If you’re using Instagram to help grow your business, then Instagram removing the Like count from public view won’t have any affect on your efforts.

Removing the Like count from public view is one of several new features Facebook (which owns Instagram) recently announced.  It is currently being tested among some users in Canada, so you may (or may not) have noticed the change.

My personal account was among those chosen, but my business account wasn’t:

For those accounts that are part of the trial, instead of the typical number of likes you’ll just see “and others”. When you click the link you’ll see who has liked your photo with a total Like count at the top. While others can see who has liked your post, the total number of likes won’t be visible to them (they would have to manually count each individual like).

But back to your business and generating leads – the important stuff.

Likes are a vanity metric that make people feel good (likely a reason they might be disappearing in the first place), but in the long run have zero impact on your business results.

What does matter for your business?

What does have an affect on your business is engagement. How many people are actually commenting on your posts, replying to your stories, and genuinely engaged with your brand on a regular basis? These are people who both have an interest in the work you’re doing, and are beginning to build a relationship (AKA, the all important trust) with your business.

In order to generate engaging content, ensure you’re thinking about your target audience and fulfill a need of theirs: educate them, help them, and provide them value – even if that’s through humour, or inspiring quotes.

You should also be taking advantage of Instagram to send potential clients to your website. You can track the amount of visitors you get to your site from Instagram and other social media platforms from Google Analytics, your web hosts’ analytics, or by checking the amount of link clicks on apps like Link Tree. Ways to attract them to your website include blogging, freebies, and e-books.

If you’d like to learn more about how to make better use of your content for lead generation, check out this blog on the opportunity cost of unproductive content, or this one on content marketing tactics.

Still have questions? Let’s Talk.