Removing Instagram Likes: What It Means For Your Business
One of the more recent, and surprising, developments in the social media world is Instagram’s decision to remove likes. Instagram, owned by Facebook, announced a few months ago that they are going to slowly push out an update that included removing the like count from photos you view on your feed. While this announcement originally came out months ago, the feature didn’t actually reach U.S. users until last month and still some users haven’t gotten the update yet.
When we posted about this on our Instagram and Facebook pages, we heard some varying feedback from others. Some thought it was a great idea and others were more hesitant about embracing the change immediately, especially those who were small business owners.
Here are our thoughts on the pros and cons of Instagram removing likes:
When a new customer arrives on your Instagram page, you won’t be immediately judged based on your number of likes. Instead they’ll see people they follow who have liked your posts. This is a great way to get new followers who are already similar to or have the same interests as your current audience.
Engagement on Instagram isn’t always on par with the number of followers you have. So while you may have 5,000+ followers on Instagram, you could only get 30-40 likes per post. The removal of likes helps hide this imbalance better.
You’ll still see your own likes. If you need to send your engagement count to a client or influencer, the numbers will still be available to you. You simply won’t be able to see someone else’s count.
If a potential client or influencer/partner comes to your page to get an impression of the type of engagement you get per post, this information will no longer be available to them. It will require more work on your part to encourage more visible engagement, like comments.
Some businesses use likes (on others’ pages) as a way to understand what customers are interested in seeing on Instagram. Instead, we recommend looking at what your competition is posting and receiving comments on.
We don’t believe that Instagram removing likes is a make or break moment for your business’ Instagram page. It’s a great opportunity for you to branch into other, more engaging, parts of Instagram like stories and IGTV for customer interaction.
