Currently, Instagram is the 4th most-used social media platform worldwide. It is the 10th most searched query across the globe with an average of 338 million search volume per month. More than 500 million users hit the Like button on Instagram on an average of 4.2 billion times a day. Thus, it is the best social media platform for businesses, influencers, individuals, and everyone who wants to get fame and develop credibility at the worldwide level.
Likes on Instagram are a go-to indicator that shows the performance of posts. The above statistics seem promising for brands and businesses to increase Instagram likes and boost engagement. Remember, getting sufficient likes is important to bring more engagement, and improve your posts, and your Instagram account’s visibility. In this post, you’ll discover the step-by-step guide to boost your likes on Instagram.
High-quality and eye-catching photos
More than 95 million posts are uploaded daily on the platform. Each time you upload your content, you are competing for interaction and attention with other followers, influencers, and brands. To bring the attention of more users and persuade them to like your post, use high-quality photos. Make sure you don’t use pixelated, poorly lit, or blurry photos.
It doesn’t mean that you need to invest in expensive cameras or editing software. You can simply capture the moments in your modern smartphones as they are highly capable of creating an impressive and quality shot. Make sure that whenever you capture any photo or record a video, shoot in HDR mode and confirm the size of the photos to be 1080 pixels in width. Use a smartphone tripod to avoid blurry photos as it keeps the phone steady.
Find other inspirational accounts
To discover fresh content ideas, take inspiration from other leading brands and industries. It doesn’t matter whether they share the same customer base as yours, you can find some inspiration in the strategy of their posts to generalize for your own. You can make a combination of your domain, associated sectors, and industries wildly other than your circle.
Add hashtags strategically
Hashtags play a pivotal role in presenting your posts in front of potential users. Adding popular terms in your niche generously and strategically can improve the discoverability of your account and posts among the audience.
To locate the trending hashtags, you can either use a hashtag research tool or a hashtag generator site or simply type some words associated with your brand or picture in the search bar. Also, you can type # followed by keywords in your caption.
Alternatively, to target an audience in your local area, you can add location-based hashtags in your caption. Check out what terms other popular accounts are using. Instagram allows using up to 30 hashtags in each post, but never do so because it may overkill your strategy. Instead, use between 1-5 hashtags or a maximum of nine.
Add video in your content strategy
Posts having videos receive around 38% more engagement on Instagram than those featuring simple images, according to Mention. Moreover, video content helps in ensuring better ROI or return on investment for overall social media marketing campaigns. To create video posts, you don’t necessarily need a higher investment, instead, you can record an engaging video using your smartphone. Other ways include user-generated content (UGC), animated videos, screen capture software, or even free online tools such as a reel maker to create engaging & trendy reels.
Wibbitz recommends how-to tutorials as the best type of video content. However, when creating Instagram video content, you need to consider certain technical specifications. It includes MP4 format, 3-60 seconds length, 1.91:1 to 4:5 aspect ratio, up to 512MB video file size (try to create under 50MB video for a faster upload), and landscape, portrait, or square orientation.
Focus on captions
Do you know that captions are the most important elements of visual content strategy? They give a voice to visual content by allowing creators to reflect their personalities, offer followers instructions, and expand their images.
Strategically use captions to get the most out of them. To create and use perfect captions, get the tone right. For example, if your voice tone seems formal, add some personality for an authentic touch. Add important messages first and then put relevant and trending hashtags in the end. Don’t forget to add a call-to-action (CTA) to persuade your audience to do what you want them to do.
According to Quintly, brands with up to one million followers receive the most interaction from posts featuring 1-50 characters. However, according to Sprout Social, caption length must be 138-150 characters. Overall, try to keep your captions meaningful and concise.
Tagging
Just like hashtags, a tag is also an imperative element to gain more likes and increase Instagram comments as it notifies tagged people of your new Instagram upload. Tagging another person or brand helps in giving tagged entities the credit they deserve and guiding your followers in their direction. Also, it helps in showing your content on their profiles. When you support another person or brand, they are more likely to support you back or show interest in your content.
When you tag anyone in your posts, make sure that you tag them in the caption as well as the photo. This tip is highly recommended when you are working on any project with another company or business. It is also useful when you are shouting out an associate or a user, answering customer queries, declaring a contest or giveaway winner, or appreciating someone for a case study.
Focus on posting time
To allow your post to reach the right people quickly, upload your posts at the right time i.e. whenever most of your target audience is active on the platform. According to Sprout Social, the overall perfect day and time is Wednesday at 11 AM. However, it may vary based on the industry, content topic, and audience.
All the tips mentioned in this guide are easy and free to implement. So, start implementing them today.
