Home » Blog » How to Get More Likes on Instagram in 2026
If you’ve been joining in on social media conversations lately, you’ve probably heard some people say that likes no longer matter. The reason? Instagram puts more weight on other engagement metrics, such as watch time and shares.
But let’s be real: while these other metrics do have a lot of weight, likes still matter. They not only determine whether the Instagram algorithm pushes your content, but also influence other users’ decisions to engage with your posts (or not).
What’s more, they have a huge impact on creators’ confidence. The truth is, even the most seasoned content creators will start to second-guess their content, timing, or reach when their posts barely get any likes.
While likes may not carry as much weight as they did years ago, they’re still valuable. And, maximizing them can help grow your account.
In this guide, we provide tips to help you get more likes on Instagram.
Do Instagram Likes Still Matter?
Simply put? Yes. The question of whether likes still matter on Instagram has been debated for some time, with some creators arguing they’re no longer an important metric. However, likes are still vital. Here’s why:
They help build credibility: A high number of likes serves as social proof, making a brand or creator’s page appear more trustworthy and authoritative. They can be the difference between users scrolling away even before they give your content a chance and them actually sticking around to see what you have to offer.
They’re a valuable influencer metric: Marketers often assess potential influencers’ like-to-follower ratios when determining whether to work with them. The more likes you have, the likelier your chances of securing contracts.
They influence content ranking: Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, says that likes are among the top signals the algorithm considers when ranking content. In fact, he confirmed that likes have a greater impact on your ranking in connected reach (among accounts that follow you) than saves.
Ready to get your numbers up? Here are practical ways to get more Instagram users to like your content:
1. Prioritize Content Quality
This sounds obvious, right? However, many content creators still fall short in terms of content quality.
Some assume that recording clear videos, taking professional-looking photos, and maintaining a perfect profile aesthetic is enough to get likes. But high-quality content doesn’t just look good; it also offers value to your audience.
To get likes, make sure your posts solve problems, answer questions, entertain, inspire, or make your target audience feel seen. When people get value from your content, many will show appreciation by engaging with it.
2. Share New Posts to Your Story
The truth is, some users rarely scroll through the feed. They log into Instagram, check their favorite creators’ Stories, and then log out. Others only interact with the first few posts in their feeds and then focus on Stories.
If you register many Story views but limited engagement on your posts, odds are, your followers are in this group. Direct their attention to your posts by sharing them from your profile to your Story. Instagram has made this pretty easy: tap the paper airplane icon under the post you want to share and select Add to Story.
To encourage users to tap on the post, provide a little context on what it entails. For example, you can add a text like “Here’s what I’ve been up to lately.”
You can also drive users to click through to your post by creating a “teaser” effect: cover part of your post with a sticker, use a brush tool, or pique curiosity with a line like “You won’t believe what’s on the last slide.”
3. Use Hashtags
Hashtags are a powerful discovery tool. They help the algorithm put your content in front of audiences that are already interested in your niche or topic, helping you secure more likes.
However, how you use them determines their value. For optimal results, only use hashtags that align with your content. For example, instead of using generic tags like #instagram, use more specific options like #stylingtips (for fashion creators) and #homeworkouts (for fitness creators). The more specific your hashtags are, the easier it is for the algorithm to surface your content to the right audience.
Working with other content creators allows you to tap into their audiences. This could mean not only more likes on your posts but also new followers, helping your Instagram account grow.
The best way to maximize likes when creating content with other creators is to leverage Instagram’s new Collabs feature. The feature goes beyond standard tags by letting you add creators as post collaborators.
Once you do, your post appears on their profile grids and in their followers’ feeds. Essentially, Collabs gets you in front of users you may not reach on your own. This could, in turn, increase your likes.
Take the music band December 10, for example. In this post, the band invited Netflix US and Netflix UK & Ireland as collaborators, extending its reach to the accounts’ profiles. As a result, the video garnered over 30K likes in less than 24 hours, significantly higher than the engagement on other posts.
5. Engage With Other Creators and Your Audience
Don’t post content and immediately log out of Instagram. Stick around and scroll through other creators’ posts, making sure to leave likes. Some will want to reciprocate by liking your content as well.
Also, be sure to engage with your followers. Start conversations on Stories, respond to comments, reply to DMs, and repost relevant user-generated content (UGC). This fosters deeper connections and makes your audience feel valued, increasing their likelihood of leaving likes on your posts.
Take photographer Liliy Rose as an example. If you look through her posts, you’ll notice that she consistently engages with people in the comments and responds in a warm, approachable way.
6. Use Carousels
Don’t sleep on the power of carousels. According to a Buffer analysis, they see 12% more engagement than Reels and 114% more engagement than single-image posts. So, they might be your ticket to increasing likes.
Adam Mosseri says that carousels receive more engagement than other posts for a couple of reasons. First, they create a richer user experience, increasing the likelihood of engagement. For example, a post with before-and-after images tells a richer story than one with a single before-or-after image.
Second, Instagram gives carousels multiple opportunities to appear in users’ feeds. Say a user sees your carousel post and doesn’t interact with it the first time. Instagram will show the post again, displaying the second or third slide in your carousel. This translates to multiple chances to secure likes.
