High color complexity in social media images is more eye-catching and increases user engagement, according to Vamsi Kanuri.
Kanuri is a professor of marketing at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. He is the lead author of the study “Standing out from the crowd: When and why color complexity in social media images increases user engagement.” The study was recently published in the International Journal of Research in Marketing.
Marketers are increasingly focused on creating social media content to capture user attention and drive engagement with content. One proven strategy is using social media images. A 2021 report by Sprout Social found that nearly 53% of content marketers consider images crucial for achieving their social media goals. About 70% of social media users prefer interacting with image-based posts over text-only content.
Despite this preference for social media images, there has been little research about which image characteristics most effectively boost user engagement. Kanuri’s new research addresses how color complexity affects user engagement on social media. Color in marketing influences everything from brand perception to purchase intentions.
Along with Christian Hughes from Case Western Reserve University and Brady Hodges from the University of Missouri, Kanuri examined color complexity —the variation in colors across pixels in an image. Images with higher color variation require more cognitive processing and are perceived to be more complex.
The researchers used computer vision algorithms to measure color complexity and biometric eye-tracking to study attention.
“We find that more complex images in a social media post tend to capture greater user attention, leading to increased engagement with those posts,” Kanuri said in a press release. “This supports the notion that higher color complexity can be beneficial.”
The team also uncovered several nuances of color complexity that marketers can consider to maximize user engagement. The effectiveness of color complexity varies based on image size, time of day and whether the accompanying text content is positive or negative.
The study found that using larger images with greater color complexity later in the day and accompanied by complex text containing positive sentiments leads to maximum user engagement.
“Investing in the careful curation of social media images — especially those with high color complexity — can lead to better user engagement,” Kanuri said. “It’s crucial to align image characteristics with other post features and to be mindful of the timing and context of social media interactions.”
Kanuri encourages marketers to integrate these insights into their content strategies and continue to learn about factors that influence how users interact with their posts.
“By doing so, they can optimize their social media presence and achieve greater success in their digital marketing efforts,” Kanuri said.
