If you’re an avid Instagram user, you could have hardly missed the recent shift towards authenticity across the platform. Whether it’s your friend sharing mental health tips or a celebrity choosing not to photoshop her body to resist societal beauty standards, people are starting to engage in discussions centered around self-love and strive for more authentic depictions of their everyday realities.
Now it seems that Instagram plans to take it even a step further. The crusade for mental health might soon have a new milestone: the disappearance of likes. While still in its infancy — the feature is currently being tested in 7 countries — this powerful trend is likely to be expanded upon in the future.
As an Irish marketer, I have seen firsthand the impacts of this change. The regular user seems to be happy with this, but it’s the influencers and actual marketers that are concerned. How would the social media marketing landscape change with the disappearance of likes?
A new era of social media?
Scientifically, the usage of social media is tied to an increased occurrence of depression and loneliness. The platforms are fertile grounds for social comparison: Looking at the lives of others through the lens of Instagram it’s easy to fall under the impression that everyone’s life is just more carefree and glamorous than yours.
Instagram had something to say about that: Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, stated: “We don’t want Instagram to feel like a competition. We want people to worry a little bit less about how many likes they’re getting on Instagram and spend a bit more time connecting with the people they care about.” That’s why the platform has decided to hide likes and video views in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Japan, and New Zealand.
This is a step towards a whole new approach to promote better mental health and reduce the pressure on people to post content others would like and view, and instead focus on content that is actually of high-quality and generates more conversions.
In the digital era, likes have become the fundamental form of instant validation. Not only has the symbolic thumbs up earned a powerful position in our minds, it has also become a determinant of a post’s popularity. In the new environment, a viral post is one that manages to generate major discussion. This means that comments will now be the main popularity currency, confirming something that has already been indicated by changing algorithms: It’s conversations and discussions that are valued the most.
What are the potential effects?
Instagram has been very tight-lipped about whether it’s going to hide likes universally and permanently. While there is still testing to be done, it’s now more possible than ever. After all, just recently, Facebook expressed interest in hiding likes too — and has launched first tests in Australia.
That’s why brands and influencers should take time to understand what the shift could mean for running successful social media campaigns even without the notorious vanity metrics in place. Likes have traditionally been the major determinator of campaign success — it’s no secret that users traditionally favor products that show higher popularity. Instead, marketers are likely to prioritize comments now when reviewing their partnership and inspect closely what type of conversations each influencer generates.
But influencers may have bigger things to worry about. Many of them have seen a reduction of received likes, raising concerns about content discovery. With likes not being pushed to the forefront anymore, influencers’ organic outreach may suffer and they might be harder to find in the explore page, reducing the growth of their fan base. At this point, brands may start to wonder whether they should start running ads on Instagram instead — a major win for the platform.
This means that beyond championing mental health, the decision to remove likes is an important strategic move. Instagram could be sidelining the influencer-brand relationship. With the in-app shopping service, Instagram wants the brands to directly spend their money on the platform, running ads and promotions, rather than investing in influencers. Paid opportunities would be the most secure way for any creator or brand to ensure solid outreach.
The bottom line for marketers
There is no need to abandon Instagram just because it’s going through changes. It remains a powerful part of any brand’s marketing mix. However, marketers should know that it’s shifting to become more of a paid platform. Betting on organic growth is a fool’s errand; brands need to put some degree of promotion in their Instagram. However, this doesn’t have to be a colossal investment — it just needs to ensure that brands are constantly engaging with their target audiences on the platform.
The disappearance of likes also brings many exciting opportunities for marketers to get creative. They should prioritize community and measure engagement through click-through rates and the amount of generated discussions. To evaluate which strategies bring the highest ROI, marketers can dedicate some budget towards promoted posts and some to influencer collaborations to decide on the next steps.
Overall, marketers should maintain consistency and focus on building an engaged community with fast replies and meaningful comments. There is a plethora of interactive tools to generate discussions, ask questions, and fuel research through polls. And remember, it’s powerful brand personality, willingness to communicate, and a little bit of money that will help you win on Instagram — even without likes.
