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Generative AI is everywhere now. You see it in content, campaigns, customer experiences, and even internal workflows. It promises speed, scale, and efficiency, but there’s a harder question sitting underneath all that progress; Do your audiences actually trust it?

Trust in the Age of AI: What Consumers Really Think About AI Generated Content

Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIN to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.
Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?
The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

What Is Data Analytics? [Beginner’s Guide 2023]
How can I grow my business? 
How do customers interact with my newly launched product?
How do I increase the productivity of my employees?
How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?
We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.
So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.
But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!
But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.

Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.
We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.

Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.
Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

Virtual influencers are gaining a steady foothold in marketing. Computer-generated personalities are growing followings just like their human counterparts and convincing others to comment, share, and buy. And they’re doing it with a level of control and precision that human influencers often lack.

Working with an influencer who doesn’t exist sounds wild. Until you see the numbers.

For instance, digital influencer Miquela Sousa is raking in about $2 million a year and has a net worth of about $10 million.

Virtual influencers can do just about everything human influencers can. Here’s a closer look at why these influencers are carving a new niche in marketing.

Why Are Brands Using Virtual Influencers?

What Are the Pros and Cons of Virtual Influencers?

How Do Virtual Influencers Compare to Human Influencers?

What Is the Future of AI Virtual Influencers?

Final Thoughts: Should Brands Use Virtual Influencers?

Virtual influencers are digital personas that create content, share posts, promote products, and interact with followers. You might also hear them called AI virtual influencers or CGI influencers.

There are slight nuances between AI virtual influencers and CGI influencers, though marketers often interchange the names. 

CGI influencers are completely scripted and controlled by humans; they don’t think or act on their own.

AI-powered virtual influencers learn, adapt, and respond in real time, and can generate their own content based on audience feedback.

Think of “virtual influencers” as the umbrella term for this niche of influencer marketing.

Technology and creativity power virtual influencers, whether you’re using AI, CGI, or a mix of the two. Though you won’t see a real person on camera, a great detail of thought and detail go into each post or promotion.

Users create virtual influencers using CGI, generative AI, and motion capture tools. These influencers can take on human-like characteristics, or they could be animated animals or objects, like cupcakes. Many appear as 3D models, while others are 2D. 

Behind the scenes, human creators develop the persona’s backstory and personality — quirks, values, humor, drama, appearance, preferences, and anything else that brings the digital influencer to life. They’re forming relationships with brands, building collaborations, and managing content calendars.

Once created, virtual influencers will act like human influencers by posting content, such as images, audio clips, or videos. Creators carefully curate every detail to reflect the digital influencer’s brand.

Some virtual influencers take things further by integrating AI. This allows digital influencers to analyze what their audience is doing, how they’re thinking and feeling, and what’s working and what isn’t. 

The influencers can use this data to adjust their strategy without human intervention. For example, they might adjust their content formats based on past engagements. Or if a post about sustainability gained traction, they might focus more on eco-conscious messaging.

Transparency and relatability are crucial. A virtual influence strategy only works if the audience believes the story being told. 

Behind the influencer, human teams can use audience sentiment and trust signals to decide if their virtual influencer strategy works. Success ultimately depends on how real people feel about these digital personalities. 

Virtual influencing is a new-ish concept. While some brands remain skeptical, others — like Prada, Red Bull, and LiquidIV — are embracing the digital influencer movement and its intended benefits.

Total creative control: Brands have total control over content, can avoid scheduling conflicts, and don’t have to worry about influencer controversies or off-brand statements.

The ability to scale campaigns globally: Digital influencers can speak any language and appear in any setting without geographic restrictions.

Cost-effectiveness: Initial design costs can be high, but brands can ultimately save money since virtual influencers don’t require travel expenses, wardrobe budgets, or massive overhead.

Novelty and buzz: The futuristic charm of virtual influencers spark curiosity and conversation, and their “new” factor gives brands something different to experiment with.

These influencers are heavily engineered. Everything they say and do is designed to drive engagement and specific actions. This level of control gives brands a potential edge in the market, allowing them to (hopefully) reach their goals.

Given the novelty of digital influencer marketing, it can be tough to visualize how it works and what it brings to your business. These examples of virtual influencers put the concept into context. 

