Daytona, Performante and
many others. If you take a look, Lamborghini uses a strict color palette
to make sure they keep the branding similar all over Instagram. Also,
they’re making the most out of all types of content, from single
images to a lot of videos.

Top 5 Posts in Fashion
Nike Nike Nike
1.12M likes 553K likes 529K likes

Neutral sentiment Neutral sentiment Neutral sentiment
Adidas Nike

Neutral sentiment Neutral sentiment

Fashion Best Performing Post - Nike
Boom! We witnessed that again. Nike, what an iconic brand. Nike’s

marketing is not just about selling shoes or apparel - it’s a lifestyle that
they’re pitching to their fans all the time. A lifestyle that everyone feels
they need to have. It’s the main goal of Nike’s branding strategy. Nike is
the largest sports brand in the world, worth close to $16 billion. So, how
does one of the world’s most recognisable brands cut through the
clutter on social?
They have the most performing post in the Fashion Industry that our
report showed. Nike’s highly engaging video got almost 10M views on
Instagram. It’s an inspirational & motivational video that simply
encourages viewers to keep going. It connects with individuals
universally, allowing anyone and everyone to come up with their
interpretation. It creates a relationship between the brand and its fans.
Nike is rocking the social world. It has mastered the art of creating
amazing content that reflects its empowering brand.

Top 5 Posts in Beauty
Anastasia Beverly Anastasia Beverly Anastasia Beverly

Hills Hills Hills

Positive sentiment Positive sentiment Positive sentiment
Anastasia Beverly Benefit

Hills
183K likes
169K likes Positive sentiment
Neutral sentiment

Beauty Best Performing Post | Anastasia Beverly Hills
Anastasia Beverly Hills has built a powerful beauty brand on

Instagram by implementing efficient strategies. ABH offered products at
scale to micro-influencers in exchange for reviews. Giving products to
influencers on Instagram is a very effective and cheap way for brands to
reach a young and engaged audience outside of their own.
They leveraged User Generated Content by promoting their hashtag all

the time, adding it in the bio and all the posts. As you can see in the top
posts, ABH emphasises femininity all over Instagram. As a beauty queen
brand on Instagram they’re promoting the products with makeup
lessons, pictures, and results. Also their audience love all the content
they’re publishing and constantly asking for more. ABH doesn’t hesitate
to regram their audience’s best content and promote it.

Top 5 Posts in FMCG
Starbucks Starbucks Starbucks

Starbucks Starbucks

Positive sentiment Positive sentiment

FMCG Most Performing Post - Starbucks
Starbucks shares love, equality, humanity, and coffee - things they’re

definitely known for. Besides coffee, friendly hipster baristas, and almost
a complete takeover of every street corner in US, Starbucks is known for
a great social media strategy dominating the digital space.
A big part of their digital culture is about decorating coffee and cups in
their wood spaces. Starbucks really shines on the visually oriented
platform assorted with the community and culture.
No matter the social platform you visit, Starbucks’ look is consistent and
their branding recognisable. The company’s social channels almost look
& feel the same. The content is consistently unified around the
company’s mission, messages, and goals.

Top 5 Posts in Home & Deco
H&M Home Target Target
45.4K likes 40.9K likes 39.5K likes

Zara Home Zara Home
30.8K likes 28.5K likes

Neutral sentiment Positive sentiment

Home & Deco Best Performing Post | H&M Home
As always, sweet & cute! That’s the branding of H&M Home. Their
audience loves them back, you can see it in all the comments. They have
definitely established a personal touch and comfort with the people
they’re interacting with.
Instagram is frequently ranked as the top social media platform for

influencer marketing. H&M is taking advantage of that not only to build
brand awareness, but also inform the actual designs of its clothing in a
fairly novel fashion. As you can see in H&M’s top post was directly
targeted to @vicfrid, an influencer and owner of an influencer marketing
agency. Bulls eye! H&M Home is targeting not only customers, but
partners to work with and that’s how they will succeed in the long run.

Top 5 Posts in IT&C
Apple Netflix Netflix

Positive sentiment Neutral sentiment Positive sentiment
Netflix Apple

Positive sentiment Positive sentiment

IT&C Best Performing Post - Apple
In many ways, the #shotoniphone campaign feels like the natural

extension of the billboard ad campaign. Without showing the iPhone,
Apple is promoting the iPhone’s camera as the perfect tool if you want to
up your game on Instagram. It’s clear that the company wants to
encourage people to use the hashtag so that it becomes a pop culture
symbol. Many popular Instagram accounts use this method to resurface
popular posts as well, such as Vivien’s (@vdubl) that won our category of
most performing posts.
The architecture, lines, and fog lifted above the city make this post one
that you can’t miss on your feed. Apple’s Instagram page shows very
high level engagement - posting new pictures using the campaign
hashtag, asking questions, sharing posts with their friends, and making
Apple visible on social.

