Brands seeking attention on social media outlets, such as Instagram, may benefit from keeping the colours in their posts visually consistent, according to research in the International Journal of Mobile Communications.
The research analysed 365 responses from Instagram users. It found that they were more positively engaged with a post and its associated brand when the background colours of a post matched the main visual elements of the image. The team suggests that this effect is due to processing fluency, the ease with which people understand and interpret information.
Using a controlled experiment based on Instagram-style brand content, researchers compared posts with congruent colour schemes against those with contrasting colours. Participants exposed to the former reported stronger brand attitudes and greater intentions to revisit the brand’s Instagram page and purchase its products than those seeing the more conflicting colour schemes.
The findings suggest that colour does more than attract attention. In crowded digital environments, consumers often rely on visual cues to form rapid judgements about a brand. Consistent colour schemes appeared to reduce the mental effort required to interpret a post, allowing viewers to focus more on its message.
Chen, C-C. and Chiu, Y-P. (2026) ‘Evaluating the impact of colour congruence on marketing effectiveness within Instagram campaigns’, Int. J. Mobile Communications, Vol. 27, No. 4, pp.417–434.
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