Social Media Photos of People Vacationing May Not Be so Attractive to New Customers, Study Finds

A recent study from Tulane University suggests that the common practice of social media marketers sharing photos of people enjoying vacations or special events at exclusive venues may have unintended consequences.

Study on Social Media Delves Into Psychological Ownership

The research delves into the concept of "psychological ownership," which refers to the feeling that something belongs to an individual, even without legal ownership.

The study examined over 14,000 travel photos from a prominent Instagram influencer and conducted experiments asking viewers to choose between venues with or without individuals in the photo.

The results consistently showed that the presence of people in photos of special or once-in-a-lifetime events decreased viewers' liking and preference for the venue. This phenomenon was attributed to the desire for personal ownership over places tied to significant experiences like vacations or weddings.

Psychological ownership is a concept seen in various contexts, from students feeling a connection to a particular seat in a classroom to sports fans identifying strongly with a franchise.

Similarly, couples might feel a sense of ownership over their wedding venue, even though they don't legally own it. According to the researchers, people often shape and express their identity through this sense of ownership.

The inspiration for the study came from Zoe Lu, an assistant professor of marketing at Tulane, who noticed the impact of a photo taken after her fiancé's marriage proposal in 2018.

She suspected that sharing a photo featuring her and her fiancé could give friends a sense of ownership over the proposal location, potentially influencing their choice of their own proposal venue.

Identity-Relevant Experiences

The study's implications suggest that advertisers should exercise caution when using images of previous customers in online visuals depicting "identity-relevant experiences."

It highlights that people tend to view special occasions as more identity-relevant than routine experiences. For instance, an anniversary dinner holds more identity significance compared to a regular evening out.

Lu suggests that venues aiming to optimize their visual content marketing should carefully consider whether the featured consumer experience is identity-relevant and whether the individuals depicted have a distinct identity.

If people are included in promotional photos, it may be beneficial to feature individuals who don't compete with the viewer for the same identity, such as employees or business owners.

"This research is the first to investigate the impact of human presence in shared photos through the lens of psychological ownership and the identity-signaling function of ownership," the research's abstract reads.

"The findings offer practical insights into when marketers should avoid human presence in advertisements and how to mitigate the negative impact of human presence in online photos," it added.

The findings of the study were published in the Journal of Consumer Research.