Instagram hits 1 Million advertisers!

Instagram has become a great tool for advertisers and it has announced it had reached 1 million monthly active advertisers, up from 200,000 a year ago.

The number of marketers on Instagram has risen steadily alongside the number of "business profiles" on the app, which allow companies to share contact information and directions, as well as to message directly with people via Instagram. There are now 8 million business profiles on the app, up about five times since September.

In the last year, Instagram had more change than the previous five. We introduced Instagram Stories—a new way for businesses to share everyday moments—video exploded, we welcomed a new brand identity and the community grew to more than 600M globally. At the same time, we were building a thriving business.

The rise in marketers can be attributed in large part to Instagram's focus on catering to small businesses, which make up the majority of Instagram's advertisers, and its growing suite of free business tools. Most business profiles are by firms in the U.S., Brazil, Indonesia, Russia and the U.K.

The community rallies around passions. People come to Instagram to follow their passions, from travel and fashion to food, entertainment and everything in between. And those passions extend to brands, with 80% of Instagrammers following a business today.

Simplicity matters. Tools like Boomerang and Hyperlapse help people and businesses quickly develop compelling content. And with a mobile-first platform, placing an ad is easy too. It takes as little as four taps to create an ad from a business profile.

Instagram also point out that in the coming weeks it will launch new tools for advertisers and companies.