Out of the 1.2 million Instagram posts from over 4,000 accounts considered in the study, posts shared by women had an average of 578 likes and comments combined over men’s 117 average. Hopper HQ says women users also had a higher average with only comments included, 170 compared to 113 for men. That average, however, suggests that the interactions on men’s posts favor comments over likes. While the scheduling service says that more Instagram users are female, the platform’s male users tend to interact most with posts about sports and fitness.
Hopper HQ is a service that schedules Instagram posts (and that, unlike recent bot shutdowns, says it follows Instagram’s Terms of Use). The data includes only posts shared using the platform, but could offer insight into potential ways to drive more interaction organically. For example, the Gingham filter had the most likes, with the Clarendon coming in second.
The study also suggests that posts relating to personal experiences — ranging from travel to weight loss — receive the most likes. Images with animals came in second, and scenic shots were the third most popular type of photo.
The text accompanying the photo matters, too — captions that were so long that users had to click “see more” to read the post in its entirety received an average of 15 percent fewer likes while captions with emojis tended to receive more interactions. The hashtags of course matter as well – with #love, #instagood, #photooftheday, #beautiful, and #tbt getting the most use.
The study also suggests that when you post matters — Hopper HQ suggests that for British users, posting between 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. BST on weekdays and 11 a.m. on the weekends, though profiles hoping to reach followers in a different time zone might be a bit different.
The data is only a small portion of Instagram posts since it comes from only the posts made through the Hooper HQ system — and as a paid service, Hooper HQ users are likely a narrower demographic than Instagram users as a whole. Still, while it’s just a small glimpse, the study could help users grow their organic reach.
