PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Curalate, the leading visual analytics and marketing platform, today releases new research on the image properties that drive likes and sharing on Instagram. Curalate used custom algorithms to examine how more than 30 image features including background ratio, dominant color, lightness and saturation combine to create high performing Instagram images.
After analyzing more than eight million Instagram images, findings showed the best performing images feature a large amount of background space, blue as the dominant color and high levels of texture.
“Likes on Instagram, while incredibly valuable, are hard to come by with 65 percent of Instagram images garnering between 0 and 10 likes,” said Apu Gupta, CEO of Curalate. “By making a few small tweaks, brands looking to connect with consumers on visual sites like Instagram can see their engagement skyrocket, resulting in increased customer loyalty and more importantly, sales.”
An infographic outlining the data and providing sample images can be viewed and downloaded here: http://cur.lt/1gpiH9Z.
Key findings include:
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Blues and Single Hues are Best
- Blues perform best on Instagram, while images with high concentrations of reds and oranges perform poorly. Images with blue as the dominant color generate 24 percent more likes than images that are predominantly red.
- The more a single hue dominates an image, the more likes it receives. Images with single hue dominance above 40 percent receive the most likes. Currently, most images on Instagram don’t have single hue dominance, as 90 percent of images analyzed only have between 0-20 percent single hue dominance.
- Images with 0-15 percent saturation (or little color) generate 18 percent more likes than images with more vibrant color (20-40 percent saturation).
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Light, Textured and Complex Images Win
- To generate consumer interest, images should allow the eye to rest by having some background space. Images with a large amount of background space (above 90 percent) are very successful. Despite this, 70 percent of current Instagram images only have 0-20 percent background space, leaving significant room for improvement.
- Dark images minimize sharing and likes. Images with 65-80 percent lightness generate 24 percent more likes than dark images with 0-45 percent lightness.
- Images with high levels of texture generate 78 percent more likes than those with little texture.
About Curalate
Curalate is the most comprehensive platform for marketing with images. Hundreds of the world’s leading brands, including Gap, Neiman Marcus, Campbell’s, Swarovski, Under Armour, Better Homes & Gardens, and Michaels, rely on Curalate’s advanced image-analytics algorithms and robust marketing tools to understand visual conversations, increase fan engagement, and grow revenue across Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook. For more information please visit: http://www.curalate.com.