Engagement on Instagram sponsored posts has soared the last 2 weeks, even as some advertisers cut campaigns

• As more people stay home in an effort to help contain the spread of the new coronavirus, social-media use appears to be increasing.
• Influencer marketers are seeing a spike in ad impressions and user engagement on sponsored posts on apps like TikTok and Instagram.
• The influencer marketing agency Obviously said it's seen a 76% boost in the number of "likes" on sponsored posts on Instagram in the past two weeks.
• The firm is also reporting a 27% increase in engagement on sponsored posts on TikTok between February and March.
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As schools close, companies ask their employees to work from home, and some countries go on lockdown in efforts to help contain the coronavirus outbreak, people appear to be spending more time on social media, driving higher engagement on influencer marketing campaigns on platforms like TikTok and Instagram.

Two influencer marketing agencies told Business Insider that they've seen a boost in engagement and ad impressions on sponsored posts on TikTok and Instagram in the past few weeks.

The influencer marketing agency Obviously said it's seen a 76% increase in daily accumulated "likes" on sponsored posts for its influencer campaigns on Instagram over the past two weeks.

The company also observed a 27% increase in engagement on sponsored posts on TikTok between February and March. Engagement on TikTok is calculated by combining likes, comments, and shares and dividing by total views.

"Everyone is home and is on TikTok actively, and everyone's social distancing," said Mae Karwowski, the company's founder and CEO. "We're just consuming so much more content."

A spike in engagement for sponsored posts on TikTok comes at a time when the app is also seeing its user base grow dramatically. TikTok had its best month ever for app installs in February, with the platform seeing close to 113 million App Store and Google Play downloads globally, according to data from the app analytics firm Sensor Tower.

The influencer marketing agency Sapphire Apps said it's also seeing more impressions and engagement on TikTok in recent weeks as more Americans spend time on the app.

"Our campaigns are getting more views, and the ability to go viral is much better right now," said Anish Dalal, the company's CEO.

While some travel influencers are seeing their influencer marketing campaigns canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak, other marketers are increasing their investment in social-media advertising. Dalal said he's seen the number of campaigns for companies that sell software to help users work remotely grow by between 200% and 300%. Campaigns associated with live events are getting canceled, he noted.

Ariana Jacob, founder of the influencer marketing agency Influences, said she expects to lose budgets for event-based marketing as concerts like Coachella are cancelled, but she expects ad impressions and engagement on existing campaigns to grow as users spend more time on social media.

"Because people are staying at home, I think that they're going to be watching a lot more TikToks and a lot more social media," Jacob said. "It's not necessarily a bad thing for my content creators."

For more stories about influencer marketing on TikTok, check out these other Business Insider Prime posts:

• TikTok star Charli D'Amelio gave Dunkin' 294 million free video impressions in under 2 months and got her own cold-brew tap as a thank-you: Brands are taking over TikTok, making appearances in both organic (unpaid) videos and sponsored posts created by influencer marketers.
• Leaked campaign brief shows the video ideas Cash App pitched to TikTok influencers, including 'when you win a bet by doing something dope': Cash App paid dozens of influencers to promote its app on TikTok. Here are the content ideas the company shared with creators for sponsored posts.
• A milkshake brand blew up on TikTok, and its 460,000 followers have changed how it approaches marketing and its target audience: With 460,000 TikTok followers, the milkshake maker F'real has built a larger following than national brands like Chipotle, Walmart, and Burger King.
• CASE STUDY: TikTok ads have been 300% more efficient than Instagram ones in getting new users for fintech startup Tally: As more adults sign up for TikTok, fintech brands are using influencer videos and its self-serve ad platform to advertise on the platform.