It’s quite the day to be alive in the world of social media with Instagram testing the removal of the most basic and humble form of engagement – the (un) holy Like.
This decision from Adam Mosseri has received quite the backlash, particularly from influencers and businesses. But why? Are we all just narcissistic vanity projects?
Well, no. The human need to measure ourselves against something/someone else allows us to ‘place’ ourselves in a hierarchy, which makes Instagram a really dangerous place for our mental health, because it essentially commoditises individuals ‘popularity’ with a number that is higher or lower than someone else’s.
This makes removing the like great for everyday users (if you just ignore the thousands of retouched & photoshopped images), but what does it mean for businesses?
Well, nothing, because:
As a business you are using Instagram as a means to engage a group of people who are connected to one another through mutual interest in your brand, product or service – a community.
The key to keeping this community coming back and engaging with you is to create content that is fit for them (each community online is different). While this may seem super complicated, it isn’t, and while it may seem like it requires heaps of thought, it does!
It isn’t complicated because as a business owner or member of a team who is running the social accounts you are involved in the depths of what your community do and don’t like when you’re running the business day to day. You know what sells best, you know what to say to get people to purchase and most importantly you know your brand and tone of voice which means that you’re authentic!
Now, it requires thought because the removal of likes means that a post cannot carry weight anymore simply by being ‘liked’ highly. Rather, the content need to be meaningful so you have to select images, videos and graphics that are on brand and make your community feel, think and be inspired (either personally, or to come back through your door).
W&W TIP: THE APP ‘PREVIEW’ ALLOWS YOU TO PLAN OUT YOUR FEED IN ADVANCE TO ENSURE THAT YOUR CONTENT IS ON BRAND AND THOUGHT THROUGH
So there is no need to fret, worry or fear about loosing customers, community members or your own enthusiasm to use Instagram for your business, and rather we should celebrate the new thoughtfulness in curating our Instagram feeds with quality, authentic content!
Comments