The moment you press “share” on Instagram is the beginning of an anxiety-filled journey. Several minutes go by, yet still 0 likes. You contemplate deleting the picture to save yourself the misery, but decide to wait it out to see what happens. 30 minutes pass and you haven’t even hit double digits. You think to yourself, “Do I not look super hot here?” or “Does this food not look drool-worthy?” As much of a textbook “first world problem” as this is, girls wait by their phones and always yearn to hit their next goal, whether it’s 20 likes or 200. With these tips under your belt, you’ll hit that elusive number of likes you’ve been anxiously waiting for.
1. It’s all in the caption: “This is my friend Cara and me at a frat party” just isn’t gonna cut it. Sorry if this breaks your heart, but your followers don’t really care about the specifics of your picture. Unless you write something short and witty, most of your followers will scroll on without giving your post any attention. Puns are always a plus; even if they’re cheesy, they’ll still get some laughs. A caption consisting solely of random emojis sometimes does the trick as well. Please, for God’s sake, lay off the hashtags.
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2. Keep your watch handy: Don’t expect to hit 100 likes if you post at 2am or 7am. Think to yourself before pressing the share button, “Are other people awake and on Instagram right now or am I just a crazy insomniac?” Primetime for Instagram likes is in the afternoon, usually from 1pm to 8pm. Instagrams from the night before can usually get a substantial amount of likes if posted around 11:30am, as friends will be laying in bed, hungover, unable to do anything besides troll Instagram and Facebook pictures.
3. Be a loyal liker: So what if she’s a random girl in your freshman Spanish class with whom you wrote a report about Mexican folk music? If you think her Insta is dope, go ahead and toss her a like. When you consistently like people’s pictures, chances are they’ll reciprocate and do the same for you. Just don’t backstalk someone you have a crush on an accidentally like their pic from 2012. Not that I’ve ever done that or anything…
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4. Add geotags to your picture: This applies mostly to food Instas, but adding your location to your picture can be a jackpot for likes. Admit it, before you go to a restaurant, you definitely stalk all of the Instas that have been tagged at that location to try to decide ahead of time what you want to order. Other people do this, too, and will throw you some love if they’re generous. On the food note, #eeeeeats will connect you with a myriad of other food lovers and Instagrammers.
5. Editing is key: There’s absolutely no shame in a picture not being #nofilter. Needless to say, half the people who add #nofilter are straight up lying. Afterlight, a $0.99 app, is a miracle worker for pictures. Beyond adding filters, you can manually adjust all of the coloring aspects of the picture and take it to the next level. Beware: lakes are not naturally pink and your skin is not naturally the color of an Oompa Loompa. Don’t overo it.
Courtesy of elitedaily.com
Article cover photo courtesy of blogs.cisco.com