A few weeks back we published a social media update on the most effective formats for Facebook video. Well, we’re back in the land of networks and statuses, this time looking at marketing on Instagram  and what content proves most popular.

Social Media Today partnered with SEMrush, and asked more than 800 digital marketers how they use Instagram. Download the full report here, but before that let’s look at what is— apparently— the most popular type of post on the image-focussed network.

The most popular type of post when marketing on Instagram is… predictable

AKA Still Images

Far and away the post type with the best results in terms of marketing on Instagram is a Still Image. Which you might have guessed considering this is what the entire platform was based on originally.

Having said that, there’s so much said about Stories— including on our blog— there was no guarantee of that result.

In terms of other types of post, the pecking order runs as follows:

Stories

Videos

User-Generated Content

Influencer Partnerships

Polls

Other

One thing stands out about this information

It’s important to note that User-Generated Content (UGC) has been separated from the other categories. This is despite the fact UGC could include Videos, Stories and Still Images.

This would potentially suggest UGC is not actually the best performing content from brand campaigns. Or, perhaps, brands are not running as many UGC campaigns when marketing on Instagram compared with the amount of in-house content they produce.

Another thing

Friends of Smoking Gun will know we recently produced a thought leadership download, Out of the Fyre, Into the Future: The New Influencer Marketing.

Not only does this look at emerging trends within the sector, it also shines a light on new rules and regulations, while looking at the dark sides of this practice.

The fact that Influencer Marketing appears so low in the list of top post types when marketing on Instagram speaks volumes about how maligned the discipline is. Of course not every brand is working with influencers, which would bring the numbers down. However, this may also be a result of public distrust towards influencer content.

Regularity, as per usual

Clearly Stories— the second top type of post for those marketing on Instagram— are exceptionally popular. But to understand just how popular they are it’s important to consider the way they work.

We’ve written a guide to marketing on Instagram with Stories, which can shine some in-depth light. No time? No worries. The crucial thing is that Stories are temporary— they exist for 24 hours then disappear or move to the small Highlights bar at the top of a profile.

That means only those active on the network during the 24-hour life span can see Stories, and yet they still rank at No.2.

Ultimately, though, all this shows that experimentation between post types is a good idea— keep things fresh. However, consistent and basic updates to profiles are also essential.

For the time being at least…