Today, we're excited to announce that there are more than 500,000 advertisers growing their businesses on Instagram. In just six months, the number of advertisers has more than doubled. And that includes a variety of businesses from around the world. In fact, the top five countries seeing advertiser adoption are the US, Brazil, the UK, Australia and Canada. Businesses have been an important part of the Instagram community since the beginning. Here's why Instagram continues to be an essential place for businesses to grow.

Instagram is a place where people turn their passions into purchases. With companies from various industries on the platform, it's no surprise that 50% of Instagrammers follow a business. As well as just following businesses, 60% of people say that they learn about a product or service on Instagram.

Love Your Melon is a small apparel business that donates a large percentage of its net proceeds to fight paediatric cancer. To spread the word of its mission and maximise charitable contributions, the company uses Instagram to target caregivers as well as a Custom Audience based on website visitors, past customers and people on its mailing list.

By marketing to passions, businesses are turning that inspiration into action. In fact, 75% of Instagrammers take an action, such as visiting a website, searching, shopping or telling a friend, after being inspired by a post.¹ Since adverts launched last September, there have been one billion actions taken on Instagram adverts. In fact, 70% of performance campaigns generated statistically significant lifts in online conversions or mobile app installations.² Instagram internal research two months: May-July 2016.³ And the value of adverts extends beyond mobile, contributing to a 2% lift in offline sales.⁴

Quickly growing handbag brand Dagne Dover worked with its advertising agency partner Mason Interactive to increase sales. The business, based in New York in the US, paired strong imagery with the "Shop Now" call-to-action button to reach students, mothers, professionals and women interested in fashion and travel. By honing in on this specific target audience, the campaign doubled its traffic and increased its return on advertising spend by 13 times over a two-month period.

With the help of the new Instagram Business Tools, it's never been easier for businesses to find new customers and make meaningful connections with people who care about their businesses. In the two months following its launch, more than 1.5 million businesses converted to a business profile. For the first time on the platform, businesses had an easier way to connect with customers through business profiles, learn what resonates with their audience through insights and promote a post from within the app.

Grabble is a UK-based shopping app with a curated selection of fashion and beauty products ready to buy in just one tap. The fashion-forward company attributes Instagram Business Tools as having an immediate impact on its marketing strategy. "With a business profile, it’s a smoother process for customers to get in touch – everything is in one place, so they don't have to go elsewhere to look up our details," says Jack Rogers, Grabble's Head of Marketing. In addition to making it easier to connect with customers, Grabble has used the insights to hone its target audience. "We'd always thought that the majority of our audience was female, so we've tended to post female-focussed content. However, the insights in Instagram Business Tools have shown us that 21% of our followers are in fact male," says Jack. Finally, the UK-based brand uses Instagram advertising to reach new customers, drive downloads of its app and ultimately increase its sales. "By using Instagram's range of advert formats to showcase hand-picked looks, we've managed to gain 23% more users month after month and a three-fold increase in sales within certain categories," says Jack.

We value the businesses on the platform, and thank each of you for contributing to the Instagram community. We'll continue to evolve our advert offering and business tools to help businesses maximise their potential on the platform and make the connections that count.

Video created by lettering artist and Instagrammer, @caseyligon.