Marketing specialist at HypeAuditor. Connect on Linkedin.
Social media platforms such as Instagram are powerful technologies for social change, since they allow people to connect with each other independent of place and space and reach a broader population with their message.
A picture is worth 1,000 data points, and Instagram images can have a compelling, persuasive impact that may inspire others to act on an important issue like climate change.
We conducted a mixed-method analysis of Instagram influencers who cares about environmental topics.
We divided influencers into groups based on keywords in their profile description:
- Climate change,
- Zero Waste,
- Plastic Free,
- Sustainable living.
Separately we analyzed instagram account of Greta Thunberg.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Zero waste and Sustainable living are the most popular eco themes for instagram influencers of four topics that have been studied.
- All topics except Climate change have more female influencers, than male.
- Core audience of eco influencers are women between 18 and 34 years old.
- The USA and The UK have the largest number of eco influencers.
- Influencers from Climate change niche have the biggest average ER among all eco influencers, but still their ER is lower than The Worldwide average.
- Greta Thunberg is the most influential environmental activist in the world.
Instagram influencers in Climate Change topic
Climate Change is the defining issue of our time and we are at a defining moment. From shifting weather patterns that threaten food production, to rising sea levels that increase the risk of catastrophic flooding, the impacts of climate change are global in scope and unprecedented in scale. Without drastic action today, adapting to these impacts in the future will be more difficult and costly.
Number of influencers: 209
Keywords in bio: climatechange,climate change,climate strike, climatecrisis, climateaction ,climateactivism, climate activist
Distribution of Climate Change influencers by Tiers
We break down influencers into four main influencer tiers by the number of Instagram followers:
Mega-influencers & Celebrities (over 1M followers)
Macro-influencers (100K – 1M followers)
Micro (5K-20K followers) and
Mid-tier influencers (20K-100K followers)
Nano-influencers (1K-5K followers)
50% of influencers in Climate Change niche are Mid-tier influencers with followers between 5 and 20K.
Climate Change influencer’s profile: age & gender
Core influencers in Climate Change are men aged between 25 and 34 years old.
Climate Change Influencer’s Country
The majority of influencers in Climate Change niche are from the United States (33%)
Climate Change Influencer’s audience
Total audience of 209 influencers from Climate Change niche is 3 933 902 followers.
Core audience are male and female between 18 and 34 years old.
Climate Change Influencer’s engagement rate
Engagement rate is the percent of the audience who likes or comments on the posts (engages with the content).
On the graph you can see a comparison of average engagement rate of influencers from climate change niche and the average ER worldwide. ER of influencers with number of followers between 5K and 20K is greatly higher than average worldwide.
High engagement rate shows that Instagram users are more engaged in the influencers content.
Top mentions
Instagram influencers in Zero Waste topic
Zero Waste is a set of principles focused on waste prevention that encourages the redesign of resource life cycles so that all products are reused. The goal is for no trash to be sent to landfills, incinerators, or the ocean.
Number of influencers: 690
Keywords in bio:
zero waste, zerowaste ,nowaste, 0waste, goingzerowaste, minimalwaste, zerowasteliving , lowwastelifestyle, zerowastelife, zeroemission
Distribution of Zero Waste Influencers by Tiers
45.2% of influencers in Zero Waste niche are Mid-tier influencers with followers between 5 and 20K and 42.5% of influencers are Micro-influencers with followers between 1 and 5K..
Zero Waste influencer’s profile: age & gender
Core influencers in Zero Waste niche are women aged between 25 and 34 years old.
Zero Waste Influencer’s country
The majority of influencers in Zero Waste niche are from the United States (18%).
Zero Waste Influencer’s audience
Total audience of 690 influencers from Zero Waste niche is 6 991 529 followers. Core audience are female between 18 and 34 years old.
Zero Waste Influencer’s engagement rate
Engagement rate is the percent of the audience who likes or comments on the posts (engages with the content).
On the graph you can see a comparison of average engagement rate of influencers from zero waste niche and the average ER worldwide. ER of influencers with number of followers between 20K and 100K and 100K-1M is greatly higher than average worldwide. High engagement rate shows that Instagram users are more engaged in the influencers content.
