Everyone loves to be liked and social media companies like Instagram thrive and run on all the likes that are entered into their system! But if you’re a small business owner, entrepreneur, or a rising influencer, how do you get all of those valuable likes on your posts and pages? Short of creating other ghost profiles or paying for likes, it can feel like you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to getting all those valuable clicks.
Instagram may not be counting likes anymore but the algorithm that governs the program runs the same. It reads how many clicks a post is getting and then pushes those posts to the top of someone’s news feed. So if you want to continue to be noticed by new and growing audiences, you’ve got to continue getting those double clicks!
There will be a lot of people who may push you toward buying likes but in the end, it’s not worth it! The bots either interact in ways that aren’t constructive or they’re simply removed by Instagram, leaving you with fewer followers and likes than you had originally. You want to gain real people, not the spammy bots!
There’s a better way!
One of the main questions you want to ask yourself as you set out to gain more likes and followers on your post is: what can you do for your Instagram audience. You may be seeking out their likes but you’ll want to put out content that they like to see, read, or hear rather than just what’s easy for you. New followers like posts that resonate with them, so keep that in the back of your mind as you start building a bigger following.
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Top 12 Ways To Get More Likes On Instagram
So let’s get down to what makes followers hit that heart button! All those likes aren’t about your ego or personal achievement though, they help you gauge what your followers want, how big your audience is, and your overall reach into the social media world. The goal is to continue to build your brand to reach more followers who will leave more likes!
1. Post Great Photos
The Instagram app is a visual medium. The social media company gained fame as more and more people started posting beautiful sceneries, food, and all of their achievements for the world to see.
One of the easiest ways to gain likes is to post those amazing pictures that circulate the world. The old photos you may have taken that were just okay lighting or ratios aren’t enough for the Instagram world. Selfies may not be your best bet either, instead boost your Instagram profile by utilizing the Instagram algorithm to get your content up to the explore page.
To boost the quality of your pictures, invest in photography classes to help develop your skills to boost your Instagram content. You may also want to obtain more professional photography equipment to keep your name in the game. If you’re posting for a business, look at tips for backgrounds and decorating. The more you can make your posts visually appealing, the more likely you’ll hit those big likes again and again and keep people coming back to find more!
2. Use The Right Instagram Hashtags
Hashtags may have originated on other social media platforms but they thrive on Instagram. Each hashtag is filled with a host of new and renewed posts that fall under that heading. When writing out your hashtags make sure that your tags aren’t too broad or too specific. Instagram often has a feature that tells you how many times the hashtag has been used on the platform so you can help judge what will get you into the mix.
Studies have shown that posts with an average of 9 hashtags tend to get the most engagement. This allows you to hit several different areas at once and engage the most followers possible.
Put the hashtags in the comments to keep them from cluttering up your captions and think about creating a branded hashtag to drive people to your pages. Hashtags help tell your audience whether you’re technically savvy or just desperate for likes and followers. The hashtags Instagram users write also helps their followers explore what’s trending and double tap or repost the media. Use them wisely!
3. Use Relevant Hashtags In Your Instagram Stories And Bio
While neither stories nor Instagram account bio gains you any likes, they can help direct your followers to your posts more clearly and help give them an idea of what you’re all about. This can also help drive more audience members to your branded hashtags and content. When you use hashtags, you want to make sure they’re the right hashtags that work within Instagram analytics. Utilize a hashtag strategy that follows along with what other popular hashtags and Instagram influencers are following.
Marketers are always looking at how Instagram engagement and metrics play out through all different content types. They follow these engagement rates through the use of hashtags!
To further improve your chances of reaching the Explore page, you can also buy Instagram likes. When using vendors such as Buzzoid.com, the process is very straightforward and easy.
4. Discern Who Your Audience Is
The goal of posting content on Instagram for your growing audience is to ensure that you’re posting what they want to see, hear, and read. To do that effectively you’ve got to know who exactly your Instagram followers are and then you’ll know what they want to see.
To know your audience, you may need to invest in some target market research. This will help you determine your audience and their statistics in general.
5. Tag People And Brands When You Can
Tagging people and brands in your Instagram photos that have a larger following can help you gain likes and followers for your posts. Whoever or whatever you’re planning on tagging helps you show how much you value them and their input as well as boost the number of likes! Whether it’s your childhood hero, a brand you love to use, or a new collaborator, it will help you reach not just your audience of followers, but theirs as well.
6. Write Great Captions
Instagram may be a visual medium and therefore great pictures are a must, but the captions that go with them speak volumes about what you’re trying to convey.
