Instagram ads are one of the most effective ways to reach audiences with the world’s current focus on social media. If used correctly, these ads can lead to Instagram growth as well as business success. But creating ads for Instagram is easier said than done, right?
If you’d like to start an ad campaign on social media, but you’re not sure how to go about doing that, we’re here to help.
Likes are an indicator of reliability and credibility both for influencers and brands.
Posts with a notable number of likes attract more people, with Instagram users being more likely to skip pieces of content that get less than 100 likes. Some brands even buy Instagram likes cheap SocialsUp in order to strengthen their image and attract more followers.
However, not every user knows that likes are more than just an engagement metric people see when they view your photos and videos. They actually influence the way the Instagram algorithm sees your content. The number of likes can be either good or bad, depending on how many or few likes you got.
With more engagement being necessary to keep your page thriving, how to get more Instagram likes in 2024 and why they still matter? This article offers tips on boosting your Instagram likes, so let's get started!
Do Likes on Instagram Posts Still Matter?
If you ever complain to your friends about not getting enough Instagram likes, chances are they will tell you that likes are “just a number” and that they don't actually matter.
Well, next time you meet your friends, you can tell them they're wrong – likes matter, particularly if you're trying to be heard by the social media platform's community and become a known influencer or successful business.
Here's how this works – users who find your posts randomly will be curious about the content, but they'll also check the number of likes, especially when the post presents new products or shares essential knowledge.
If there are more likes, people are more inclined to trust you and interact with the post. Meanwhile, when you're struggling to get interactions, chances are users will scroll away, forgetting about you and your content.
And that's not all. The Instagram algorithm also takes your likes into account when ranking posts. Content with a higher number of likes is more likely to be recommended to the right audience as the algorithm will classify it as trustworthy. After all, it wouldn't have so many likes if people didn't like it, right?
Now, Instagram has decided to add a feature that allows users to remove like counts from posts, preventing others from seeing how many interactions your posts have. Don't let this give you the impression that the importance of likes decreased in any way – the algorithm will still take note of the likes just the same.
Should You Buy Instagram Likes and Followers?
You must be familiar with the practice of buying likes for an Instagram post. It's more widespread than you think, and perhaps you even know pages that do it.
Truth be told, spending money to get engagement on social media has a bad reputation because, as you can imagine, people see this as the easy way out, the one that doesn't require working hard to obtain interactions.
But buying likes and followers for Instagram accounts isn't bad as long as you do it for the right reasons and you're careful when choosing the service to buy from.
Purchasing likes can be a short-term measure to get more engagement. As mentioned, users trust posts with lots of likes more than posts with fewer likes. So, purchasing packages for Instagram engagement can help when organic interactions fail to appear.
If you decide to buy likes, don't trust the first service you see. Instead, do your homework. See what services you find, what they have to offer, and how trustworthy they are. Here are some ways to stay safe when choosing this strategy:
- Check user reviews. Trustpilot is a great source as the ratings and reviews cannot be directly controlled by the company that gets reviewed.
- Pay attention to the costs. Ideally, you should look for platforms with affordable packages, but don't choose the ones that are too cheap either – they're not always honest about what they offer.
- Make sure the platform is encrypted. SSL encryption is meant to protect your data. If a service that sells Instagram likes doesn't have it, leave it and look for another website.
- Look for a platform that offers organic likes instead of bots. Otherwise, you risk losing people's trust and perhaps even getting sanctioned by Instagram.
How to Get More Instagram Likes in 2024
Helping your Instagram account get more likes is not impossible, especially if you use the right strategy. The Instagram algorithm works constantly, and if it detects good practices, it will reward you. Since your presence on Instagram will convince possible customers to see how well you're doing, you need to be wise when posting your content.
Here are some tips that will help you get the followers you want and deserve:
1. Post Instagram Content Regularly
People don’t want to see an Instagram page that remembers to post something once in a blue moon. A consistent posting schedule is mandatory to increase your follower count. So, if you have a hard time remembering the right time to post, it’s time to set a reminder or schedule your posts.
Now, you should keep in mind that each page does this differently. Some post daily, others once or twice a week, and so on. Find out what works best for you and your brand and settle for it. Your target audience will know when to expect new content from you.
2. See What Other Brands Are Doing
Who’s a better teacher than other successful Instagram pages in the same niche? Pulling inspiration from your fellow brands and influencers doesn’t mean you’re copying – you’re just taking notes of what works for your target audience and how you can implement it uniquely.
