Instagram is now starting to hide likes, and of course, it will affect both influencers and brands, plus the relation between them as well. Obviously, a new question arises: How will Instagram hiding likes affect Influencer Marketing?
If you are curious about the answer, I invite you to read the rest of the article.

We’re currently running a test that hides the total number of likes and video views for some people in the following countries:

✅ Australia
✅ Brazil
✅ Canada
✅ Ireland
✅ Italy
✅ Japan
✅ New Zealand pic.twitter.com/2OdzpIUBka

— Instagram (@instagram) July 17, 2019

With the above tweet, Instagram announced that likes would be hiding for select users. Instagram had already been testing hiding likes in Australia, Brazil, Canada, and some US users and, after the month-long test, the amount of likes will be hiding to the rest of the world. Users can still like by pressing the heart below a post, but a total number of likes will not appear.

 

So when an account likes influencers’ content, it will seem like that  “name of Instagram account and others”.  Users can see only a list of accounts that have liked the post. Like counts will be hidden, won’t be completely gone. While followers won’t be able to see the number of likes, influencers will within their private view.

 

Why Does Instagram Hide The Likes?

The idea here was to help “improve mental health,” Instagram’s CEO Adam Mosseri stated.

 

Mia Garlick, Facebook Australia, and New Zealand director of policy said that “We hope this test will remove the pressure of how many likes a post will receive, so you can focus on sharing the things you love. According to her, the goal is that users feel less judged and to see whether this change can help people focus less on likes and more on telling their stories.

 

Instagram has started this process to push users to concentrate on creating better content rather than worrying about whether the content they share generates numerous likes. 

 

Studies show that this kind of instant feedback on content can boost people’s self-esteem but bring others down if they do not get as many likes, especially for young people.

 

How Will Instagram Hiding Likes Affect The Market Place?

We should take this topic into consideration from  two different aspects. What are the consequences of this change for influencers and brands? Lets firstly look at the influencers who are the ones could be most heavily impacted.

 

My approach is not psychological, but like is important for the influencers. Actually, like is a kind of validation of their works. Like has always been seen as a measure of performance and they have quiet powerful impacts. 

 

If users see content with a huge amount of likes, it grabs the audience’s attention and attracts more followers. If the influencer has fake followers or an unnatural audience, this change would definitely harm not only the influencer but also the brand who has collaboration. It means that organic growth will be gathering more attention.

 

As you see for the influencers it has some disadvantages, but the other side of the coin is that it would be beneficial for brands in particular. Naturally, brands collaborate with influencers who have an adequate engagement rate. As I said, likes have been seen as a way to measure engagement. Of course, it is not the correct way to measure engagement only through likes. The hiding of likes will help a brand understand if the influencer has a loyal and trustworthy audience or not. The engagement rate will play a huge role here. 

 

Some brands still prioritize likes and superficial metrics over the qualitative content and relationships with their audience. Brands should examine the value exchange they are offering consumers. The more balanced this exchange, the more beneficial Instagram will be for driving true business value for brands.

 

How To Handle With Hiding Likes

Certainly, there is no change without complications. If brands have the right technology or tool, hidden likes are not a problem.

That’s where Keepface stepped in. Keepface’s tool will still have access to those metrics even if they’re hidden. With the help of the Keepface brands are able to know an influencer’s engagement rates and have a full report on performance metrics before working with them. Brand can search influencers through advanced filters and analyze their key metrics to find the best fitting influencers for their campaign goals. Brands also get an in-depth analysis of influencers’ social profiles, Instagram as well, performance data, and audience. 

In recent years influencer marketing gained momentum over traditional digital marketing, and it is a hot topic for everybody these days. To promote their products, prestigious brands spend fortunes on influencer marketing. 

 

It is the known fact that marketing campaigns consume plenty of resources, including a huge amount of their budget along with a few robust employees. However, what if you are a company with a limited budget, a new startup, or you simply do not have the money to pay an agency to start an influencer marketing campaign for you. You cannot afford celebrities, but you also want to be promoted in social media efficiently. Firsts are always harder than seconds, but Keepface makes every step easier for you. 

 

Influencer marketing is quite effective for small businesses more than big ones. After reading this blog, you will be able to run an influencer marketing campaign without spending significant sums.

What is Influencer Marketing?

Sure you have already heard about influencer marketing but let’s briefly sum it up now. Influencer marketing goes conjointly with two other types of marketing which are probably more familiar to you: social media marketing and content marketing. Influencer marketing, on the other hand, is a type of marketing that content creators- influencers- that have a unique relationship with a particular audience to promote a brand through social media. 

 

Word of mouth marketing has always been the most dominant form of marketing, from the first time when people start to sell their products, the verbal message still stands valid today. So influencer marketing is based on the fact that consumers trust other consumers more than they believe brands.

 

Here is the list of key steps you need to take for making influencer marketing for your business.

#1 Set Your Goals

 

As in every path of business, setting goals is the first step you have to take. This will help you find the right influencer for your brand. Why are you working with influencers? What are your goals? What are you looking for? Impressions? Clicks? Conversions? All these metrics serve to measure the performance of your campaign. 