Captions shouldn’t always be “shorter is better.” There are a lot of times that you can post a longer caption and capture an audience. When you want to go a little bit more in-depth and share a story with your audience, be sure that you keep things entertaining. No one wants to read a 2200 character school report about your picture!
Sometimes though shorter is better! They say a picture is worth a thousand words and sometimes the caption for your Instagram posts only needs to pay tribute to the picture itself.
As you decide whether to write a longer post or a shorter one, keep in mind what your audience has been commenting. Look at what other people in your niche have been using for captions as well as how long they’ve been making them for each picture they put up. That will help you determine how to structure your captions for each post.
7. Geotag Your Location
Geotagging plays several important roles when you’re trying to maximize likes. It allows people to find you by location and like your photos of that place.
If you have a brick-and-mortar store, tagging your posts with the location tag of your establishment allows people to find you on social media and in real-life. This will also help keep the name of your town or area in the mind of future shoppers and customers. Before geotagging make sure that the coordinates in your profile are correct so they pop-up on the map appropriately!
8. Make Your Posts Consistent
When you set out to post more on social media, especially Instagram, you want to be sure that you’re staying at the top of your follower’s newsfeeds without annoying them with constant posts. To do that you’ll want to post content regularly each day!
Creating and posting to social media can be a chore and takes time out of your day to craft and reply to comments on each post. Investing in a social media management tool will allow you to craft posts for the day or week and schedule them to drop when you want. Then you can keep going on with your day and not have to drop everything to be on social media!
9. Post When Your Followers Are Looking
Everyone has different times of day that they jump on social media but there are several frequent periods when the bulk of audience members are looking at posts. Knowing when those peaks and valleys happen will keep your posts in front of your target audience’s eyes.
The Instagram algorithm doesn’t follow chronology but does favor more recent posts. These are pulled to the top of everyone’s feed and pushes the more recent posts to the forefront. Being engaged with your current audience and knowing when they hop on the app will help you determine the best time to post. You can also hop online and do some research to find the studies showing when the bulk of people tend to be on certain social media sites.
10. Run A Contests
Everyone wants a chance to win big or small! Holding a contest or giveaway can help you gain likes. When you set up your contest, give the instructions for people to like, comment, and follow for a chance to win. This will get you likes and followers for your page in a short amount of time.
Keep the prizes for your contest something that your audience will enjoy. There’s no point in offering sweet, scented candles as a prize in your contest if the bulk of your audience is car enthusiasts. But you’ll also want to keep the prize specific to your brand or company so you’re pulling in real followers and not just anyone looking to score.
Be sure to follow through with your contest too! Lots of people may comment on your post and it’s important to stay engaged with those audience members as they vie to win the prize. Engaging with them will also help you retain those followers for the long-run.
11. Ask People To Tag Their Friends
You’ll want to save this beauty for posts that are super good and people can’t help but tag a friend! This is another great way to get more eyes on your Instagram posts. As more and more people tag their friends in your giveaway or post, the farther out it will spread. When you stay connected and engage with these audience members as well, you’ll gain tried and true followers as well as likes!
This tends to work best on giveaways or other engaging posts. Posts that are “reverse giveaways” may be a fun gimmick and gain a little bit of attention but they don’t tend to gain a huge following or keep people in the loop.
12. Like And Comment On Other User’s Posts
Social media and Instagram in particular prioritizes accounts that are “close” or that have lots of interactions with each other. Just like in real life, if you want to get ahead, you’ve got to get out and network!
When you comment, tag, and like other brands and people’s posts, you help Instagram see you as a close account or associate and they’ll then suggest your account to other followers. While it can seem simple to just create a post and push it into the world, there’s a lot of interaction with audience members that are done behind the scenes of a social media account. The more you interact with followers, the more likely you are to be seen and heard!
Takeaway
Instagram may be hiding likes but they still dictate how all of the social media worlds interact with each other! The more you engage with your followers, other accounts, and hashtags the more likely you are to be pushed to the top of people’s newsfeed and be seen. Make use of reliable vendors like Buzzoid to buy Instagram followers, likes, and views to align with your marketing strategy.
Utilize hashtags appropriately to make sure you’re reaching your niche audience while still appealing to others outside of your sphere of influence. Invest in photography classes or new equipment to give your photos an edge over the competition, after all, Instagram is a visual medium!
Keep your captions appropriate to the situation whether that means you use up all your characters or keep it short and sweet. Much of what drives Instagram is how you engage with followers and other accounts so keep up with your engagements and interactions to drive your account forward.
Instagram can boost your business or brand in a lot of unique ways. But whether it’s in the real world or social media, interaction and networking are key. When you get out and interact with your followers, surroundings, and other accounts, you’ll see your likes soar!
If you are interested in even more social media-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels, then we have a lot to choose from.
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