Which image qualities drive engagement on Instagram?

how to Get More Likes on Instagram
Instagram is the fastest-growing social network today. 71% of the world’s largest brands now use the platform for social media marketing. More than half of them post at least once a week, and 28% post at least 5 times a week. Brands like Nike, Starbucks, Ralph Lauren, and Whole Foods are using images and short videos to enhance their customers’ experience and create emotional connections.

Instagram likes are coveted and tough to generate, with 65% of images earning 0-10 likes. So when a user likes one of your Instagram photos, it’s an invitation to engage with them. They have acknowledged that they admire your brand and your creativity — the first step toward establishing a customer relationship that can ultimately lead to repeat buying and brand evangelism.

Blue is best

Visual analytics firm Curalate set out to quantify the impact that various image qualities have on Instagram, and analyzed more than 30 image features of 8 million Instagram photos. Their study found that color theory plays a major role —  images with blue as the dominant color perform the best, receiving 24% more likes than those with predominantly red hues on the photo-sharing platform. More details from the report:

Image features that correlate with likes on Instagram

1. Lightness

Images with a high degree of lightness generate 24% more likes than dark images.

2. Background

Images with a large amount of background space get 29% more likes than those without.

3. Dominant color

Images with blue as the dominant color garner 24% more likes than those that are predominantly red.

4. Number of colors

Images with a single dominant color generate 17% more likes than those with multiple colors.

5. Saturation

Images with low saturation get 18% more likes than images with more vibrant colors.

6. Texture

Images with high levels of texture perform 79% better than those without.

7. Selfies

If selfies are your thing, it’s good to know that those with duck faces get 1,112% more likes than traditional ones :)

Check out the infographic below for some visual examples that demonstrate how to get more likes on Instagram:

Instagram best practices