Despite being just a photo-sharing app, Instagram still remains one of the top social media platforms for growing your business, building your brand, and increasing sales. In the case of it, we have an impressive 2 billion monthly active users and a very active community.
Views and likes are two of the key Instagram metrics brands pay attention to. Which one matters more for pushing growth on the platform in 2024 and beyond? Let’s look at the difference between likes and views on Instagram and what is most important for success.
Understanding Instagram Views
Someone views your Instagram post or video in their feed, visits your profile, or clicks on your Stories. Instagram does not tell you exactly how many views each post gets. You can, however, estimate view count based on reach and impressions.
Here are some key points about Instagram views:
- Views measure how many times your content is seen. High view count signals your content is reaching a lot of people.
- Getting on the Explore page can drive a massive view count. The more views, the further your content may spread via the Explore tab.
- Views impact perceived popularity and credibility. More views make you seem established even if people aren’t actively engaging.
- Views say nothing about quality or relevance. Low-value content can still get high views depending on distribution.
- Video views are especially important. They show people are interested enough in your content to watch for longer.
So Instagram views equate to visibility and discovery of your brand. Although raw view count isn’t shown, high impressions and reach demonstrate your content is being seen by many people.
Understanding Instagram Likes
So, when someone taps the heart icon below an Instagram post or video, that’s a like. Likes publicly show approval and enjoyment of the content. This shows active engagement more than just being viewed; it shows that people relate and respond to the post. High numbers of likes also give social proof or show that other people (specifically other people like you) endorse it. For those seeking a boost, you can easily buy IG likes to increase your content’s visibility and credibility.
Instagram’s algorithm also favors posts that receive a lot of early engagement with lots of likes in the first couple of hours after posting. It brings the content up to the feeds of more users.
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Last but not least, likes help cultivate a brand’s personality and tone. Liking is fun, inspirational brands, whereas dry B2B companies who focus on conversions don’t. Overall, views are reach, but they prefer to measure meaningful engagement.
Driving Brand Awareness and Discovery Through Views
As an awareness play, Instagram will remain tremendously impactful in 2024. For branding and discovery objectives, the view count is still king, with likes providing secondary reinforcement.
People decide whether to learn more about your company based on surface-level perceptions from Instagram. At that top-of-funnel stage, view count signals credibility through popularity – regardless of engagement quality.
Here are some examples of how views drive growth for branding campaigns:
- A public figure or influencer partners with your brand for an Instagram post. Their existing audience checks it out, driving views. Exposure leads new visitors to your profile.
- Your video ad campaign targets cold audiences. Thousands see the video, raising view count and brand familiarity for a percentage who then follow you.
- An employee posts an Instagram Story while attending an industry conference. Attendees and vendors view it, potentially exploring your company afterward.
- You run an Instagram contest encouraging users to tag friends. Participants drive views throughout their networks as entry requirements.
Each example shows how views prompt discovery, even for audiences unconcerned with liking or commenting on the content itself. Views plant seeds for future sales by revealing brands to new audiences.
Stimulating Engagement and Word-of-Mouth Through Likes
But for audiences already aware of your brand, likes bear more influence driving growth on Instagram in 2024. Their active engagement shows content resonating, which can inspire organic word-of-mouth.
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Likes also play an important role in nurturing existing relationships. Seeing customers regularly interact makes them feel valued members of your community.
Here are some examples of how likes boost engagement and advocacy:
- A post offering an exclusive discount receives high early likes from current followers, strengthening their brand loyalty through involvement.
- An inspirational quote graphic deeply resonates with your audience base. Lots of likes reflect how well you understand core customers.
- A behind-the-scenes Instagram Story generates strong likes from fans and converts casual viewers into engaged brand advocates.
- User-generated content featuring your product amasses likes thanks to creativity from brand enthusiasts. Their passion rubs off on casual visitors, generating interest.
Each example shows how quality user engagement in the form of post and Story likes fosters loyal brand supporters. This community can organically promote you to new audiences.
Optimizing for Increased Conversions and Sales
Driving website traffic, email sign-ups, and sales requires balancing views and likes based on your offer and audience.
At the middle-to-bottom of the funnel, likes indicate hot leads since they demonstrate previous positive engagements with your brand. So, likes to take priority overviews when conversion is the goal.
But enough views are still essential in order for your content to initially connect with potential customers higher in the funnel.
Here are some examples of optimizing for conversions and sales with Instagram:
- A video overview of a new product releases. Focus first on driving views through hashtags and placements to inform the audience. Then prompt quality interactions through captions and visuals that inspire likes from interested viewers.
