Netflix is well known for using data-driven marketing to come up with more intelligent and focused recommendations to keep you watching.
Recently, they conducted a study that goes beyond just what movies and TV shows you like. Their study, “The Power of an Image,” sought to get a better understanding of how the images they use on their homepage impact user behavior, finding that the thumbnails displayed are one of the biggest reasons someone chooses to click play or not. They found that images “constituted over 82% of people’s focus while browsing,” making it a hugely influential factor in what people chose to watch.
In the study, Netflix reports that if you don’t capture a member’s attention within 90 seconds, that member will likely lose interest. On social media, you have even less time to capture someone’s attention as they’re scrolling through their feed. Which is why imagery is so important. Visual content is more than 40X more likely to be shared on social media than other types of content and Facebook posts with images see more than 2X more engagement than those without images (Source: HubSpot).
Let’s take a look at the biggest trends Netflix found in their study and how it can be applied to your social media posts:
Showcase Emotions
The study found that images showing faces that expressed a wide-range of emotions performed better than those without. They said, “Faces with complex emotions outperform stoic or benign expressions — seeing a range of emotions actually compels people to watch a story more. This is likely due to the fact that complex emotions convey a wealth of information to members regarding the tone or feel of the content.”
Testing the below images to promote their series “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” they found that the image of the two main characters making exaggerated facial expressions performed the best.
Takeaway for social media content: Using images with faces is an effective strategy to increase engagement. More specifically, you should post images that convey the emotional tone or feel of your content. When taking photos or choosing from stock photography, pick the images that have the most expression to reel in your audience.
Less is More
Netflix also found that images that contain more than three people lead to a significant drop in user engagement. This finding changed the way they approached the promotion of one of their most popular shows, ‘Orange is the New Black’. In Season 1, they featured the entire cast in promotional images, while for seasons 2 and 3, they showcased only the main character.
Takeaway for social media content: Don’t post images that are too busy. Simple, clean images will perform better, particularly when displayed on a smaller scale. And since most social media posts are viewed on mobile, you have less space and a smaller image size to capture an audience’s attention with your visual content.
Audience Preferences Differ by Region
With artwork for Netflix’ series “Sense8,” the company was able to get a glimpse into the differences in response to imagery across various cultures. Netflix stated that “Examining regional differences helped us see that while great stories transcend borders, it is important to understand how presenting each story in different regions impacts how quickly members from around the world actually discover that story through artwork.”
Takeaway for social media content: Tailor your content and images to your specific audience. Know your target market and make sure every graphic and image you share is relatable to that audience. If you’re not sure what your audience is going to respond to, test out various content to see what’s working.
While the findings here are obviously focused on movies and TV shows, it goes to show how powerful images are and the ability they have to move people in powerful ways. The study offers some interesting lessons in what types of images generate better engagement; such as limiting the amount of people you have in your photos and using images that showcase more complex emotions. Take note of these and you may be able to generate better engagement and get more people to click through and read your posts.
