You upload image after image on Instagram but you don’t get more than 25 to 30 Likes. Your comments are just as inactive and uninteresting as a broken car on the side of a road. You have tried every trick in the book but it doesn’t seem to work.

Do not lose heart.

Many marketers search for the “secret” that will get them a lot of engagement. The secret lies less in a particular Instagram filter or tactic and more in understanding how we perceive and process visual information. It is important to understand what draws a person’s attention to a particular photo.

Psychology is a major factor in why people are attracted to certain photos more than others. You don’t have to spend five years in graduate school to learn how to get more Instagram likes.

In this article, I will show you how to use ten psychological principles that can be used to get people to interact with your Instagram posts.

This is the Problem with Most Instagram Marketing Advice

Every article on Instagram marketing and how you can get more engagement talks about the same thing: create great content.

You’ve probably heard the phrase, “it all boils down to sharing high-quality photos and videos.” That sounds great. What makes an Instagram post “good”?

McDonald’s, Nike, and Starbucks all get a lot of engagement on their posts. But their content is different.

Starbucks shares a lot of user-generated content from customers who drink its delicious drinks. Nike posts photos and videos that are motivational. McDonald’s posts both promotional and user-generated content about the iconic golden arches all over the globe.

While they may all have their approaches, there are common themes among them. It doesn’t matter if you hire the best photographer, or if you use professional models.

Understanding your audience is key. You can also use psychology to help you communicate with them. This is what makes this post different from all the other tips you will read.

We are leaving the general advice to “post better photos” at home. Instead, we will examine the factors and reasons why certain Instagram posts are more popular than others.

It’s not new to use psychology in marketing

This isn’t a new phenomenon. Since the 1800s, marketers, and advertisers have used psychology to market products. John B Watson, a controversial psychologist who used emotion to persuade consumers to buy, is an example.

Pebeco Toothpaste was Watson’s most famous ad. Pebeco Toothpaste was featured in an ad that Watson created featuring a beautiful woman who implied that women could smoke as long as they used Pebeco toothpaste. This is where psychology comes in.

In the early 1900s, smoking was not considered acceptable by women because of its association with autonomy and independence. However, that didn’t necessarily mean women wouldn’t like to smoke.

Watson’s ad aimed at that desire. Watson’s ad, which featured an attractive woman and focused on smoking, went beyond selling hygiene to seduction. It was not about healthier gums and teeth. Pebeco toothpaste was the only way women could smoke, and still be attractive.

The times have changed drastically since then. Watson and others still use many of the same ideas today, such as seductive visuals and appealing to people’s needs. This is also known as using psychology to sell.

In your Instagram posts, you can include psychology in the copy and visual elements. Let’s discuss how to do each. We’ll start with Instagram, which is primarily visual.

What is Visual Psychology?

Visual perception is something you may already know. This is the idea that objects may appear differently depending on how they are viewed. This illusion Necker Cube is a classic example.

It’s very similar. Instead of focusing on the visual perception of an image by your brain, you want to alter viewers’ emotions to encourage them to interact with your Instagram posts.

It’s not about tricking people into buying something they aren’t. It’s about structuring Instagram photos, videos, and captions so that they catch the eye of your followers.

You now have a better understanding of visual psychology. Now, you need to know how to implement it in your strategy.

Visual Principles to Be Followed

Here are seven ways you can use visual psychology to increase engagement on your Instagram posts. These are “hacks” that you can use to influence the behavior of your audience based on their current viewing habits.

1. Sanocki & Sulman Show Color Harmony Matters

Would you be able to describe what you see if I showed you a photograph for five seconds and then asked you to describe it five minutes later?

According to Noah Sulman and Thomas Sanocki’s study of color relations, your answer may partly depend on the colors of the image. Sulman and Sanocki studied the effects of color harmony in short-term visual memory.

Participants were shown patterns with 9-15 different colors, as well as patterns that were similar or dissimilar. They tested how accurately people were able to perceive color changes when they switched out some of the color squares. The results showed that people remembered patterns better when they were harmonious.

Harmonic colors can be used to improve the recall of your photos by your audience.

The key takeaways

• In your photos, use harmonious color palettes

• Our visual memory is affected by the colors around us. To make your Instagram photos stand apart, use the contrast between the background and focal point.

• Your photos should contain fewer colors. People will remember visuals better if you use fewer colors.

2. Scene Gist can make your photos more memorable

Scene gist refers to your ability to see the context and subject of a photograph once you have fixed your eyes on it. This is your ability to understand the “gist” or general meaning of what you are seeing.

Although you may not be aware of it, most people can recognize an image within seconds of viewing it. one study showed that viewers were able to identify the scene’s essence with more than 80% accuracy, even though they only had to process a visual for 36 milliseconds.

