Instagram is fast becoming a key platform for social media marketing, and given the app's creative focus, influencer collaboration has also become an increasingly important element. 

But just how significant is influencer marketing on Instagram in 2019?

The team from Klear sought to find out - using their analytics tools Klear analyzed more than 2.1 million Instagram sponsored posts from 2018. Their key finding - Instagram influencer marketing grew by over 39% in 2018.

As per the report:

"To calculate the data, we analyzed over 2 million Instagram sponsored posts that included #ad hashtags between Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2018. We then performed a statistical analysis of trends and demographics using our SIGIR award-winning influencer measurement technology."

That measurement methodology is outlined in this paper, which, as per the description: "...focuses on the problem of scoring and ranking influential users of Instagram".

"Among the millions of [Instagram] users, photos shared by more influential users are viewed by more than those shared by less influential counterparts. This raises the question of how to identify those influential Instagram users. [...] In our study, we consider user statistics, some of which are more intuitive than others, and several regression models to measure users' influence." 

Essentially, Klear's team have devised an advanced process for better identifying more influential Instagram users, which plays a significant role in the detail of this new report - particularly this element:

"Micro-influencers posted 84% of sponsored posts worldwide"

The shift towards smaller, niche influencers is real, as these more trustworthy, community-connected users are able to drive direct purchasing behavior - worth noting in your planning.

And in addition to the rise of sponsored content overall, Klear also found that 1 in 3 sponsored posts on Instagram in 2018 was within an Instagram Story.

The report underlines some key Instagram marketing trends of note - and while Klear's researchers can't say, definitively, what each of these posts has produced, in terms of consumer spend, the data does indicate that both micro-influencers and Stories are seeing increased investment, which is likely indicative that they're generating results.

There are a heap more insights in Klear's full report, which you can access here (with email sign-up). A worthy read as you go about your 2019 planning.