For a deeper look at how this works and how to structure carousel posts effectively, you can read the full Instagram carousel tutorial here.
7. Cross-Promote Your Content
Bring people from other platforms over to your Instagram account by cross-promoting content. Share your posts on X, your website, WhatsApp, Threads, LinkedIn, and even email newsletters.
To drive traffic to your IG and encourage engagement, be sure to include relevant context when sharing posts. For example, if you want to promote a Reel on X, make sure your tweet explains what users stand to gain from the video. Something as short as “Here’s how I use Product Y,” accompanied by a link to your Reel, can go a long way toward encouraging engagement.
8. Join Trends
Trends are shortcuts to attention. So, don’t get left behind. Look for audio, content formats, topics, or challenges that are currently popular in your niche or among your target audience and join in.
For example, if you’re a makeup content creator, participate in viral makeup challenges. To bring even more attention to your content, use associated sounds and hashtags. This way, your posts will pop up when users search for them.
9. Listen to Your Community
People are constantly telling content creators what they want to see more of. However, some don’t even know it.
To find content ideas that resonate with your target audience, go through your comments and DMs. If your audience doesn’t tell you what they want directly, closely monitor engagement numbers (likes, shares, saves, and reposts) across different types of videos. Content that aligns with audience preferences often outperforms the rest. If you have such posts, identify the main ideas behind them and focus more on them in future content.
Say behind-the-scenes content regularly outperforms other posts. Publish more personal and “less-polished” content to increase likes.
10. Run Giveaways
People love entering contests. And, they love free stuff even more. Combine the two by running like-based giveaways — ask your audience to like specific posts for a chance to win gifts.
To expand your reach (and likes), collaborate with other content creators in your giveaway. FRÉ Skincare is the perfect example of how impactful giveaways can be. The brand recently collaborated with Andrea Berlin Schwartz (a popular wellness coach) on a giveaway, a strategy that resulted in over 1,000 likes on a single post. For context, other recent posts have fewer than 100 likes.
11. Post at High-Engagement Timeframes
If you post great content but barely receive any engagement, your timing may be the problem. Let us explain: the Instagram algorithm is big on immediate engagement. The more immediate engagement a post gets, the more the algorithm pushes it, leading to even more engagement.
Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. If you don’t get significant likes within the first few hours of your post going live, the algorithm may limit its reach. The result? It’ll only get a few likes.
Post when your target audience is already active to amplify your reach and engagement. To identify when best to post, go to your profile and tap Professional dashboard to access Insights. Then, tap Followers, and scroll down to Most active times to see when most of your people are online.
This strategy becomes harder when you manage multiple Instagram accounts. Each account may have a different audience, time zone, and peak engagement window, making manual posting inefficient and easy to miss.
In situations like this, you might want to try a newer type of social media management tool like GeeLark. GeeLark manages Instagram accounts using cloud phones, with each one assigned a unique digital fingerprint. Because these cloud phones support proxy settings, you can manage accounts from different regions without having to buy or store large numbers of physical devices. Everything can be handled from a single computer.
GeeLark also provides automation templates for platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Reddit. These automations run directly on cloud phones and work differently from traditional scheduling tools. Instead of using APIs, GeeLark simulates real user behavior inside mobile apps. The system opens the app, scrolls the screen, taps the “+” button, uploads a photo or video, and taps Share, just like a real user would.
This setup makes GeeLark especially useful for testing multiple accounts and content strategies with lower overhead. Because it supports automation across different platforms, you can run more experiments without adding extra manual work.
If you’re managing a large number of Instagram accounts and finding it hard to post consistently across all of them, GeeLark’s automation features are worth considering.
Consistency builds familiarity with your audience. Familiarity then builds trust, which can encourage more engagement. Consistency also helps the algorithm understand your rhythm, which can result in a wider reach. The broader your reach, the more opportunities you have to get likes.
If you’re having a hard time staying consistent, lean on GeeLark to ease the burden. The platform’s automation templates can handle posting across multiple accounts, allowing you to focus on content creation.
Get More Likes on Instagram Today
As you’ve seen, there are many ways to get more likes on Instagram: create high-value content, collaborate with other content creators, engage with your audience, run giveaways, use hashtags, cross-promote your posts, and publish content consistently during high-engagement windows.
To make your work easier, lean on tools whenever you can. For example, you can use hashtag generators to find relevant hashtags for your niche, and social media schedulers to make sure your posts go live when your audience is most active.
With GeeLark, you can say goodbye to manual content posting. The platform provides AI-powered automation templates that publish posts at set times, making it easier not only to capitalize on high-engagement windows but also to stay consistent.
Not at all. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. Buying likes violates Instagram’s Community Guidelines and Terms of Use. It may therefore result in temporary or permanent account bans.
It depends. If you run a personal account and get anxious from social comparison, you can hide your likes from the public. However, if you’re a brand or influencer, hiding likes may do more harm than good. It might make it harder for potential partners to assess the value of your partnership. Further, users may be unable to verify your credibility when scrolling, resulting in more skips. That said, hiding comments is a reversible choice. So, you can try it out to see if it works for your account.
To an extent, yes. Posting when your audience is most active can help you secure more likes. However, great timing alone isn’t enough. Make sure your content is high-quality and resonates with your target audience as well.
