11 Tips on How to Get More Likes on Instagram Posts without Buying Them

Believe it or not, Instagram is one of the most effective marketing tools these days. According to Instagram statistics, one billion people are active on the platform, 90% of them follow at least one business, and Instagram has the best interaction rates. With over 25 million businesses on the platform, the popularity of Instagram is undeniable. No wonder why so many want to know how to get more likes on Instagram.

Today, both big and small brands use this platform to reach out to their target audiences, show off products or services, interact with customers, and boost sales. Simply put, Instagram presence matters.

However, being on Instagram isn’t enough to get results. It’s also not enough to post eye-catching photos or videos from time to time. Likes are the currency and all users are obsessed with them.

No matter how many followers you have, you want to get more likes on Instagram posts, right? Although Instagram has started hiding likes, we still bother about them. Why? For businesses, the number of likes means user engagement and reach.

In this post, you will understand why bother about Instagram likes and find 11 tips on how to get more likes. Let’s dive in!

Why Bother About Instagram Likes?

Why should you bother about getting more likes if Instagram is making them private?

First things first: Although Instagram wants to hide likes from your followers, users will still be able to see how many likes they’re getting on posts. Moreover, the number of likes will still affect your user engagement rate that plays a key role in promoting your Instagram account.

All in all, getting more likes on Instagram posts is important for three main reasons:

• Understand your audience loves your content. No matter how informative your Instagram content is, this means nothing unless YOUR target audience finds it useful. Over the last decade, “like” has become a sign of approval. People like your posts when they love your content. Thus, the more likes your post receives, the better as it hints at that you know your audience well.
• Increase user engagement rate and reach. Not only does the number of likes help to boost engagement, but it also motivates users to promote your brand. If your followers find your account useful, they are more likely to spread the word about your brand. This means positive word of mouth. Since 68% of people share something on social media to give people a better sense of who they are and what they care about, your Instagram content gives them a solid reason to promote your brand which means better reach, more potential followers, and higher engagement rates.
• Secure collaboration opportunities with other brands. Whether you’re an influencer who wants to make money on Instagram or a business owner who craves cross-promotion, getting more likes is a proven way to show that your account is popular and it can help to deliver better business results. After all, most businesses pay attention to engagement rates when it comes to collaborating with someone on Instagram.

Now that you know the importance of getting more likes on Instagram posts, let’s find out 11 proven tips that encourage users to tap the heard button.

11 Tips on Getting More Instagram Likes

1). Know your target audience well

With over one billion monthly active users, your target audience is definitely active on Instagram. However, people are different and they have different preferences. It’s nearly impossible to create one-size-fits-all content that works well for all customers. Thus, it’s important to tailor your content and find what suits your potential customers, so understanding your buyer persona is a must.

Ideally, a social media specialist who runs an Instagram business account must know the target audience well. Before creating Instagram posts, you should know what your potential customers love and which references they understand better.

Knowing your target audience helps to understand:

• What type of content your followers like
• Which tone of voice they find more relatable
• What is the best time to post on Instagram

To understand your Instagram visitors better, you can use Instagram insights to get data on your followers or you can include a lead generation landing page as a bio link and promote it in your posts and stories. Once you know your target audience well, you can create Instagram posts that get more likes.

2). Create eye-catching visuals

Instagram is all about visual content, so it’s no wonder this platform is gaining in popularity. Why? 65% of people are visual learners, so they perceive visual information better than texts. Moreover, with the attention span of 8 seconds, it’s more likely your Instagram followers have neither time nor desire to dig deeper into your captions. When it takes time or effort to understand your caption, people lose interest in your brand. In short, you need to pay attention to visuals when planning your Instagram feed.

Instagrammers are active on the platform and they upload more than 95 million posts daily. This means users are bombarded with content on Instagram, so it’s important to stand out from the crowd to hook your target audience with images and videos.

Example? Coca-Cola creates eye-catching visuals that make a cohesive Instagram feed:

Or this one from M&M’s:

If you don’t have an in-house team of professional designers, you can use a free graphic design tool like Canva that allows you to drag and drop files like brand logo and fonts and create templates that suit your brand identity. It’s an easy yet effective way to create eye-catching visuals that make followers like your content.

3). Add calls to action in your caption

Instagram marketing is all about a dialogue between your business and customers. If you publish posts, that’s great. But if you invite your followers to join a conversation, that’s even better. The easiest way to do it is to ask questions and use the calls to action. Once you start interacting with your readers, your engagement starts growing.

There’s a great variety of ways on how to interact with your readers, but asking them about their preferences is a proven one to get the conversation started. With an open-ended question and several hints on the image, Oreo invites its followers to join the conversation and discuss their preferences. Since people are focused on themselves, this tactic works well as people are happy to tell the world about their likes/dislikes, needs, and wants.

And here’s how Sephora encourages its followers to share their customer experiences. Not only does Sephora ask followers to leave an emoji in the comment section, but it also lists all mask types to show off its collection of products:

To get more likes, you need to put your followers first and show customers you really care about them. Thus, your Instagram post should include a call to action that encourages users to join a conversation and therefore feel a connection with your brand that gives them a solid reason to like your content.

