Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay 

In short, as an engagement metric, each like is still recorded by Instagram algorithms. But as a means of social influence, likes do not always spawn more likes now. Strong content creation and skillful advertising do. When one chooses to hide hearts on a post, the post viewer will leave a like on it based on what they think of the publication since they can no longer see whether it had 2 likes on it or 2000. The like counter in such a case cannot push the viewer psychologically into following the crowd. 

Now that They Can Be Hidden, Are Likes Still Important for Instagram Algorithms?

As mentioned, likes have not been struck off their backend functionality on Instagram. Likes have always been an important parameter determining visibility on Instagram, and that hasn’t changed. What has changed is that many new parameters (like saves, shares, link clicks, and views) are also gaining importance for the purpose. It doesn’t discount the importance of Instagram likes at all. To understand this, you must understate the difference between “hiding” and “disabling” likes. What Instagram has done in its current avatar is allow individual users autonomy over whether they want the number of likes they receive to be viewable or not. Other IG users can still like their content, and they will not be able to see how many likes the post has gathered in total. On the other hand, the account owner can do so by simply visiting their Instagram insights and accessing the statistics.

In other words, hiding likes does not mean the likes you receive are not registered. They are still taken into account by the Instagram backend mechanisms as always and are still used to determine your visibility rankings and reach. So, should you focus on improving likes for your Instagram business account? Absolutely!

5 Reasons Why You Should Try to Attract more Likes on Instagram

Hidden or not, Likes are still a significant parameter that affects the various Instagram algorithms. Here are the top 5 ways they affect your brand building and why you should concentrate on building up the number of Likes you receive on your Instagram content.

    1.   Likes build a positive impression about your content

Likes are an agreed means of social proof. Since hiding likes is an optional feature, you can decide to keep the counter visible for everyone. It means the number of likes you get can still act as a stamp of approval for your content and give your visitors a great impression about your brand and your posts. Pay attention to getting more likes for your content to build social credibility among existing and potential followers. You may end up seeing many of your visitors convert into your clients too!

    2.   Recent likes make your content gain visibility in extended audience circles

Instagram algorithms work in a way that shows users of the platform what posts their friends have recently engaged with. It means if someone has liked a post of yours, their friends will likely see your post appear on their home feeds. This happens regardless of whether the person leaving the likes follows your Instagram page or not. As long as you own a public account, your post will gain visibility among vast audiences. The exception here is Instagram Stories, as the Story feed is tailored exclusively for your followers. It makes your Reels, Posts, and IGTV content likely to gain more likes (and other forms of engagement) as more people get to view your content. When anyone from this broad audience pool leaves attention on your post, it will likely feature on the home feed of their friends and followers as well. To put it, set up the stepping stone for your content to go viral. So, create great content and concentrate on getting more people to like your content to offset a butterfly effect for gaining brand visibility.

    3.   Likes push up your Instagram visibility rankings

The statistics of your like counter are used in various permutations and combinations by Instagram to determine your visibility ranking in multiple feeds. You are probably already aware that there is an exclusive feed for Reels and IGTV videos (IGTV even has its app). In addition to this, Instagram has a page for, Search and Explore.

Getting many likes is crucial to find a feature on this page. The Explore tab curates content from people you do not follow already. What features here are determined by the individual score of interest of the posts. In addition to likes, a combination of factors like time of the post’s publication, user interaction history, hashtag metrics, and so on are considered to calculate each post’s score of interest for every IG user individually. When someone likes or engages with your content or with content marked with similar hashtags, your posts gain priority points for their home feed ranking. So, keep a tab on your insights to evaluate your content creation. Consider which types of posts are most likely to get the viewer’s likes. Consider also if you would like to leave your like counter visible to encourage the peer behavior of leaving more likes for you.

    4.   Likes boost consumer trust in you over your competitors

Social media ranking and popularity have a positive impact on consumer intent. When it comes to brand awareness and brand acceptance, social media users often go by what fellow social media users say about you. Instagram users are no different in this regard. Most IG users rely on peer endorsements before making a purchasing decision. In other words, what you have to say for your products and services can make more people notice your business, but the growth in brand awareness need not necessarily translate to purchasing intent. However, when you get more likes on your product posts and shopping tags, you are far more likely to attract the interest of potential consumers. Likes work as a substitute for customer reviews in this case. They build trust in your merchandise and services. Having a good number of likes on your posts consistently will help you create a favorable consumer mindset for your brand. Hearts can, thus, literally lead to conversions and sales. The more organic likes you get, the better your chances.

    5.   Likes are a tool for measuring your active engagement rate

In addition to building visibility, likes are one of the many tools you can use to determine your organic engagement rate. An active follower count is crucial to your brand’s success on Instagram, but it is not easy to keep a tab on who is a dormant follower among your fanbase and who interacts with your account. Checking your insights on who has liked your post, who has viewed it, or performed any other engagement on it can help you spring clean your follower count periodically. It is crucial for maintaining a healthy engagement rate on the platform. It does not matter if your counter is hidden or visible, as the analytics tools record all likes. The higher number of likes you can get, the better your engagement rates. Monitoring your engagement rate is crucial as it helps you modify and fine-tune your content creation and brand marketing strategies in a time and cost-efficient manner.