Top 5 Posts in Media
National Geographic National Geographic National Geographic

Positive sentiment Neutral sentiment Positive sentiment
National Geographic National Geographic

Positive sentiment Neutral sentiment

Media Best Performing Post | NatGeo
National Geographic is one of the top non-celebrity brands in the

social sphere. If you’re following Nat Geo on any of their channels, you
already know why. A stunning storytelling combined with beautiful
photos and videos make this brand top notch. Same as Apple, NatGeo
uses UGC to maintain a powerful presence on social media by publishing
photos of some of the best photographers in the world and the story
behind it.
In a crowded social space, your photos and videos need to be simply

stunning. What does stunning look like? Well, that’s exactly what you’ll
find on their profile - nature, people, architecture, wild animals, and
stories more than millions of years old. Using rich visual assets, the
brand has leveraged Instagram to give viewers unique experiences.

Top 5 Posts in Travel
Airbnb Airbnb Burj Khalifa
49.2K likes 40.9K likes 30.8K likes

Positive sentiment Positive sentiment Neutral sentiment
Turkish Airlines Turkish Airlines
26.2K likes 25K likes

Positive sentiment Neutral sentiment

Travel Best Performing Post | Airbnb
Ah, the essence of Instagram - locations at the seaside, with a small

table, chairs, and beautiful background. It’s almost a cliché to share this
kind of photos but they perform really well. Airbnb is the king of
user-generated content as they’re constantly sharing the photos
associated with “millennial cool”. With a lot of strategic marketing
efforts, Airbnb’s constantly generating content from their own fans.
Also, there are currently almost 3 million photos using #airbnb on
Instagram — and counting.

User Generated
Content
User Generated Content is any type of content that has been created and put out by
unpaid contributors or fans. It can refer to pictures, videos, testimonials, tweets,
blog posts etc. UGC gives genuine data about the brand's items and services from
their clients, sparing assets, and boosting brand credibility. In a nutshell, it’s the act
of users promoting a brand rather than the brand itself.
Why UGC is so Successful
A few years ago, when Coca-Cola started their famous campaign “Share a Coke” where people all over the
world were sharing pictures of their names on soda bottles, marketing has changed. The result? Coca Cola’s
customers stepped into the role of advertiser. It was one of the best examples of user generated content so
far created.
It’s Authentic. In a study run by Cohn & Wolfe, 63% of consumers said they would rather buy from a company
they consider to be authentic over a competitor.
It Creates a Community. UGC brings audiences together. Instead of it being an “us” against “them” situation,
where brands are constantly trying to win consumers over.
It’s Cost Effective. UGC is all about the users creating content. They’re unpaid and do it for a number of
reasons, whether it’s to share their experience, build a connection with like-minded people, or to have the
chance to win something.
The ROI is High. According to ComScore, brand engagement rise by 28% when consumers are exposed to a
mixture of professional marketing content and user-generated content.

Behind the Scenes of
Content Creation
The entire team needs to be on the same page.
Why the Current State Collaboration Is Broken
Content creation and approvals now happen across borders and time zones with remote teams and agencies.
Marketers are spending two hours every day gathering information as a result of being isolated. All the while, the
marketing channels are expanding and brands are creating more content than ever before which leads to an
overwhelmed industry. By 2020 content will become marketer’s biggest bottleneck. The tools and processes
they’re currently using are not going to help make it easier. Today, production of content happens across a
mishmash of spreadsheets, powerpoints, and endless email threads. This process is slow and frustrating for
those on the frontlines. It is also very expensive for those who are paying the extra hours of tedious work.
Collaboration is the key to solving this problem.

Collaboration in Numbers & Stats
How many people are involved in content

collaboration? Only 15.8% of Instagram pages
connected on Planable have 1 single team member
working on content. And that’s usually the case for
individuals trying to build their own brand. On the other
side, over 60% have medium sized teams of 2-4 people
in the team and more than 18% of teams have more than
5 people involved.
And when there are so many people working in one

single team, many mistakes can happen. If you don’t
have the right collaboration tool in use, content gets lost
under multiple layers of approval, feedback goes missing
or is misinterpreted, time is lost, and innovation is killed.
Overall average? 3 people/Instagram page. What can

we say, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Collaboration in Numbers & Stats
How many comments are they usually exchanging?

Effective feedback, both positive and negative is highly
important for any brand, no matter the size. It’s a
valuable piece of information used to make better
decisions, products, services, and teams. There are many
performing companies consistently searching for ways to
make their best even better. Efficient brands not only
accept feedback, but constantly ask for it.
Our studies showed an average of 2 rounds of

feedback per each Instagram post. Our most debated
piece of content had over 27 rounds of feedback
(comments within the team).
But so much feedback can lead to chaotic processes,

bottlenecks, and wasted time on miscommunication.
Teams have to ensure one single space for
communication and feedback.