The “OG” of virtual influencers, Lil Miquela posts content to nearly 2.5 million Instagram followers. This digital model has worked with global fashion brands like Prada and Calvin Klein and has even released her own music. 

Recognizable by her freckles, blunt bangs, and quirky photos, Lil Miquela set a high bar for what virtual influencing can be and its impact on brands and businesses. 

High-fashion virtual influencer Shudu was created by a London-based fashion photographer. The influencer is often called the world’s first virtual supermodel and mirrors characteristics of other well-known Black models like Naomi Campbell and Alex Wek. 

The digital influencer mostly works with fashion brands and high-end publications, such as Elle and Vogue. Instagram posts feature the model in fashionable outfits, with a je ne sais quoi that’s both consistent and inspiring.

Virtual influencer Imma has over 387K followers on Instagram and has earned the title of the first AI model in Japan. Her pink bob gives her instant recognition among followers.

Imma has collaborated with brands like Adidas and IKEA, and was invited to be a virtual speaker at a TED talk. She was also designated an ambassador in Rage World Challenge, an e-sports event in Bangkok.

Robot rapper FN Meka is a popular yet somewhat controversial AI virtual influencer. Created in 2019, he earned a contract with Capitol Records in 2022, where the rapper faced backlash for racist stereotypes in his lyrics.

Still, the influencer continues to dominate social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, with over 10 million followers and billions of views. 

Virtual influencers are proving their place in digital marketing, but not all brands are sold on the idea. Regardless of what other brands in your industry are doing, it’s wise to look at virtual influencers from all angles and understand the benefits and risks they can bring.

Here’s a quick rundown to help you compare:

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Pros of Virtual Influencers</th>
      <th>Cons of Virtual Influencers</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Brand safety: total control over content, voice, tone, format, and style</td>
      <td>High upfront costs to create a virtual influencer</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>24/7 availability</td>
      <td>A lack of authenticity (AI virtual influencers are engineered for results)</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Innovation</td>
      <td>A lack of emotional connection with followers</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Global scalability</td>
      <td>Ethical concerns, especially related to feelings of deception or manipulation</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Endless creativity</td>
      <td>A lack of real-world experience</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Consistency in quality</td>
      <td>Feeling that content is too polished or otherwise not relatable</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Virtual influencers can do most of the same things human influencers do, sometimes even better and faster. However, AI influencers don’t always hold the advantage. 

Choosing the type of influencer you need depends on what you want to achieve. The differences matter:

Human influencers represent authenticity. They have real experiences, emotions, and opinions that make followers trust them. This can lead to stronger loyalty, but it can also come with unpredictability. Humans can make mistakes, which may lead to off-brand content or scandals.

Virtual influencers offer total control, which can diminish the possibility of off-brand content. Humans control every facial expression, opinion, and post to align with brand messaging. However, this can often come off as fake and struggle to connect with audiences on an emotional level.

Followers comment on human influencers’ posts because they find them relatable. Users engage with these lived experiences and see themselves in the influencer’s story. Influencers shape their posts based on moods, tone, and life events.

Virtual influencers take a more precise and direct approach. They use data-driven personalization to tailor their interactions, essentially telling the audience what they want to hear. This approach can spark engagement, but the novelty may wear off quickly as users start craving more personable insights.

Human influencers can vary in cost depending on reach and niche. Every collaboration comes with negotiation, such as rates, travel fees, and product testing.

Virtual influencers have higher upfront costs during development. But once they’re established, they can generate content at a fraction of the cost as human influencers. There’s also less overhead involved, like travel fees, so they may offer a better ROI for brands.

Using AI virtual influencers in influencer marketing still feels like the wild west, where brands are constantly testing approaches and making new discoveries. This trend will continue in the coming months and years, and a few key developments will likely emerge.

A-list brands like Red Bull, Cosmopolitan, and Samsung are exploring how to use virtual influencers in marketing. This flings the door wide open for other brands to follow suit or risk getting left behind.

As technology costs drop and more data about the impact of AI virtual influencers becomes available, more brands are likely to adopt this method of marketing, or at least experiment with it.

AI is evolving quickly, allowing AI influencers to become more than beautifully crafted avatars. There’s high potential for these personas to become digital interactive beings, using natural language processing, emotion recognition, and generative AI.