Make a list of popular businesses and influencers in your field, then research them and check out their accounts.
You can also research brands in a different niche to find something inspirational to apply to your own posts.
Use what you’ve learned to come up with a fresh content strategy, and you’ll start to see those engagement numbers grow.
3. Always Tag Your Location
This might not seem relevant at first, but if you’re a retail brand or a brand that focuses on travel, you have more chances to get your content noticed if you reveal the location.
When people look up a specific location, your posts will come up, catching users' attention. This boosts the posts' reach and brings more likes.
It’s quick and easy and won’t hurt your content strategy. Not to mention that if your business is a restaurant, for example, your community will be able to find you more quickly if you tag the location. This means you’ll have more clients and generate more profit.
4. Don't Neglect Your Captions
As Instagram is where you post content, chances are you focus on the content and its quality the most. However, that doesn’t mean other aspects, such as the caption, don’t matter. A good caption may convince someone to like the post and perhaps even give you a follow.
Don’t make captions too short and boring, but don’t go overboard with the length either – people don’t want to read an entire novel on Instagram.
Each brand has its own ideal length when it comes to captions – the key here is to focus on who your audience is and what people want.
If you’re not great at writing good captions, you can always use websites that make a rough draft for you and start from there.
5. Start a Hashtag Strategy
If there’s one thing that significantly influences how many people see your posts, it’s the hashtags you use. Hashtags organize your content and help people locate it more easily when searching for keywords belonging to a specific niche. So, if you have a business that sells creams, people might find it under “skincare” and related hashtags.
Now, coming up with a hashtag strategy doesn’t mean copying and pasting the same hashtags repeatedly. Carefully selecting each hashtag for your posts will make your content spread more easily.
Check out different strategies and look up your competitors’ hashtags. However, don’t hesitate to add some trending hashtags if they’re relevant to the post – it will help more individuals discover who you are.
6. Post at the Right Time
Posting at the wrong times could make you lose various engagement opportunities because your target audience might not be active.
If everyone checks out your posts in the morning, that’s when you should post your photos and videos.
This is different for all accounts and it depends on their followers and niches. Check out your Instagram analytics to help you figure out the best times to post. It’ll show you when your fans tend to interact with your posts the most.
7. Diversify Your Content
You might think sticking to one type of content will keep your audience stable and engaged, but this strategy might quickly fail.
An Instagram page that only posts the same kind of content will look dull, especially when you don’t know how to engage your followers. If all you post on your page are food photos, your potential customers might be put off.
The good news is that there are various content formats to choose from.
You can post business photos, selfies, memes, advertisements, funny pictures, and even stories from your customers. Find what works for you and adapt the content to your niche.
8. Use High-Quality Equipment
How do you make your content shine and become more memorable? By using a quality camera, of course.
Content quality is a priority, and with how easy it is to access a decent camera nowadays, your fans certainly don’t want to hear an excuse about why your photos are so unclear.
If you have the budget, you should invest in a high-quality camera that takes clear and detailed photos/videos that make your followers want more.
9. Show What's Happening Behind the Scenes
People love to see what brands are doing behind the scenes. It makes them feel like part of the team and shows them your human side. Posting behind-the-scenes videos will help build a stronger relationship with your fans and make them trust you more.
Show off what your office looks like and who your team members are. Also, tell your audience how your products are made or how your services can help them. Be authentic and show honesty and trustworthiness.
Five Advanced Tips To Implement In Your Instagram Ads
Check out our five advanced tips to help you improve your Instagram ad game!
Boost Your Best Performing Content
Something important to keep in mind when running social media is that, in reality, not all posts are equal.
Some posts are always going to be more successful than others, and that’s dependent upon a lot of factors. The bottom line is that your audience will resonate more with certain types of posts. Maybe they like a certain style of graphic or photo, or maybe they prefer IG reels, longer videos or like certain caption styles.
You’ll figure these things out with trial and error, and, once you do, you can use the knowledge to your advantage. To determine which of your posts is most successful, check the analytics for all of your posts. This will tell you which posts went over the best with your followers.
To further enhance your engagement and reach, consider implementing strategies to get Instagram followers organically.
Once you know which post was your most successful, you can boost it by following these steps:
- Go to your profile and tap the post you want to promote.
- Below the image, you’ll see “promote” – click on that.
- Answer the questions that appear in order to create the settings for your promotion.
- Click “next.”
- Either connect your account to a Facebook profile, if you haven’t done so already or click “skip.”
- Select “create promotion” under review.