Put all this data
to good use
Start with establishing efficient processes and workflows that ensure visibility, team alignment, and brand clarity.
Turn chaotic Instagram management into easy creative flows with Planable. We help brands work better together,
preview their content real time, plan their grid to perfection, and avoid the much-dreaded PR crisis.
Learn how at ProductLead we help brands increase conversion rates using social content, understand their
competitors’ or influencers’ social presence with big data analytics. We generate creatives at scale for ads and
create unique activations in offline using online content.
Brands Analysed
Automotive Beauty Fashion FMCG
Tesla Anastasia Beverly Adidas Gucci Starbucks

BMW Hills Madewell Dior McDonalds
Honda Mac Cosmetics Vans Dolce & Gabbana Oreo
Ford Sephora Nike Prada KFC
Audi NYX Zara Calvin Klein Pizza Hut
Mercedes Benz Too Faced Fossil Versace Taco Bell
Ferrari Urban Decay Asos Michael Kors Burger King
Toyota Benefit Aerie Puma Coca Cola
Porsche Maybelline Chanel H&M Sprite
Lamborghini Loreal Louis Vuitton Bershka Fanta
Huda Beauty Pepsi
Home & Deco IT & C Media Pharma Travel
Playdoh Adobe National Geographic Novartis Airbnb

Zara Home Samsung Mobile TripAdvisor Pfizer Booking
Ikea Apple BBC Travel GlaxoSmithKline Turkish Airlines
H&M Home Huawei CBS Amgen Jet Blue
Walmart Amazon E News Abbvie Expedia
Wayfair Philips Fox News Johnson & American Express
Target Nokia Disney Johnson Hotel Marriot
Pier1 Google Time Sanofi Hotel Four Seasons
Crate and Barrel Microsoft The Economist La Roche Posay Visit Dubai
Uber Guardian Vichy Burj Khalifa
Netflix

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Instagram

Awareness. Engagement. Sales… Instagram

planable.io | productlead.me | Instagram Content Report 2

Planable is a collaboration platform for ProductLead is an innovative one-stop-

planable.io | productlead.me | Instagram Content Report 3

Instagram Main Stats & Best Practices 07

Most Used Type of Content 15

Top 5 posts per industry & Lessons Learnt 19

User generated content 35

planable.io | productlead.me | Instagram Content Report 4

Automotive Fashion Beauty

FMCG Home & Deco IT&C

Media Pharma Travel

planable.io | productlead.me | Instagram Content Report 6

planable.io | productlead.me | Instagram Content Report 7

Automotive Fashion Beauty

FMCG Home & Deco IT & C

Media Pharma Travel

planable.io | productlead.me | Instagram Content Report 12

Automotive Fashion Beauty

FMCG Home & Deco IT & C

Media Pharma Travel

Most followed account

planable.io | productlead.me | Instagram Content Report 16

planable.io | productlead.me | Instagram Content Report 17

Pharma 3.02% Highest engagement rate

planable.io | productlead.me | Instagram Content Report 18

The Christmas Fever

We’re not surprised to see a retail brand the category winner of

Ecommerce sales were expected to increase 15.3% in 2018 during the

planable.io | productlead.me | Instagram Content Report 19

Total: 1200 posts Based on likes

planable.io | productlead.me | Instagram Content Report 20

Image. Carousel. Video.

planable.io | productlead.me | Instagram Content Report 21

554.9M comments 15K comments 158.5K comments

Image Carousels Videos

planable.io | productlead.me | Instagram Content Report 22

planable.io | productlead.me | Instagram Content Report 23

Lamborghini Lamborghini Porche

527K likes 426K likes 281K likes

256K likes 219K likes

planable.io | productlead.me | Instagram Content Report 24

Bold. That’s exactly what we see in the picture. Lamborghini

Lamborghini overall keeps the same style in all of their Instagram

planable.io | productlead.me | Instagram Content Report 25

Nike Nike Nike

1.12M likes 553K likes 529K likes

529K likes 367K likes

planable.io | productlead.me | Instagram Content Report 26

Boom! We witnessed that again. Nike, what an iconic brand. Nike’s

planable.io | productlead.me | Instagram Content Report 27

Anastasia Beverly Anastasia Beverly Anastasia Beverly

267K likes 189K likes 184K likes

Anastasia Beverly Benefit

planable.io | productlead.me | Instagram Content Report 28

Anastasia Beverly Hills has built a powerful beauty brand on

They leveraged User Generated Content by promoting their hashtag all

planable.io | productlead.me | Instagram Content Report 29

Starbucks Starbucks Starbucks

226K likes 185K likes 173K likes

179K likes 146K likes

planable.io | productlead.me | Instagram Content Report 30