Instagram has recently announced that it is testing a new interface across few more countries where it will be hiding likes.
What that actually means is that the number of likes on your feed will go away but you will still have access to know who have liked it. So if one has patience, they can still count the number of people on that list.
The announcement though has caught the attention of brands and influencers who relied on public ‘like’ count to showcase their strength on the platform.
How Hiding Likes On Instagram Affects Influencers?
Many of the brands would always have at least a customary look at followers and the number of likes on posts of influencers.
With this move, influencers will lose one of the key metrics of validation of their clout.
Few of them, as we in marketing would know, have invested in creating a farm of ‘likes’ (group of individuals who will like each others post). And now that entire effort would go in vain.
On the other hand, many of them would start investing in creating good content, which actually is the objective of this move by Instagram.
Additionally, they will start investing in Ads, to ensure that their content appears in front of the right audience and that is advantage Instagram.
If we have to recap, hiding likes on Instagram for influencers would mean –
- Loss of one key metric
- More focus on creating quality content
- Spending in ads to reach & engage with the right audience
How Hiding Likes On Instagram Affects Brands
Even from a brand’s perspective, it was one of the easiest metrics to know the ‘influence’ of the individuals apart from the follower count (while I have my own reservation on like & followers)
But now brands and agencies will have to look beyond the vanity metrics and focus more on the engagement they are getting. So we will see more focus on engagement the posts are getting rather than just the number of likes.
Brands will also start to focus on other important metrics like impression vs engagement, impression vs save, etc
The conversation among marketers would be more aligned to ‘how do we get more engagement’ compared to ‘how do we get more likes’.
And just like ‘influencers’, brands will also start to invest more in ads to ensure they catch the attention of the target audience.
Summing up, hiding likes on new interface for brands would mean –
- Focus on other key metrics
- More creative ways of organic reach
- Investment in Ads
But in the new world order where the focus should be more on quality of content and not the follower or likes, would the number of likes really matter?
What is your take?