After completing the process explained above, your post will be submitted to Instagram for approval. You’ll receive notifications throughout the approval process to keep you updated. If Instagram accepts your post, the promotion will begin running!
Create Native Ads
The next thing you can do to improve the effectiveness of your Instagram ads is to employ the use of native ads.
What are native ads? These are simply advertisements that are designed to blend in with non-promotional media. In the context of Instagram, this means that ads are created as normal posts, but, in the end, they subtly suggest that viewers purchase a product or service.
Creating native ads may sound difficult in the beginning, but it’s pretty simple when you think about it. Creating Instagram content is something that you do frequently, right? Developing native ads is no different from what you do all the time.
To make your ads look native, simply consider the elements that are included in the rest of your posts. What type of writing do you typically add? What tone do you use? Are you a fan of including stickers or interactive GIFs on your story posts?
These are all aspects of Instagram posts that you can incorporate into your native ads. Simply adding common elements to your ads will help them to better blend into your feed. This will make viewers more inclined to read all of the information that you post since they won’t be immediately turned off by the promotional feeling that typically accompanies ads.
Make Sure You’re Targeting The Right Audience
Targeting is a very important aspect of Instagram ads. This practice refers to identifying the ideal audience for your Instagram account and then gearing your advertisements toward this group of people.
When identifying your target audience, spend time thinking about the people who are most likely to be interested in whatever product or service you are advertising. Here are some tips to keep in mind when identifying your audience:
- Consider demographics such as the age, gender, career, or location of your target audience.
- Think of a niche size that is a happy medium.
- If you go too broad, you might reach a lot of targets who aren’t quite right for you, making it difficult to find your true ideal audience.
- Targeting too specific of a niche will prevent you from reaching all of the users who may be interested in your Instagram ads.
Once you find the sweet spot of advertising targets, you’ll likely find that your Instagram ads are increasingly successful.
Improve Your Budgeting
When developing a plan for budgeting for Instagram ads, there are a few factors to take into consideration. First, you should determine whether you want to establish a daily or lifetime budget.
If you select a daily budget, you’ll set a maximum amount of money to spend daily on Instagram ads. Each day, Instagram will run your ad until the monetary limit is reached, and then it’ll stop for the day.
Setting a budget for the lifetime of the campaign refers to establishing a spending limit for the duration of the period that your ads will run on Instagram. The app will average out the spending to determine how the ads will run daily.
There are various plans that you can select for an Instagram ad campaign budget, depending on what your goal is and what style of ads you are publishing. You can end up spending between $1 and $40 a day, so it’s important to have a clear idea of what your target spending will be.
You can improve your budgeting by taking the time to figure out which style of Instagram ads will be most effective for you, how often you want the ad to run, and how much money you’re willing to spend in total. Once you establish these facts, you can develop a plan for daily or lifetime spending and determine how much you hope to spend.
Create Mobile-First Instagram Ads
Mobile-first Instagram ads are a great way to attract users to your products or services.
Mobile-first advertising refers to ads that are designed for the ease or convenience of mobile device users. Since most people use Instagram on their phones, this app is a great place to publish mobile-first ads.
Mobile-first advertising is important because it can help you to keep viewers’ attention rather than losing it as soon as they see your ad. As a mobile user, it’s easy to tell when a website or advertisement has been designed for larger screens or any other type of device. So, in order to help your ads to stand out, make mobile device users feel as though their experience was a priority when the ad was designed.
Here are some ways that you can design Instagram ads to be mobile-first:
- Create graphics that fit most smartphone screens, so that images are not distorted or cut off.
- Use buttons or other interactive features that are easy to click and engage with.
- Ensure that your website is working at a speed that’s desirable for mobile device users.
Instagram Ads Made Easy
If you’ve been considering running an Instagram ad campaign but have been too overwhelmed by all that is involved with it, then hopefully this guide helped ease some of your concerns.
There’s a lot to keep track of when running a successful campaign with Instagram ads, but using these five tips will help you to seriously improve your Instagram ads game, or start on the right foot if you’re new to it.
We hope that this guide has been helpful. If you decide to try out any of the tips we offered, please come back and let us know how it goes!
The Bottom Line
Getting more likes on Instagram is determined by the content you post and whether it’s engaging or not. How often you post, the posting time and the quality of your photos/videos are also important factors.
If you want more people to follow you, come up with a good hashtag strategy, diversify your content, post more regularly, and write compelling captions – you’ll soon start to notice a change in how many likes your posts get