Over 50% of the world’s biggest brands are now on Instagram. While Instagram is still not as popular or, it could be argued, as particularly useful to brands as Facebook and Twitter, it is is still more popular than both Pinterest and Google+.

The fact that Instagram is becoming a powerful marketing tool may be surprising to some, since it doesn’t offer official accounts for businesses. In fact, Instagram doesn’t even require that accounts be vertified by a legitimate source. It is also entirely mobile, which makes it the most groundbreakingly popular app with over 100 million users.

InstagramStill, the fact remains that this still relatively new photo sharing network is used by very desirable marketing segments. Most Instagram users are men and women between 18-34, a group that is active socially and very interested in not just documenting places they go and products they try. More importantly, Instagram is closely linked to Facebook, which increases sharability and visibility for brands. Facebook brand pages can augment its regular features and strategies with Instagram as well, for example by staging a contest over who can take the coolest Instagram photo with the brand’s product.

So what are the biggest brands on Instagram right now? MTV and Starbucks far outstrip the pack with almost 1 million followers each. Many fashion labels such as Burberry, Gucci and Tiffany and Co. also make the list of most popular Instagram accounts.

Do you follow any of the brands on this list on Instagram? Do you work for a company that could benefit from signing up for an account? Leave us a comment over on Facebook.