4). Mention relevant users in posts

It’s no secret that most people are focused on themselves and 80% of social media posts are about ourselves. This means users pay close attention to posts that mention them or their favorite brands or influencers somehow. Thus, mention a profile in your post is a great way to get more likes.

Whether you publish fan-made content, team up with influencers, or collaborate with other brands, tagging featured accounts in your Instagram posts increases the chances that these mentioned accounts and their followers will see your content. What is more, people are more likely to interact with content that features them which means more likes.

5). Use geotags and hashtags

If you want to get more likes on your Instagram post, it’s important to make sure that not only your followers see it. How? Add geotags and hashtags to help interested users who don’t follow you on Instagram discover your content.  When done right, your post can also help to get more Instagram followers.

At first blush, it seems easy to find a relevant hashtag or geotag and add it to your caption. However, you need to choose these boosters wisely. When you add a hashtag that people use often, your content can get buried in the feed. Thus, you need to create your brand hashtags.

Here’s how Shake Shack tells its following about the grand opening in Mexico with the right geotags, hashtags, and mentions:

No matter what your business niche is, whether you’re an ecommerce or a local business, selling on Instagram is possible if you constantly attract new followers who are interested in your content. When you add hashtags and geotags to your caption, your content reaches more people who can become your followers and customers with time.

Moreover, when people who don’t follow you discover your content and they like it, chances are that these people will be engaged in a conversation with your brand on the platform and like your posts.

6). Interact with your followers

Whether Instagram has hidden likes in your country or no, you can still see the list of people who like your posts. This gives you an opportunity to show appreciation and establish a long-term connection with your fans. How? Like their posts in return!

People are obsessed with likes and they always pay attention to accounts that like their posts. To get better results, interact with accounts who don’t have many followers (up to 5000) as it increases your chances to get noticed by these people. When you show interest in your followers and interact with them, chances are that these people will return the favor twice and give you more likes on your posts.

7). Team up with niche influencers

The best way to promote your Instagram account and attract more followers who are interested in your content is to team up with niche influencers. Opinion leaders help to spread the word about your company, and it gives results. Modern customers trust opinion leaders more than their friends, and influencer marketing statistics speaks for itself:

• 40% of millennials feel that social media influencers know them better than their friends
• 49% of customers depend on influencer recommendations
• 75% of people trust recommendations they see on social media

Since people trust influencers, working with them is a great way to enter an already-established community of your potential followers and attract more fans who are interested in your content. When you team up with the right influencers, your Instagram engagement rate grows which means you get more likes.

No matter what your business niche is, Instagram has a solid number of influencers who can help you reach your target audience with ease. For example, here’s how Menswear Dog, a pet account with 401k followers, teams up with Poly & Bark to promote its business:

8). Promote posts in Instagram Stories

Over the last few years, Instagram Stories have become extremely popular. According to Instagram, 500 million people create or watch Stories daily and ⅓ of the most-viewed Stories come from businesses. With a time-limited lifespan of 24 hours, Instagram Stories create a sense of urgency that encourages users to watch your short-lived content in order not to miss out on something important.

Moreover, there are many business-friendly features that help to achieve your business goals. For example, if you want to get more likes, you can reshare an Instagram post to Stories and therefore make sure more followers see it. If you use Instagram Stories for business promotion, you stay ahead of your competitors who also hope for the attention of your target audience.

9). Organize a giveaway

Instagram giveaways have been popular among users for a decade. As a marketer, you must know all benefits of social media contests: Whether you want to grow your following, get more likes, or boost sales, Instagram giveaways help you a ton. Want to know the best part? As specified in Tailwind’s study, Instagram giveaways get 3.5x more likes on average than regular posts.

Free stuff is irresistible, so Instagrammers are ready to follow your requirements for a chance to win something valuable. If you want to get more likes, you can add “like this photo” as one of the participation requirements, just like in the example below:

10). Use Instagram marketing tools

Starting out on Instagram can be daunting in 2020. If you’re not one of the most popular brands like Nike, Sephora, or Levi’s, it can be difficult to attract an army of fans who are not greedy for likes. The competition is high on Instagram and users are demanding, so it takes time and effort to find the right audience who is interested in your content.

What is more, people tend to like posts when they see these posts get likes from other users, and it seems to be a closed circle. That’s why you need to use Instagram marketing tools to better understand your audience, content, and hashtags to increase the chance you get more likes on Instagram. Some of these tools include Tailwind, Later, and Flick.

11). Run Instagram ad campaigns

Doubtless, Instagram is a great marketing tool, so it attracts more and more businesses that want to reach their target audience and promote products in-app. Today, 25 million businesses are active on the platform, so it’s no wonder that over 2 million advertisers run paid ads to cut through the noise and reach their potential customers.

With paid ads, you can set up your target audience and therefore reach more users who are interested in your content. Not only does it help to drive awareness of your business, but it also helps to find people who can like your content.

In a Word

Instagram posts bombard users from all sides, so it’s no wonder that Instagrammers have become demanding in what they want to consume. At the same time, likes are a proven way to show support and appreciation if followers find Instagram posts useful.

Even though Instagram is hiding likes, they are not going anywhere as likes will still affect user engagement rates. Thus, brands should produce posts that encourage followers and visitors to like your content.

So, what helps you get more likes on Instagram posts? Tell us in the comment section below.

Photo by Georgia de Lotz on Unsplash