These characters may hold two-way conversations, interact with followers in real time, and drive a consistent flow of content with little human involvement. They may eventually be able to recommend products tailored to each follower and react with human-like empathy.

AI has experienced its share of legal and ethical questions, and these are likely to persist as brands find new ways to use AI tools, such as virtual influencers. 

Who is responsible when an AI influencer spreads misinformation?

Should brands tell audiences explicitly when a “person” isn’t real?

Who bears the fallout when an influencer offends cultural norms?

Transparent requirements and labeling rules are already emerging and will continue to do so as AI’s involvement in marketing grows. It will be up to brands to stay in tune with changes in how to use AI legally and ethically.

Virtual influencers bring innovation, scalability, and control to influencer marketing. However, lasting success will depend on finding the right balance between human authenticity and digital creativity.

Meltwater’s Influencer Marketing Platform helps brands identify opportunities and measure ROI across both real and virtual influencers. Users gain the data they need to accurately analyze audience sentiment and perceptions of authenticity, ensuring campaigns strengthen brand trust while embracing innovation.

What Are Virtual Influencers? A Marketer’s Guide

Instagram continues to be a powerhouse in the social media scene, especially when it comes to influencer marketing. This isn’t news for brands that have been using Instagram for years. But with so many other platforms on the scene, it’s always a good idea to re-evaluate where you’re putting your time and budget.

Despite the growing popularity of TikTok, Instagram continues to hold its own, adding new features and functions so you can keep engaging your audiences in new and exciting ways.

In another blog, we have basic social media statistics covered already — let’s look at the top Instagram statistics and fun facts for 2026 so you can start planning your Instagram marketing strategy! 

Instagram boasts global popularity, so it’s no surprise the platform continues to enthrall marketers and users alike. Let’s start with some top level Instagram statistics you’ll want to know:

Instagram has 3 billion monthly active users (MAU). (Global Digital Report)

Instagram has been downloaded 3.8 billion times. (Neal Schaffer)

Users share more than 95 million photos and videos on Instagram each day. (Neal Schaffer)

Instagram is the 2nd favorite platform for 16.4% of active social media users, behind Whatsapp. (Global Digital Report)

Instagram is the 3rd most popular app by active users overall. (Global Digital Report)

50% of Instagram users engage with brands on a regular basis. (SproutSocial)

Instagram has enjoyed steady growth since it emerged in 2010. With more than three billion users and more than 3.8 billion total downloads, it continues to be a useful and powerful channel for influencers and brands.

Here’s a peek at some key Instagram growth statistics:

Instagram advertising reach increased by 13.1% between 2024 and 2025 (Global Digital Report)

Influencer marketing can be partly to thank for Instagram’s continued growth with over half of marketers still preferring Instagram to TikTok for their influencer programs. (Hootsuite)

Instagram has an estimated advertising reach of 1.91 billion — up 1.7% between July 2025 and October 2025. (Global Digital Report)

Instagram once represented a stomping ground for Millennials, most of us sharing way too many overly filtered photos. 🫣

For better or worse, those simple days are long gone. The platform now caters to a variety of different age groups, companies, and content creators around the world.

These Instagram user statistics underscore just how diverse the platform's users have become:

Users in the 16-34 age group make up Instagram’s core user base, led narrowly by women. (Global Digital Report)

Women between the ages of 16-24 are the most active users (69.4%) who say they log-on to Instagram at least once a day (Global Digital Report)

Southern Asia has the highest advertising reach for Instagram at 27.3%, followed by South America at 13.1% (Global Digital Report)

Users in Turkey have the highest ad read potential. (Global Digital Report)

Teens say that Instagram is their fourth most preferred social network, behind YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat. (Pew Research Center) 

There are over 200 million Instagram business profiles worldwide. (Omnicore Agency)

Here are some Instagram usage statistics to give more context to its popularity:

About 28% of Instagram total users log on multiple times a day (SocialPilot)

21% of users log in on a weekly basis. (SocialPilot)

On average Instagram users worldwide spends about 1 hour and 13 minutes a day on the platform. (Global Digital Report)

Carousel posts have the highest average engagement (for businesses) at 3.55% engagements vs post reach (Global Digital Report)

Trying to leverage Instagram for your business? These resources will help you: Ultimate Guide to Social Media Video Sizes in 2024, 5 Quick Tips for Social Video Content, The Complete Guide to Instagram Stories, What is Instagram Reels? The Complete Guide

To succeed on Instagram, you need followers to view, share, and engage with your content.