- A discount code posted in Stories receives clicks from browsers. But likes on the related discounted product posts denote real purchase intent and signal to retarget those engaged people.
- An Instagram ad campaign drives external link clicks to a sales page. However, the landing page experience speaks to customer interests better, as reflected in those who previously liked related Instagram content.
- User-generated reviews and recommendations published on the feed should inspire engagement through likes before expecting link clicks. Let likes guide your outreach to convert reviewers into purchasers.
Balancing views and likes for optimizing conversions requires identifying the right content formats, placements, captions, and calls-to-action tailored to each stage of the marketing funnel.
Tips for Driving Both Instagram Views and Likes
Views and likes are not the same thing, but if you’re doing most Instagram brands, you need to have both. To increase views and likes at the same time, brands should follow several best practices in their Instagram strategy.
Influencer Collaborations
By partnering with the right influencers in your niche, you’re able to tap into their engaged follower base. Co-marketing campaigns that are well matched drive both views and likes. When you’re looking for potential influencer partners, look into their audience demographics, engagement levels, content style and cost, to make sure they’re a good fit for your brand.
Prior to working with a sponsored post, negotiate expectations on what sponsored post captions and hashtags can be and what metrics goals you can achieve. Think of the partnership as an ongoing relationship rather than a one-off project. Pay influencers fairly for their marketing assets (i.e., pay, free products/services, etc.)
Strategic Hashtags
This way, you are discovered by both the wider audience and your core fan base, and that attracts more views and likes. Research trending hashtags as including those that competitors and influencers in your industry actually use. Use planning tools to try combinations of 2-5 branded, popular and long tail hashtags.
And, think small with hashtags, make them concise and intuitive, covering as many angles as you can around emotions, events, locations, etc. and evaluate performance data to see what’s working and what’s not, what hashtags are driving views, engagement, clicks, and conversions.
Optimal Timing
When you analyze when your followers are most active online and schedule Instagram posts accordingly, you get more views and engagement during those high traffic windows. You can check your followers’ activity pattern by day and hour with Instagram’s built in analytics.
Think about how your priority geography based audiences will react to your content given the time zones. Post test and see what cadence and times would have the most impact based on metrics. Make an editorial calendar that’s based on times when your audiences are most responsive. You can pre program the posts for busy days using scheduling tools.
Paid Promotions
Instagram and Facebook ads find lookalike audiences likely to view and interact with your content, boosting both metrics. Define campaign objectives around reach, engagement, conversions or other KPIs. Control costs via daily budgets aligned to those goals.
Experiment with different image/video ads, captions, optimized landing pages, and detailed targeting parameters like interests, behaviors demographics. Track performance to identify winning combinations delivering the most cost-efficient views and likes.
The Importance of Both Vanity and Quality Metrics
Serious marketers track both vanity and quality metrics to benchmark Instagram success.
While views fall into the vanity category, they remain critical for discovery-focused goals such as expanding brand reach and awareness. Optimizing posts for engagement risks preaching to the choir rather than welcoming new visitors.
And even for bottom-funnel sales objectives, enough view volume ensures your content gets seen by potential new customers. Before prompting actions like clicks or purchases, people must first view your posts and videos.
But quality engagement measured through likes serves as the best barometer for content resonating with audiences likely to drive conversions and growth for your brand. It demonstrates your messaging truly striking a chord.
So modern Instagram marketing requires balancing both metrics based on overarching campaign strategies and objectives. Blindly chasing views risks targeting disinterested people unlikely to meaningfully interact or buy from you later. But ignoring views entirely cuts off discovery pipelines to new segments.
Likewise, just obsessing over likes leaves money on the table by overlooking casual browsers who engage at lower rates. But focusing solely on views comes at the expense of quality and advocacy.
Brands who analyze both vanity and quality metrics for Instagram have the best shot at sustainably growing their presence on the platform.
Key Takeaways
- Views show how many times people saw your content while likes demonstrate deeper engagement.
- For awareness and discovery, views reign supreme. But for nurturing existing audiences, likes prove more influential.
- Converting views into conversions requires balancing metrics based on funnel stage. Views drive discovery before likes signify hot leads.
- Smart Instagram marketing utilizes both vanity and quality metrics. Relying solely on views or likes has drawbacks.
- Tactics like influencer partnerships, optimal posting strategy, paid ads, relevant captions, UGC, and performance analysis drive both views and likes in tandem.
In 2024 and beyond, benchmarking and tracking both views and likes remains critical to maximize Instagram growth potential for brands. Analyze them collectively to make data-informed decisions about your visual marketing.