Top Mentions
Climate change influencers made 39 mentions of @climateaction
Climate change influencers made 35 mentions of @gretathunberg
Climate change influencers made 39 mentions of @fridaysforfuture
Instagram influencers in Plastic Free topic
Plastic never bio-degrades so every piece ever made lasts forever! Massive quantities of disposable plastic pose a serious threat to our health and future generations.
Plastic pollution is one of the biggest problems we face as a species. Petroleum based plastics pollute the air, water, and food. The Plastic Free Challenge is an effort to demonstrate to the world that we do not need to rely on disposable plastics.
Number of influencers: 362
Keywords in bio:
plasticfree, packagefree, plasticpollution, plasticpollutes, plasticalternative, nomoreplastic, low impact
Distribution of Plastic Free Influencers by Tiers
50.6% of influencers in Plastic Free niche are Mid-tier influencers with followers between 5 and 20K.
Plastic Free Influencer’s profile: age & gender
Core influencers in Plastic Free niche are women aged between 25 and 34 years old.
Plastic Free Influencer’s country
The majority of influencers in Plastic Free niche are from the United States (20%) but there is also a large amount of influencers from the United Kingdom (17%).
Plastic Free Influencer’s audience
Total audience of 362 influencers from Plastic Free niche is 5 189 367 followers. Core audience are female between 18 and 34 years old.
Plastic Free Influencer’s engagement rate
Engagement rate is the percent of the audience who likes or comments on the posts (engages with the content).
On the graph you can see a comparison of average engagement rate of influencers from plastic free niche and the average ER worldwide. ER of influencers with number of followers between 100K and 1M is higher than average worldwide.
High engagement rate shows that Instagram users are more engaged in the influencers content.
Top Mentions
Instagram influencers in Sustainable Living topic
Sustainable living is a lifestyle that attempts to reduce an individual’s or society’s use of the Earth’s natural resources and personal resources. Practitioners of sustainable living often attempt to reduce their carbon footprint by altering methods of transportation, energy consumption, and diet.
Number of influencers: 709
Keywords in bio:
sustainable living, ethicalfashion, sustainablefashion, consciousconsumer, sustainable fashion, sustainableliving, greenliving, consciousconsumer
Distribution of Sustainable Living Influencers by Tiers
48.9% of influencers in Climate Change niche are Mid-tier influencers with followers between 5 and 20K.
Sustainable Living Influencer’s profile: age & gender
Core audience in Sustainable Living niche are women aged between 25 and 34 years old.
Sustainable Living Influencer’s country
The majority of influencers in Sustainable Living niche are from the United States (29%).
Sustainable Living Influencer’s audience
Total audience of 709 influencers from Sustainable Living niche is 7 355 051 followers.
Core audience are female between 18 and 34 years old.
Sustainable Living Influencer’s engagement rate
Engagement rate is the percent of the audience who likes or comments on the posts (engages with the content).
On the graph you can see a comparison of average engagement rate of influencers from sustainable living niche and the average ER worldwide. ER of influencers from sustainable living niche is lower than ER worldwide.
Low engagement rate shows that Instagram users are less engaged with the influencers content.
Top Mentions
Greta Thunberg
Greta Thunberg (born 3 January 2003) is a Swedish teenage environmental activist on climate change whose campaigning has gained international recognition.
Number of influencers: 1
Keywords in bio: Climatestrike, fridayisforfuture
After the Greta Thunberg speech on Monday opened the United Nations Climate Action Summit her Instagran account gained 3 260 029 new followers in one week. That made her instagram account one of the fastest growing accounts in the world.
Greta Thunberg account audience
Total audience of Greta Thunberg account is 8.5M followers.
Core audience are female between 18 and 34 years old.
Greta Thunberg account has more followers than all accounts in any niche combined.
That makes her the most influential environmental activist in the world.
Greta Thunberg’s account engagement rate is 7.85%.
It is almost 3 times that of average ER of influencers’ account from eco niches and 8 times that of average worldwide er for mega-influencers (1.01%).
Audience is highly engaged into Greta’s content and her account can be an effective tool to promote ecological ideas that will be heard not only in the narrow niches like Climate Change (where Greta has 35 mentions) but all over the world.