Marketers Should Use Images of Women to Get Facebook Likes but Not Shares

According to a study conducted by Taggs, a visual content marketing analytics company, Facebook users like brand images of women 41 percent more than they like brand images of men. However, users share brand images of men 19 percent more than they share images of women.

The study looked at 1,103 brand images on the Facebook Pages of nine large U.S. retail brands: Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle, Forever 21, H&M, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Old Navy, Target and Walmart. Taggs noted the likes, shares and comments each image received.

According to Taggs’ analysis, 63 percent of brand images included only women, while 20 percent included only men and 17 percent included at least member of each gender.

Images including only women got the highest engagement (i.e., likes, shares and comments), followed by images including women and men. Brand images of only men got the lowest engagement.

Taggs has a theory about why images of women get the most likes and engagement: Likes are the “lightest” form of engagement on Facebook, in that they require the least effort and endorsement. Most brand images of women show them wearing products (especially given the sampling of retailers the company used in the study), so they’re built with an eye toward the product and not so much to any profound message