How To Get More Likes On Instagram – Ultimate Guide 2018

Introducing the ultimate guide to getting more Likes on Instagram

Double Taps, Hearts, faves whatever you want to call it Likes are main form of currency on Instagram and has been the driving force for users putting out great content for a long time. I mean there was no feeling more satisfying than reaching 11 Likes on Instagram when you first started out, and seeing those names under your post turn to a number, or how about the first time you hit triple digits and amassed over a 100 more likes on Instagram? Oh so satisfying!

Instagram has transitioned over time from being a place to share your selfies, cat snaps and food porn, it’s more than that, for many Instagram is a tool used to to promote their business or brand, engage with their audience and be a platform for creatives to showcase their talents. As these paradigms shifted engagement rates became even more important and were vital for users to harness the true value of Instagram.

Now when the ‘gram was first born Likes were a pretty abstract thing, we understood what it meant on an intrinsic level but only later on we got to know the true engagement power a double tap holds. The formula was apparent, create amazing content in the hopes of amassing dozens and dozens of likes, those likes will spread your content through other users news feeds and maybe into the explore page, which by effect will get you even more likes, more followers and push your content in-front of the eyes of hundreds and thousand of users.

Just when we all thought we had it figured out, something happened.. enter the Instagram algorithm led feed, which turned the whole grammin world inside out. Changing users feeds in order of what Instagram thinks users want to see. Now the game has changed quite literally and Likes are more important than ever before in driving up engagement rates and keeping your content cycling through the algorithmic feed.

We have compiled the ultimate guide to getting more like on Instagram, housing all the tips, tricks and insights you need to know to get the most likes on the content you post! This guide will be updated regularly with new methods and advice as the world of Instagram changes. Without further ado let’s get right into it!

1. Content Rules Above All, That’s Why It’s King

Right the first thing we want to tell you is not a tip or a trick but rather a rule. As cringe as it is to throw around cliche phrases, I can’t stress this enough content is king on Instagram! (If I had a dime for every time I chimed that one). The most popular accounts on Instagram are those that produce the very best high quality content. You can clearly tell they spent time and effort in generating ideas and creating, and for their efforts they reap in the rewards of Likes and Engagement. Of course what makes good content is a very abstract question, and there isn’t a silver bullet answer to this however we do have some guidelines for you to follow.

Find a niche for your account & don’t be a jack of all trades, that’ll confuse your followers. People want to know what to expect when they follow you.
Upgrade that camera. If you’re still using your phone to create content you might want to level up your game a little. If you haven’t got the latest smartphone with the best specs, you might want to invest in a dedicated camera
Themes are good. Many popular account will have a general colour scheme or theme running throughout their page. Each piece of content complements another as they all share a similar palette.
If you’re stuck for ideas look out for upcoming trends and shape your content around it. Trending topics will get more engagement and attention.
Another important piece of advice is to be consistent with your content schedule, however there is such thing as overkill. Don’t spam your followers, keep a level of exclusivity to keep your followers excited for the next post.
Now we’ve laid the foundations for creating amazing content, let’s think about the magic pixy dust known as hashtags that will boost your engagement.

2. Hashtags

Hashtags are huge pillars in the social world, helping boost your content to select audiences you want to reach. Before you could litter your caption with dozens of generic #picoftheday hashtags and reel in tons of likes, but Instagram is clamping down on spam and those strategies no longer work, even worse you could be endanger of being shadowbanned!

So what is the best strategy to use when hash tagging? Well first if you haven’t checked out our hashtag guides for specific niche areas, now would be a good time to do so. Second we have a some advice to maximise results and limit danger of being shadow banned.

Hashtag Research:

You’re going to want to find out the best hashtags available relating to your post, there are specific tools out their to help you find hashtags such as Hashtagify, RiteTag and others. These tools are great to check the strength of a hashtag and other hashtags that are similar. Other methods we recommend is manually finding content from other accounts that are doing well, and check the hashtags they’re using. Trial and error is important, always try new hashtags and see how they perform for you. The best hashtags will drive engagement immediately and get you more likes on Instagram post. Overtime you’ll find yourself pooling together a list of the hashtags you find to be most effective, be sure to save this golden list in your notes somewhere and regularly update with new hashtags you find.

Shadowbanning:

Imagine you spend hours creating the perfect piece of content, conjure up the wittiest caption, send it out to the world, only to be shadowbanned by Instagram for using a spammy hashtags! Instagram went on a cleaning spree this year, removing bot accounts, fake followers and even banning spammy hashtags. Using just one of these hashtags in your set post resulted in the post being “shadowbanned” and hidden from hashtag searches, having a crippling effect on engagement. As of now it’s not clear how Instagram decides on which hashtags are spammy, but there are tools online to check if your posts has been shadowbanned by inputting the post URL. Another indication of a shadowbanned hashtags is recent posts not appearing in the hashtag search. Ultimately you want to be careful with which hashtags you use, and make shadowbanning apart of your hashtag research.

Tag Posts:

This is a hot take so pay attention. Did you know tagging relevant accounts in your post has the potential to boost engagement? Whilst tags don’t function the same way hashtags do, they do serve a greater purpose. A top tip straight from Hopper HQ is to tag your content with accounts in the same niche. For example if you’re a photographer, you might want to tag your photos with big UGC IG accounts that curate posts and have loads of followers. This will have a profound effect on how the Instagram algorithm views the relevancy of the content. Tagging the post will increase the likelihood of the post appearing on the explore page of that tagged accounts followers, increasing your overall reach, impressions and potential for engagement.

Click Here To Buy Instagram LIKES