Brand awareness

 

Awareness is your main goal if it is your first promotion or you are promoting a new product. It is better to advertise your brand through influencers from a specific niche. Impressions are key metrics for measuring awareness.

Community Engagement

Sales

The sale is the ultimate goal of any project. But if it is your primary goal, you need to focus on click and conversions. The niche community you target may prove to be a good and reliable source of customers.

 

That’s how Wish.az the crowdfunding and donation platforms, gets their positive results. They created their campaign by working over ten influencers on Instagram and asked them to produce engaging content for their followers. Thus, they were able to identify fans of the brand that were later contacted and invited to develop visual content for Wish.az official Instagram account.

Brand Fit

 

Along with social media metrics you need to pay attention to other qualities like niche and brand fit. The importance of influencer niche is laid on a coherent base because you need to be sure it aligns with yours. In other words, any influencer you choose needs to be in accordance with your particular audience. 

 

Reputation is another crucial factor to consider when finding an influencer even though some influencers have a loyal following but alienate many others. If the influencer you want to engage in is a pretended person, consider the fact that you may forfeit your potential or existing customers.

 

Once you know what you aim to achieve, you can set a budget to pay an influencer for your brand. This also lets you think about how to reward influencers. For example, you may consider an upfront payment in addition to the commission for any sales made.

#2 Identify Your Channels

Before all else, your audience has to be your first concern. What do your potential clients or customers like? Where do they spend their time? Then think about yourself: what is the most estimable thing for your brand? Which channel do you want to grow and which one would be the place you can thrive? By knowing your consumers well you will easily incorporate those data to your influencer marketing. 

 

First, determine which social media platforms you should use based on your business. You can grow your website through influencers on specific niches or just through specific bloggers who generate a lot of traffic and write about things comparable to your technique or you can go with social media platforms.

Instagram

 

Now an almost $2 billion industry, Instagram influencer marketing has taken the social media world by storm. The app offers the perfect space for the brand ambassadorship, with influential users authentically recommending products and services to their loyal audience. With the influencer space estimated to grow to a $5-10 billion industry by 2021, it’s a marketing force that isn’t going anywhere.

 

Youtube

 

YouTube is swiftly becoming one of the most popular influencer marketing channels. With recent advancements in internet speeds, video content becomes the most preferred content for online activities. While you will find videos on most social networks now, and Instagram has even created a competing long-form video platform – IGTV, YouTube is still the de-facto place for people to come to get their video fix. 

 

Facebook

 

In many ways, Instagram has grown to be the star of the Facebook stable of social media apps. It may no longer be the social network of choice for adolescents, but it can even claim dominance of the social market, with over 2.32 billion active users at the end of 2018.

 

We don’t talk about Facebook influencer marketing as much as we do marketing on Instagram. But if your target demographic uses Facebook,  it is where your influencer marketing should be. 

 

Twitter

 

As of 2019, there are approximately 330 million active monthly users on Twitter, making it one of the biggest social networks globally. Consider the steady growth in the number of active monthly users on Twitter for the past few years. 

 

TikTok

 

As with all influencer and social media marketing, you have to avoid coming across as too salesy on TikTok. This is particularly the case because of TikTok’s youthful demographic – brands find Generation Z notoriously difficult to reach because of their total disdain for anything that resembles a traditional advertisement. As with all influencer marketing, the key to success on TikTok is working with influencers whose followers match your target market. 

#3 Find Your Influencers

 

After doing numerous research the next thing is finding the influencers to work with you and to create compelling campaigns around your brand. And to roll with your campaign, you have to make sure that you have a perfect influencer brief. 

 

But, you shouldn’t be a hundred percent sure that they’ll work with you. Sometimes it’s unlikely that they’re accessible from a financial or logistical viewpoint. Also, it’s worth knowing that the influencers you’ve picked might not be in your niche, that means they won’t help you to spread your business’s message to the right people.

 

At Keepface Influencer Discovery you can easily find the right influencers for your brand without spending extra time and money. If you truly want a successful marketing campaign, you’ll need professionals to do tasks for you. 

 

There are no strict rules to prevent you from getting creative or let your influencer be the one. If you use the opportunities social media presents for you to connect with your audience and rely on your influences to act on behalf of you, all those efforts will yield fruitful results.

#4 Manage the Relationship

After hiring influencers for your campaign, you need to nurture the relationship with them for further collaborations. Keep in mind that influencers are business people just like you, with a job to do and a reputation to uphold. 

 

#5 Measure the Results

Ready to Roll Out Your Influencer Campaign?

 

Once you’ve assessed your results, then you’ll have an idea of what worked and how to proceed next time to do your utmost. Rinse and repeat the steps for the upcoming campaign. You will have a clear picture of who you’ll work within your next campaign, and it will help you to refine your strategy. Keepface provides brands with all the information they need for influencer marketing. 

 

Nevertheless, if you are not getting an acceptable amount of feedback, try a different approach to your influencer marketing. The marketing business changes in a blink of an eye, but these main concepts will mostly hold. Now it’s time to go out there and influence some customers!