Instagram Started Hiding Likes And How To Take Advantage Of It To Shine

After Instagram said last week that it would extend hiding likes to the US, its users globally were hit with the change last Thursday.

Do you still have likes on your posts or not anymore? Yes, this is happening!

 Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, said it's all about changing how people, especially young users, feel about the social media platform. 

"Today a small portion of people on Instagram worldwide will no longer be able to see the number of likes other people's photos get," Mosseri tweeted Thursday afternoon.

“You'll still be able to see how many people have liked your own photos, though.” He said.

Facebook said the Instagram test was meant to "remove the pressure of how many likes a post will receive" on Instagram, and that Facebook was "excited by the early test results."

The social media giant then began hiding likes on Facebook as of Sept. 27, making the number of reactions, views and likes visible only to a post's author. The test kicked off in Australia and includes ads.

At the time, Facebook added that it would "gather feedback to understand whether this change will improve people's experiences."

What do you do now as a business and how does this affect you?

I have some good news for you, this is the opportunity for everyone to have the same options on Instagram, because now it is not about how popular you are but how great your content is.

Yes, the more followers you have the more traffic to your website you will have so influencers will still have an advantage but…

People don’t look at profiles they look at the pictures that appear in their feed or in a specific hashtag and people get influenced to like pictures with thousands of likes, but that is not the case anymore.

Now your pictures and the influencers picture will be seen pretty much the same, all you have to do is have great pictures and videos.

This is your opportunity to shine!

7 Steps To Succeed On Instagram

Step 1.

Set up your account with a great bullet points Bio and your link to your website with an offer or a lead magnet

Step 2.

If it is a company put the logo on the profile picture but if you are a product of the business have an account for you and one for the business.

Step 3.

Use the highlights on top of your pictures to give great value.

Tips, How-tos, quizzes and even offers.

Step 4.

Great Content!

Don’t just post great content but give the account a personality and even a look.

If you have a product don’t just put pictures of the product but maybe the product been used or with a background and if it is a service, you could have pictures while giving the service or related to the service but don’t just post product pictures in a white background.

MAKE BEAUTIFUL PICTURES!

Do you need a special camera?

Not anymore, you can do it with your phone.

Example of great accounts:

https://www.instagram.com/cakesandbubbleslondon/

https://www.instagram.com/armani/

https://www.instagram.com/yatamedicalservices/

Create infographics, diagrams, gifs…

From time to time you can even create 1 picture out of 9 or 12 pictures, just like here:

You can use Photo Grid, for example, to post pictures in a Grid.

Or you can just organise it in so many pretty ways like here:

                                           

                                        

Step 5.

If you have a shop on Facebook, you can convert your Instagram in a shop and people can click on the picture and be sent to the checkout.

Step 6.

Create your own IGTV Channel and post videos about your products, services, tips, how-tos, etc

You have 2 options:

1. You can go to your IGTV channel on your account, by going to the little “house icon” on the bottom left of your screen and then press on the top right where the “TV icon” is and you can add your videos.

2. Create Your Channel on Mobile

To set up your official IGTV channel via your mobile device, first, download the free IGTV app (iOS and Android). The app is separate from Instagram (although you can access IGTV directly through the Instagram app as well).

After installing it, open the IGTV app and connect your Instagram account.

Next, you need to set up your channel. Tap on your profile photo.

Step 7.

Repost!

Use apps like Repost to repost posts that could be of value to your audience, this is pretty much like sharing on Facebook or retweeting on Twitter.

All you have to do is go to the 3 dots on the top right of the post that you want to share from someone else and “Copy the link”, then go to any app for reposting that you may have downloaded and as soon as you open the app the post will appear on your screen and you can repost it, make sure when you repost that you add the “Attribution mark on the bottom left or right of the picture.

This is to mention where the picture comes from.

Just by doing this 7 steps as often as possible you will see your Instagram skyrocket.

You do not need to follow other people for them to follow you and grow your followers like that. This strategy is not very efficient as they have not come to you because they are interested in what you have so the conversion into traffic will be lower. Let them come organically.

  

Mili Ponce

Keynote Speaker on Digital Marketing and Entrepreneurship, Social Media Strategist, Trainer, Writer, Blogger, Mother, Daughter, Granddaughter, Dreamer.
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