Why women rule on Instagram

Women rule on Instagram claims recent research from Instagram scheduling company Hopper, as Female Instagram users get five times more likes on average than men. Looking at user data from the last two years, shows that men are also 10 times more likely to like and/or comment on female users’ posts than those of other men. Of the likes and comments on content posted by men, only 13% were from other male users.

Likes for women vs men on Instagram


Mike Bandar, co-founder of Hopper, says that the research findings can help brands to better target their campaigns: “It’s not new information that women and men respond differently to marketing, whether that be adverts, PR or social media, and with Instagram becoming an ever more popular marketing tool, with over 600 million active users, 100 million of which use it every day, it’s important for brands to know how to target each gender the best way via the platform.”

Bandar says that it is impressive just how much better women are at getting attention on Instagram: “It’s no surprise that on a visual platform like Instagram, men and women are drawn to the most beautiful and aesthetically-appealing content. What is surprising, is just how much more popular female users are compared to men, this could be because there’s simply more women on the platform than men, but our research also showed that men are ten times more likely to like/comment on a female users post compared to another man’s.”

“Instagram has always been a predominantly female platform, but these findings show just how tough it is out there for male-focused brands and influencers to build followings and reach audiences.”

So what can brands learn from the success of women on Instagram? Bandar concludes: “Insights like this are an asset that can help users create content that will best connect with their audiences. It’s not just about great photos, regular posts and the right hashtags!”

Previous studies into how men and women use social sites, show that women are more interested in making connections and staying in touch with family or friends, whilst men use social media to gather the information they need to build influence (as this study from digital agency cosmic shows). But when it comes to influencing people, the Instagram study highlights that being more personal is far more appealing than just providing information.

Methodology
Hopper used Instagram analytics and interrogated its own user accounts to access data such as followers and number of engagements, it also analysed a pool of accounts to access which posts are most popular segregated by gender.