What does this all have to do with Instagram photos?

Are they able to instantly identify what your Instagram photo is when they scroll through it? People will be more likely to look at your photo if it is easy to identify what it is and to process it quickly. Next, ask yourself: What can you do to improve scene perception in your Instagram posts?

In 2008, researchers Monica S. Castelhano and John Henderson conducted an experiment that may have helped you.

Castelhano and Henderson wanted a study on the effect of color on an individual’s ability to understand the essence of an image. Participants were given a brief presentation of a scene and then shown the name of the target object. Participants were asked to indicate whether the object’s name was consistent with the image they had seen.

The key takeaways

• Don’t be too creative with your photos.

• Avoid filters that intensify the colors in your photos. Canva has shown that Clarendon, Gingham, and Juno are the most popular filters on Instagram.

• Your photos should be easy to identify. You risk being overlooked if you have abstract photos or photos from strange angles.

3. To Embed Your Brand In Their Minds, “Prime” Your Audience

For decades, marketing has used the concept of priming in different ways. Naomi Mandel and Eric J. Johnson conducted a particular experiment.

Mandel and Johnson experimented to see how website background can affect consumer behavior. Participants were asked to compare two car brands on a page. The background on one page was green with pennies. The second page was colored with flames.

Participants who saw the green background spent more of their time looking at the price. Pennies and green are both associated with money. The red background was more appealing to those who were exposed to the safety features, as red and flames could be interpreted as a sign of danger or emergency. Mandel and Johnson concluded that visual stimuli could influence consumers’ behavior.

Example

Other than McDonald’s, Coca-Cola is another brand that excels at priming. Their Instagram account is filled with their logo and red color scheme.

You immediately think of their products when you see their posts on your feed. The screenshot below shows how they use red outside their logo. They either add it to a jacket or a popcorn bucket.

The key takeaways

• Incorporate brand colors in your Instagram photos to help people associate your brand with those colors. Because they are familiar with your brand, they will be more inclined to look at your photos and interact with you.

• Your marketing efforts such as ads, blog posts, and social media messages should be coordinated with your Instagram photos. This will make it more likely that people who see your Instagram posts after they have seen an advertisement on Facebook or elsewhere are going to take action.

4. The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon allows you to be everywhere

Although you may not be familiar with it, the Baader Meinhof Phenomenon is something that most people are aware of. It’s basically when something you have just heard, read, or experienced suddenly appears in your daily life.

This is most evident when shopping for a car. You start to see it everywhere once you have decided on a car.

It is not that everyone buys the same car as you. You may have noticed it earlier, but you are now starting to notice it more. Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon is a combination of two processes occurring in your brain simultaneously – selective Attention and confirmation bias.

When you learn something new, selective attention is what happens. Because it was recently learned, you are paying more attention to this than any other thing.

Here’s some information you might not have known. Blue is associated with trustworthiness, security, and dependability. This is why Walmart and Facebook use it. You’ll likely notice blue in logos and advertising more now that you have this information.

Confirmation bias is the second part of the equation. This is when your brain interprets new experiences as confirmations of your beliefs. After you have experienced the new thing, and you start to notice it more often, you attempt to explain why. Because of confirmation bias, you believe everyone else is aware of the same thing that you are.

Let’s go back to the blue example. You now know the psychology of the color blue. If you ever see a brand using it, it will likely be because they want to communicate trustworthiness and security.

Example

Uber recently promoted their Visa Local program. They used social media, emails, and other methods to spread the word. They use consistent imagery (people walking around town in the diagonal frame) as well as a copy (explore and dine ride) across all platforms to embed the message in your mind.

The key takeaways

• You can run an Instagram remarketing campaign to target people who have visited your site in the last 30 days. In your ad’s visuals and copy, use elements from the page they visited.

• Make Instagram posts that are based on current topics. Because the topic is trending, your audience will likely have seen it more often so they’ll be more inclined to see your post.

5. The Isolation Effect makes your photos stand out

The isolation effect is perhaps the most simple principle on this list. The isolation effect is, as the name implies when something stands out from everything around it.

If you look at a row of red pens and then add one white pen, the white pen will stand out because it is different.

This principle can be applied to Instagram in several ways. One way to do this is to make your focal point in photos different from the background.

You can also look at your competitors and see what they are doing. Next, share photos and videos that are unique to your audience so they stand out on their feeds.

Example

BMW is a brand that makes good use of the isolation effect. On the car manufacturer’s Instagram, there are many photos of cars in various environments. Although some backgrounds can be Instagram-worthy, the main focus is always on what the car looks like.

The key takeaways

• To make your photos stand out more, isolate the focal point from the background.

• Consider your Instagram photos about everything else in the feed of your target audience. What can you do?

