CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Instagram has more than 2 billion monthly users, according to CNBC. That means a lot of people are liking and swiping, but what motivates someone to actually "like" a post?
Let's connect the dots.
New research shows it may be less about what's in the picture and more about who posted it. A marketing professor at North Carolina State University says a brand's strength and its number of followers are the biggest factors to engagement.
Simply put, more followers means more likes and reactions. But it isn't exactly that simple.
Researchers found people liked images with a diversity of light and color, but not too much and not too little. People also prefer pictures that are very simple or very complex.
Marketing firms hope this research will help businesses and brands gain more traction on social media.
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