Instagram's referral traffic has sky-rocketed

Published on: May 5, 2019 / Updated on: May 5, 2019 – Author: Konrad Wolfenstein

Instagram referral traffic increased dramatically between the first quarter of 2018 and the first quarter of 2019, as the popular social media website becomes increasingly important for website traffic.

According to recent estimates from Merkle, Instagram, owned by Facebook, saw a 114 percent increase in web referrals. Facebook and Pinterest both experienced modest year-over-year traffic growth. Not all social media sites had good news; YouTube's traffic remained flat despite strong gains in mid-2018, while Twitter's traffic growth declined by 8 percent in the first quarter of 2019. Overall, website visits from social media accounted for over 4 percent of total website traffic and 5 percent of all mobile visits in the first quarter, new highs according to the report.

Instagram has recently given a serious boost to e-commerce and marketing by launching its Tap to Shop feature last month. The social network also saw a 44 percent increase in advertising spending in the first quarter of 2019. Overall, Instagram drives the majority of advertising spending across all Facebook websites. These developments are based on Instagram's ability to increase its user base, making it one of the few social networks that have been able to boost engagement rates.

Instagram's referral traffic has sky-rocketed between Q1 2018 and Q1 2019 as the popular social media site becomes more important for website traffic.

According to recent estimates from Merkle , Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, experienced a 114 percent increase in web referrals. Facebook and Pinterest both saw modest year-over-year traffic growth. It wasn't all good news for social media sites; YouTube's traffic flatlined, despite posting strong gains in mid-2018, while Twitter's traffic growth shrunk by 8 percent in Q1 2019. Overall, website visits from social media accounted for over 4 percent of all site traffic and 5 percent of all mobile visits in the first quarter, new highs according to the report.

Instagram has recently made a serious push into the e-commerce and marketing space, by rolling out its tap to shop feature last month. The social network also has experienced a 44 percent increase in advertising investment in Q1 2019. Overall, Instagram is driving most of the ad investment across all of Facebook's sites. These developments come on the back of Instagram's ability to increase in the number of people using the platform, one of the few social networks that have been able to expand usage rates.

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