6. To appeal to your audience’s primal nature, use the Biophilia effect

What is the most beautiful picture of a natural landscape, forest, or beach that you have ever seen? These photos are often reminiscent of dream vacation spots. But there is another reason why you love photos of nature: the Biophilia Effect.

Biophilia is a hypothesis that humans naturally gravitate to nature. It suggests that viewing nature can help reduce stress and improve focus. This principle is used by architects to design buildings. They incorporate indoor gardens, natural sunlight, and other elements that highlight the great outdoors.

Although you may not be able physically to bring your followers outside, you can create an effect similar to one that will help you get more engagement on your Instagram posts.

Example

National Geographic is the best place to see the biophilia phenomenon in action. National Geographic is a well-known brand for taking stunning photos and videos of nature long before social media.

They can share more often on Instagram thanks to it. Their engagement numbers on Instagram show how powerful the biophilia phenomenon can be.

The key takeaways

• Please send us photos of forests, parks, and other natural settings.

• You can add natural elements to your photos such as plants, sunlight, or an open window in the background.

• If possible, consider programming photographs of customers using your products outdoors.

7. Building Social Proof like the Solomon Asch Conformity Experiment

Social proof is one of the most widely used psychological strategies by social media marketers. Social proof is the belief that others’ actions and opinions can influence people’s behavior. You might be told by three friends that a movie is great, and you decide to go see it.

Many studies have shown that social proof can be used to influence consumer behavior. The Solomon Asch Conformity Experiment is one of the most well-known.

Solomon Asch, a psychologist from Stanford University, gathered students to experiment and showed them images that were similar to those shown.

Participants had to decide which line (A-B or C) was the closest to the one on the left. Here’s the problem. Asch instructed all participants to choose line A or B for each round, even though it was clear that C was the correct answer. 75% of participants who were not aware of the rules agreed with Asch and chose the wrong answer.

This is how you can apply the same principle to Instagram.

Instagram has increased the power of social evidence by showing you a continuous stream of what your friends, family, and influencers enjoy. Marketers will be more successful if they can get your target audience to endorse and promote your brand.

People don’t necessarily like the content of your photos, but that’s not why they don’t interact with them. You might not even be known to them. They might be interested in your brand starting to pop up in the photos and videos of their friends.

You can also get tagged by people you follow in posts. This will increase your content’s chances of appearing in their Explore tab because of Instagram’s algorithm.

Example

You’ve likely noticed a growing trend if you follow popular lifestyle or fitness influencers on YouTube or Instagram. Many of these watch brands are partnering with smaller, less-known startups to offer luxury watches at a fraction of the price. MVMT is one of the most well-known watch brands.

Over the years, MVMT has collaborated with many influencers to build a huge following on Instagram. They have been able to increase their reach by leveraging a network that includes influencers with millions of followers. It’s why their hashtag #MVMT was mentioned more than 80K times on Instagram.

Their posts attract a lot of attention and engagement.

The key takeaways

• Instead of trying to reach every target customer, you should focus on reaching the people who already follow you.

• To promote your brand to influencers, you should work with them. Their recommendation builds trust in your company and credibility.

What about Captions?

Visual psychology has been covered, but there is another piece. Your captions are important!

Your captions can spark conversations and push people to take action. These psychology “hacks”, which you can use in your captions, will help people take action if your posts don’t get any engagement or comments.

1. These persuasive words can be used

Copywriters are skilled at using words. Copywriters know that different phrases can elicit different reactions from consumers. You will see these words on billboards and online ads because they have been carefully selected for a reason.

Although some copywriters have spent years studying and practicing persuasive copywriting, this skill is not universally available. However, that doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice your captions.

Copyblogger has compiled a list of the five most persuasive English words based on research and studies.

1. You: Texting with “you” feels more personal. Feeling like you are speaking directly to someone makes you feel more connected. This effect can be amplified if you use a person’s name.
2. Free: It’s not a secret that people love free stuff. It’s mainly due to loss fear which is our fear/dislike of missing out on something such as a free offer. Don’t overuse free. It loses its effectiveness over time and you begin to attract only freebie seekers, rather than potential customers.
3. Because: This is related to the justification effect. I’ll explain it a bit later.
4. Instantly: Time is the most valuable thing that people value. Companies like GrubHub and Stitch Fix show that people will pay more to get what they want faster. The word “instantly” communicates an immediate feeling of satisfaction. If you do “A”, then you will immediately get “B”.
5. New: Although consumers may not be open to change at times, humans are open to innovation and improvements. Apple can release new iPhones every year, and they sell out quickly. People love the idea of “new”, which is a new experience. Particularly now, when consumers demand and increased competition is pushing brands to innovate faster to keep up with consumer demand. This is similar to the Red Queen’s race theory.

