Science Behind Instagram: 7 Ways to Improve Your Business Posts

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Instagram has the highest engagement ratio of all major social channels. According to Forrester Research who looked at the ratio of interactions across the “Big 7” social channels, Instagram annihilates the competition.

Generally, Instagram’s engagement ratio is 60 times greater than Facebook and 140 times greater than Twitter. Now, you may be thinking, “Well, that’s great. But I do not see that happening on MY posts.” Plain and simple, low post engagement happens to the vast majority of business owners on Instagram (and surprisingly, length in business is not important).

There is a definite science to Instagram and many business owners are not aware of it. Understanding and using this science to your advantage produces a highly valuable benefit. When you use Instagram’s image-based platform the correct way, you have the ability to show products directly to the consumer. We have several resources designed specifically for using Instagram for Business, you can check them out Here.

According to Quicksprout, image quality is more important for consumers’ purchasing decisions than product info, a detailed description, or ratings and reviews.

The beauty of Instagram is its capacity to put quality images straight into the feed of your ideal customer. When you do this correctly, you have in fact placed your product in the palm of their hands (on their phone that is).

There is no denying the power of Instagram and it is just going to keep growing. Let’s take a look at the best ways to improve product posts on the platform. Here is the “Science Behind Instagram”.

7 Underused Instagram Tips That Improve Business Posts

1. Pay attention to your light source.

Social media experts spend their time examining and recording every minutia of what makes people interact with different posts. The greatest common denominator in Instagram post interaction was lighting. Incredible right? But yes, brighter pictures get more likes. Here is a tip on how you can get your audience to “See the Light regarding your products.

(Image Source: www.urbanagendamagazine.com)

Before you take the shot, see where the light is coming from, and use it to your advantage. Whether it is natural light coming from the sun, or an artificial source like a lamp; how can you use it to make your photos better? How is the light interacting with the scene and the subject? Is it highlighting an area or casting interesting shadows? These are all things you can utilize to make an ordinary photo extraordinary. (source: http://petapixel.com/2014/01/24/40-tips-take-better-photos/)

2. On the color scale, audiences choose cool picture’s over warm pictures.

In the world of Instagram, blues, gray’s, and whites get more likes and follows than reds, orange, and yellow.

How can you tell what is best for your product: Warm or Cool?

When you take photos, always think about whether you want to create a warm image or a cool one. For example, portraits often benefit from warm light. Warm light is flattering to the skin. Cool light has the opposite effect; it can make someone look cold or ill.

The majority of us will use the camera’s auto white balance setting (the camera will do this on its own). The camera automatically wants to create a photo with a neutral color cast. If you desire to create a portrait with warm tones, select an Instagram filter that will make the portrait look warmer. Instagram has readily provided its users with different filter choices to help you achieve best results. For a warmer filter, Instagram recommends Aden.

Aden:
“Achieves a unique pastel-y look. It works great with portraits, even when there is harsh light.”

(Source: blog.instagram.com)

3. People want to see you.

Images with a face get more likes and follows than those without. Here is a little science behind how to take a good selfie headshot. Review some images of people who you admire and look for elements you’d like to use in your selfies.

For example, if you like action shots, then use that theme. Or if you prefer pictures of people being casual, use a similar style. Brainstorm settings that support your theme. For example, if you’re a creative business designer, take a photo of yourself at an industry event.

Touch image below for more tips.

Choose your colors and lighting well. We have learned that lighting is a huge factor on Instagram so choose it wisely. Colors play an important role in the balance of an image. Make sure to stand out in a good way by choosing contrasting colors. For example, in an urban setting with predominantly gray tints, select bright tones of blue, red or green. In an outdoor setting like a park, avoid greens, browns and blues and instead, choose reds, pinks or yellows. (Source: http://bit.ly/1R5kTAD)

4. Busy photos get people excited.

The more action in your photo the more likes per follower.

Why is this? A typical city is full of traffic, busy backgrounds, and lots of people that all have an interesting story to tell. You can choose busy photography to tell a product story in the setting of city life. You can choose people from all walks of life. Different kinds of people will tell different kinds of stories. Photograph young and old, rich and poor, business people and tourists.

Look out for different kinds of emotions and capture them in your street photos to tell powerful stories with your products as the common theme. If likes is what you’re going for. Up the busyness factor.

5. Choose a filter with less color saturation.

Images with deeper saturation get far fewer likes and follows then using an image with a de-saturated filter. Filters are the hallmark of Instagram, which popularized the ability to quickly edit digital photos with stylish tones. But why should the Instagram for Business user even bother with them? What are these filter styles meant to arouse in the audience?

Instagram has provided some detailed information on the filters. But since we are only concerned (at least with this post) about de-saturation for more likes and followers, let’s see what Instagram recommends.

Slumber

“Achieves a retro look of subtle desaturation and hazing. It does something especially retro to blacks and blues.”

(Source: blog.instagram.com)

6. Your audience wants to “like, comment, or interact”.

Therefore, do not be shy to give them a call to action. Calls to action tell people what you would like them to do and it works. It’s really important to guide your visitors through the buying journey using strategic calls-to-action (CTAs).

The key science behind getting your audience to actually click on your CTA is to make it match what they are looking at.

For example: If the copy (words on your call to action, usually a lead capture page) is about “13 Tips to Become a Better Meal Prepper for Weight Loss”, and the post it appears on is a post about how to become a better meal prepper, you will have very high click rates.  In other words, when you make the offer (call to action) something your audience is already interested in, you will see hundreds of people completing your call to action.

7. More Tags

Currently in Instagram you can put a maximum of 30 Hashtags in one post. We recommend you should use this limit to the max whenever possible.

The more hashtags you use, the more likes, comments, and follows you will get. Add hashtags when you post a photo or a video.  Hashtags are incredibly important, when you put relevant and correct Hashtags for specific posts you are completing one of the best ways to get more exposure for your picture, leading to more likes and more followers. And as we all know, in the end highly targeted audience members equals a receptive audience.

Conclusion

You can imagine that the Science Behind Instagram, and these 7 Ways to Improve Your Business Posts not only work for creating amazing Instagram posts, but will ultimately transfer over to practically any of the Big 7 social sites. Continue to use these strategies time and time again, and you are looking at some serious improvements to your audience and your profits.

What did we miss? Have you discovered any other neat strategies to increase your Instagram Business pages? Please don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments, we will definitely post it in this blog.

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