These Instagram follower stats show just how important it is to build a good following:

Instagram accounts that post at least 3 times per week have the best engagement. (Shopify)

The average engagement rate on photos posted by business accounts is 3% (engagements vs followers). (Global Digital Report)

Business accounts with fewer than 10,000 followers have an average engagement rate of .65%. (Global Digital Report)

44% of social users wish brands would use Instagram more frequently (Sprout Social)

Accounts in the education sector have the highest engagement rate compared to other industries (SocialPilot)

The most followed account on Instagram is @Instagram which has over than 694.4 million followers. The second most followed account is Cristiano Ronaldo with 663.6 million followers. (Global Digital Report)

Tip: Learn about the best times to post on social media and read our guides about how to get more Instagram followers and how to post on Instagram.

The second most followed brand account (besides Instagram) is Nike with 299.5 million followers. (Global Digital Report)

62.8% of Instagram users say they actively follow at least one brand on Instagram. (SocialPilot)

Instagram Live allows users to livestream for their audience. Users can access Instagram Live next to Stories in the app, just above their regular feed.

How popular is this feature? These Instagram Live statistics reveal more.

More than 100 million social media users tune into Instagram live videos each day. (Headphones Addict)

The most popular Instagram livestream, with over 3 million views is from Turkish creator Acun Ilicali (Headphones Addict)

80% of Instagram users would rather watch a Live video than read a blog post. (EarthWeb)

26% of Gen Z and millennial users watch Instagram Live. (EarthWeb)

During the pandemic there was a 70% increase in Instagram Live usage. (EarthWeb)

Instagram Reels are short-form videos that brands can use to create ads, take part in trends, and relay information in a bite-size format. You can add text, effects, and music to the videos to draw in more viewers and increase your brand’s presence. 

Here’s a closer look at Instagram Reels stats:

200 billion Reels are played each day across Facebook and Instagram (SocialInsider)

Accounts with over 50K followers post one Reel roughly every two days on average (Teleprompter)

Nearly half (45%) of total Instagram engagement is on Reels content (Teleprompter)

Business accounts see a .45% engagement rate on Reels (Global Digital Report)

The best time to post Reels for maximum engagement is Saturdays, between 10 PM – 7 AM (Teleprompter)

Only Reels that are less than 3 minutes long will be recommended to non-followers (Hootsuite)

In December 2024, Instagram added a "Trial Reel" feature to help creators optimize performance (Instagram)

Tip: Read our full guide about what Instagram Reels is all about and learn how to schedule Instagram Reels.

Instagram Stories allow marketers to connect with followers beyond the feed. These Instagram Stories stats underscore just how essential this feature has become:

The average reach of Instagram Stories is .91 users (SocialPilot)

71.9% of brand content appears on Stories (Hootsuite) 

Brands publish an average of 10 Instagram Stories per month. (StartupBonsai)

The more Story frames, the lower the retention rate. (Rival IQ)

Posting between 1-7 Stories per day is recommended by Instagram for maintaining a good completion rate and presence on Instagram. (Buffer)

Of the influencers using Instagram, 55.4% use Stories for sponsored posts (EarthWeb)

The top 25% of brands see an average tap-back rate of about 6.5%. (Rival IQ)

Tip: Read our complete guide to Instagram Stories.

Instagram is a very popular platform for influencer marketing and continues to help brands broaden their reach.

These Instagram influencer statistics show why you should consider working with Instagram influencers:

72% of marketers are using Instagram for influencer marketing. (Neal Schaffer)

Research shows that marketers spend a collective $8 billion a year on Instagram influencers alone. (Neal Schaffer)

Well over half of influencers (78%) prefer to use Instagram for their branded partnerships. (Neal Schaffer)

It is estimated that 37% of Instagram users interact with influencers. (Neal Schaffer)

There are more than half a million active Influencers on Instagram. (EarthWeb)

Micro influencers are currently seeing a -3% drop in engagement (Social Pilot)

The Meltwater Blog

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