Keep in mind that these phrases won’t automatically make people click on your Instagram photos. However, strategically using these phrases in combination with other strategies in this article can help increase your chances of people taking action.

Example

Instagram photos of food are often a selling point. GrubHub can entice you with captions that speak directly to the viewer. This caption shows GrubHub’s casual, conversational tone. It almost feels like they are speaking directly to you.

The key takeaways

• Use persuasive words in your captions to encourage people to act.

• To maximize the effectiveness of the five persuasive phrases, use them strategically.

2. The Serial Position Effect puts words in the right order

Did you know that the order of things in a series can impact your ability to recall them? The serial positioning effect shows that you are more likely to recall things at the end or beginning of a series than those at the middle.

Because of the theory’s primacy and recency, the serial position effect works.

• Primacy: The first thing to happen or appear is more important because it “sets the tone for what’s coming.”

• Recency: Things that occur or happen in the past are more important because they’re closer to the present.

You can translate it into an Instagram caption or any other type of text by focusing on the beginning. It’s the part that leads to the rest of your text. Because it’s still fresh in the mind, you are more likely to recall the last part of what was read. This is similar to confirmation bias.

Serial positioning can be used in your captions. Make sure that the most important parts are at the beginning and end of your captions. If you wish to include a call-to-action for people to comment, place it in the last sentence. People are more likely not to notice it if it is hidden in the middle.

Example

This is a great example of serial positioning within an Instagram caption. Notice how this Thisopenspace post leads you with a question that will pique your interest. It ends by telling exactly what action you should take.

The key takeaways

• Pay attention to the order in which your captions are written. Try to arrange them in order of importance.

• Your captions should be viewed as a story. Your first sentence should grab people’s attention immediately. The middle should keep them interested as much as possible. Finally, your captions should end with something memorable.

3. The Justification Effect is a proven method of proving that it works.

The way someone asks you to do something can influence your decision. That’s the conclusion of the 1978 ” Xerox Study“. This experiment does not have anything to do with Xerox. It was about the willingness of people to accept a request to use Xerox machines based on how they were asked.

Researchers Arthur Blank, Ellen Langer, and Benzion Chanowitz devised an experiment to see how people who are waiting in line to copy using Xerox machines would react when someone cuts in front of them. Three different strategies were used by the line cutters to determine if they could cut. 

1. “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine, because I’m in a rush?”
2. “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine?
3. “Excuse me, I have five pages. “I need to make copies, so may I use the Xerox machine?”

Which sentence did you believe had the highest success rate

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that 94% of respondents allowed the line cutters in front of them using the first approach. With 93%, the third approach had the second-highest response rate. The second approach had a 60% success rate.

You will notice the main similarities between No. Notice the main similarity between No. 3, is the use of one word–because. This tactic is known as the “justification effect”, and it’s a popular copywriting technique.

Justification effects show that people will be more likely to accept a request if they have a reason. People will assume that your request is valid if you give them a reason to do so.

This is something you’ve likely noticed in your daily life. You’ll be more likely to accept a request from your spouse to do a chore, or from a friend asking for money.

Let’s apply this theory to Instagram. Are you motivating your audience to take action? Do your CTAs read more like “Leave comments”?

It’s fine to ask for a comment or like. You can go a step further by providing a reason for your request.

Example

Did you see brands using “link in bio” in their captions to get you to click through their website? This tactic is effective and can even be very powerful. However, it would help if you did the same thing Whole Foods did: add the justification effect.

Notice how they provide a reason for people to click the link in the bio. Many brands would have just said “New products coming in the fall” and sent people to their bio. Whole Foods makes it clear why people should click through so they can make the experience worthwhile.

The key takeaways

• Do not tell your audience what they should do. It is important to explain why they should do it.

• Justification phrases such as “because”, “so that” or “since ___ you should” are good examples.

To get people to engage, it takes more than science

These psychological strategies and techniques can all help you increase engagement on Instagram. These are not magic bullets. Other factors include brand perception, engagement with other accounts, hashtags used, posting frequency, and other factors.

It takes effort and time to get engagement on Instagram. These are just a few of the things you can do to increase engagement, in addition to what you have learned in this guide.

• To increase your visibility, make sure you use relevant and popular hashtags

• Post at least once per day.

• Use Instagram Stories. Stories are prominently displayed at the top of Instagram’s feeds, making them stand out.

• To increase brand awareness, you can use Instagram ads.

• You can interact with other users by liking their photos and commenting daily.

• To track your Instagram analytics, monitor it. Your data will help you adjust your strategy.

Be willing to put in the effort and time necessary to build an engaged Instagram audience. It is becoming increasingly difficult to be noticed on Instagram. Your brand can achieve amazing results with the right strategy.