Instagram is the place to be when it comes to marketing your business. More people are using this social media platform every day. Its visual format makes it easy for users to take in a lot of information relatively quickly. It’s a great way to gain exposure for your brand, eventually leading to increased sales conversions. 

However, social media marketing success is a process. It won’t happen overnight. You’ll need to gain followers, engage those individuals and build relationships in order to meet your marketing goals. Let’s take a look at ways to get more Instagram likes in order to increase engagement. 

1. Be Unique

The old rule, “Content is king,” has been around so long because it’s true. Posting quality content that resonates with people is the absolute most important key to Instagram success, as with any social media platform. However, that rule means more than just taking nice photos and posting them on a regular basis. You have to show your brand’s personality in order to strike a chord with people. 

Stay within your niche. Be sure your content is relevant to your brand’s image and message. Be consistent with your theme, maintaining a recognizable image through filters, photography style, colors and other aspects of design. And post regularly. You should shoot for at least once a day to get the most reach. 

2. Use Photo Tags

Did you know you can tag someone in your Instagram or Instagram Story post? It’s true, but many people aren’t aware this is possible. Photo tagging can be quite useful for your business marketing as a means of increasing engagement with your posts and securing likes. This strategy involves tagging accounts that are relevant to the specific post you’re tagging. 

This alerts the account holder that they’ve been tagged so that they can come to take a look at your post. It’s a way to grab their attention, express appreciation or generally recognize an individual or business. 

Tagging also leads the Instagram algorithm to view your post as more relevant. It might place that post in the Explore tab of the accounts you tag. This can be a goldmine for generating new followers, as it greatly increases your reach, getting your content in front of more people. It’s incredibly important that you’re careful with tagging, though. 

It can be seen as spam. Make sure you’re using tags for genuine reasons. You can mention them in a comment in order to explain your reason for tagging them. This helps to let them know you’re not fishing for likes or attention. 

3. Add Hashtags the Right Way

Hashtags are an important tool for gaining reach and being seen on Instagram. Their usefulness truly can’t be overstated. They serve as a roadmap for people who are looking for certain types of content. That’s why you have to be specific when choosing your hashtags. Generic ones won’t grab attention. They’ll just get lost in a crowd. Plus, they won’t have folks coming back to your content. Don’t be afraid to be original with your hashtags; often, they’ll catch on. 

In addition, avoid going over the top with hashtags. Using too many makes you seem desperate for likes or that you don’t know what you’re doing. They can look cluttered, and it’s easy to get lost in them. Instagram allows for use of up to 30, but that’s definitely not necessary. 

There is too much of a good thing when it comes to hashtags. Do your research to see which work best. Be prepared to put in the work of trial and error. Stick with a handful of proven hashtags, yet feel free to experiment once in a while. 

4. Build Relationships

Instagram is a social media platform. The key word here is “social.” It’s not a one-way street. If you want to get likes, you must be prepared to give. People are savvy. They know when you’re being authentic and when you’re just out for yourself. Engagement is crucial to Instagram success, and you must be prepared to earn that interaction from your followers. 

Besides, using social media isn’t fun if you’re just putting stuff out there and hoping it sticks. Get involved with your audience and your potential followers. Follow relevant competitors and hashtags within your niche to find people your brand should be following. Interact with them. Like their posts. 

Leave comments. Better yet, share their stuff and give them a shoutout. Tag folks in your posts. And always respond to comments that are left for you. This type of interaction is what builds relationships. It what will cause people to want to visit and like your content. 

5. Post at the Best Times

Another strategy that’s pretty basic is to time your posts for when your followers and target audience are using the platform. It makes sense that you’ll get the most reach and have the highest chance of being seen when you time things right. However, sometimes the most obvious strategies are the ones we overlook. So, it’s worth mentioning. 

Plus, when you post during the most active times of your relevant users, you’re likely to get faster engagement. Instagram’s algorithm with recognize this and reward you by pushing your posts through to more user feeds, maybe even sending them to the Explore page. Monitor your Insights to determine when your followers are engaging with your posts. Aim for posting around these times, but be prepared to tweak things as necessary. 

Follow these five tips to get more Instagram likes. You should see a significant increase in engagement after just a short time.