Instagram Reels Performance Benchmarks

Over the years, Instagram has proven to be the fastest-adapting to trends social media platform ever. Story’s integration - the hottest content of the moment back in the day, when Snapchat first introduced this feature was a huge success, and sooner rather than later, Instagram Stories became one of the brand’s favorite marketing materials.

Nowadays, Instagram has replicated this jackpot by introducing Reels - the feature on every marketer’s thoughts and lips and on which everyone is dying to get some insightful data and performance stats.

With Instagram finally opening the doors to heaven and allowing Instagram Reels data gathering, every social media manager is eager to dig into the nitty-gritty Instagram Reels insights uncovered.

Reels are the most engaging content type on Instagram

There is no secret that Instagram Reels were launched as a response to Instagram’s major competitor’s growth - TikTok and its incredible popularity, in an attempt to stay on top of the trends and keep on its side the short-form video lovers.

With TikTok gaining so much exposure and usage, it became clear that short-form video content is here to stay and is likely to be highly used for marketing purposes in the future.

By understanding this, Instagram made its move and came up with its own version of short, catchy, and trendy videos, packed as Instagram Reels.

Obviously, as with almost any new feature the platform introduced, Instagram users that integrate Instagram Reels into their content strategy are likely to see a boost in engagement. That’s because, in an attempt to facilitate this new feature’s usage, Instagram rewards early adopters with more engagement.

Surely, if you’ve been playing around and experimenting with Instagram Reels, you have noticed some spikes in your engagement by now, isn't it?

As data has proved, Instagram Reels are the most engaging content type on Instagram - having an average engagement rate of 1.95%.

Particularly beneficial for small to middle-sized accounts, Instagram Reels can help different Instagram accounts reach an average engagement rate of up to 3.79%.

Noteworthy about Instagram Reels are its engagement rates and also the fact that Reels outperform the other types of content on Instagram, generating at least double the engagement.

Even if Reels' supremacy as the most engaging port type is unquestionable - when looking at the whole Instagram engagement levels overall, there's a striking dropping tendency that marketers should be aware of, including Instagram Reels.

With a reach rate of 20.59% on average, Instagram Reels ensure the highest virality potential

For quite a while now, there's been a saying on the internet that organic reach is slowly decreasing year after year. While for some platforms or content types, that might be true, the data shows rather satisfactory numbers when it comes to Instagram Reels.

While the Instagram Reels reach rate is located at an average of 20.59% in 2022, depending on the account's size, some profiles may get higher or lower reach rates when using Instagram reels.

As data indicated, small accounts can benefit the most from integrating Reels into their Instagram marketing strategy.

Having incredible exposure and virality potential, in the case of small accounts, Instagram Reels can generate an average reach rate of up to 39.46%, while large accounts can get an average reach rate of up to 25.62% when posting Instagram Reels.

On the other hand, middle-sized accounts have the hardest time getting as much awareness as possible through cutting-edge Instagram Reels. Compared to the other account's sizes, middle sized-accounts succeeded in getting average reach rates between 10.66% - 16.85% for Instagram Reels.

Stepping aside for one moment from the stats indicated, an important mention related to Instagram Reels’ reach rates is that it may sometimes exceed 100%.

That’s usually the case when certain Instagram Reels get featured on Instagram’s Explore Page, and it’s because once getting there, those particular Reels can be viewed even by a page’s non-followers.

Conclusion

There are plenty of variables that can influence an account’s Instagram performance, starting from the niche it belongs to, to the posting strategy, the content’s direction, and the actual content types used.

However, while there’s never a single strategy that guarantees social media success, and the content posted should align with your overall business objectives, Instagram Reels are a leading type of content worth incorporating into your Instagram strategy.