Instagram content is arguably the hottest topic in social media, today. How do you create engaging and memorable posts or ads? This is the question that keeps creatives and clients up at night. But not anymore.
In this post, we'll share the scientific facts and stats you need to know to create ground-breaking Instagram content.
Stats & Facts About Visual Content
1. People process visuals 60.000 times faster than text.
Instagram recently reached 1 billion active users. Some may attribute that fast growth to the fact that it is a primarily-visual platform. One of the reasons being that our brain comprehends visual content 60.000x faster than text, so it makes sense that Instagram is a well-liked platform.
David Konigsberg, 2013
According to MIT research, people can process an image in as little as 13 milliseconds. That's all it takes. Your visuals are critical in communicating the message you choose to send to your audience. Your visuals will determine whether someone continues on to read or engage with your content, or if they decide to scrolls past. In order to make sure you're communicating the right message and setting the right mood, test your visuals on your colleagues and see their reactions. If they don't understand your message fairly quickly, you should improve it or give it another purpose.
2. You have 2 seconds to capture your audience's attention.
In 2016, research conducted by Facebook revealed that the attention span of users scrolling through content on a mobile device is a little less than 2 seconds. You have 2 seconds to capture the attention of your audience, so make sure your content is unique and visually appealing. Your second job is to make sure your post is engaging and holds their attention.
3. The simpler the image, the better.
As I said before, our brains process visuals, images and symbols much faster than words, so marketers need to think about how to reduce an entire idea into simple images. Consider road signs: is it better to have a sign that says “There's a school ahead. Watch out for children crossing the road.” or to have an image of two school children walking?
This applies to the colors you use, as well. Pictures that contain 2 dominant colors are more likable than having an extravagant multicolored image. Think about this next time you're designing an Instagram post or story. It's easier to communicate emotions and information through simple pictures.
Hoon Rhee, 2013
4. Visual attractiveness matters more than content.
In a study conducted by the University of Texas, researchers found that people make purchasing decisions based on the visual attractiveness of products. The researchers asked a group of people which of 2 chickens they would like to have cooked for dinner. The pretty chicken is super tasty, the most tender meat you have ever eaten. And the second ugly chicken is free range super healthy bio chicken. The vast majority of respondents choose the pretty chicken. Then the researchers asked another group of people the same question. However, the characteristics of those chicks were switched. The pretty chicken was super healthy but not so tasty and the ugly chicken was super tasty but not so healthy. The result was that the majority of respondents decided to eat the pretty chicken again. This simple experiment proves that people make decisions based on visual information (attraction). Use this knowledge and create beautiful Instagram content to make users choose your product over the others.
Creating Instagram Content Your Audience Loves
As we've established above, people enjoy Instagram for primarily for its focus on simple and visually appealing content. Whether people are following their friends, celebrities, world travelers, or brands, they expect to open up the app to high-quality photographs, graphics, videos, etc. Brands, nobody wants to see your boring sales pitch.
As a brand on Instagram, you have to find a way for your posts to both naturally fit into your follower's feed as well as capture their attention for more than 2 seconds. There are a few ways to accomplish this: create stand-out visuals or curate relevant content. For anyone on a small team (or those of you with no idea where to start) there are plenty of content creation and curation tools available to help you create clean, simple, and visually appealing content for Instagram.
Follow other brands on Instagram that are successful and see if any of their strategies work for you. Maybe you have a photographer on your team who can capture beautiful images of your products, or maybe you have an amazing community that you can engage with to create an account focused on user-generated content. Figure out what type of content you're capable of producing and start building a well-liked brand on Instagram.
