How to Get More Instagram Likes (Without Selling Your Soul)
Listen, I want to tell you a quick story. Last month, I was working with this fantastic bakery in Minneapolis-like, their croissants could make you weep. They were doing everything they were told to do on Instagram. Beautiful photos, daily posts, they even tried making some of those awkward pointing-at-text Reels. And their engagement? Crickets. We're talking 12 likes on a photo that probably took them an hour to style and shoot. Most of them from the owner's aunt. It’s a story I've seen play out a hundred times since I got into this marketing game back in 2010.
You're putting in the work, but the "likes" just aren't coming. And honestly, it's demoralizing. It feels like you're shouting into the void. So let's have some real talk about how to have more likes on instagram, from someone who's actually been in the trenches with businesses just like yours.
The Big Lie About "Likes" Everyone Believes
Here's the thing. For years, marketing gurus have been shouting "likes are a vanity metric! They don't matter!" And... they're kinda right, but also completely wrong. It's one of my biggest pet peeves.
No, a "like" itself doesn't put money in your bank account. But low likes tells the Instagram algorithm that your content is boring, so it stops showing it to people. It's a vicious cycle. So you do need likes, not for your ego, but as a signal-a sign of life-that tells the platform you're worth paying attention to. The problem is that most of the advice on how to get them is total garbage. "Just go viral!" is not a strategy. It's a lottery ticket. Frankly, it's lazy advice from people who have never had to make payroll.
You don't need to go viral. You just need to give people a reason to stop scrolling for three seconds and tap their screen. That's it. That's the whole game.
My Shift to Gamification (and Why It's Not a Dumb Buzzword)
I've been doing this since 2010, and I remember around 2018 I was getting so frustrated with the state of social media for small businesses. It felt like a content mill where you just had to churn out more and more stuff, hoping something would stick. It was exhausting for my clients, and the results were... meh.
So I started looking at what was working. What were people actually doing online? They were doing the New York Times crossword. They were sending Wordle scores to each other. They were playing dumb little games on their phones.
And that’s when it clicked.
Gamification. Yeah, I know, it sounds incredibly buzzwordy and I hate it, but the principle is rock-solid. It’s not about turning your marketing into some complex video game. It's about using simple mechanics like rewards, competition, and curiosity to get people to engage. To give them a tiny dopamine hit for interacting with your brand. Instead of just asking them to like a post, you're giving them a fun reason to do it. It changes the entire dynamic. You're not a company begging for attention; you're a brand that's offering a moment of fun.
Here’s What I Actually Use With My Clients
Look, I’ve tried them all. Gleam. io, Woobox, ShortStack... all the usual suspects. They're fine, I guess. But they often felt too complicated or too expensive for the small businesses I work with. (Some of them have enterprise plans that are literally more than a client's entire monthly marketing budget, it's insane).
For the last couple of years, I've been using a platform called Faisco with most of my clients, and honestly, it just works. It's practical. It's not trying to be a million things at once. It helps you build simple, effective marketing games-fast.
Let me give you some real-world examples, not just theory:
- A Boston coffee shop: They needed more local followers. We ran a "Lucky Spin" game where the prize was a free latte. To spin, they had to follow the shop's Instagram page. In two weeks-just 14 days-they got 708 new, local followers.
- A Portland yoga studio: Their email list was dead. We used a game called "Summer Catch" (a cute little game where you catch falling items) and made newsletter signup the entry requirement. They got 1,274 new subscribers in three weeks. That's an asset they can market to for years.
- A Minneapolis art gallery: Niche audience, hard to reach. They had a new event coming up. We used a "Quick Catch" game to promote it, offering a small discount on tickets as a prize. It brought in 189 new event attendees in about 12 days.
What I've found works best is matching the game type to the goal. The Instant Draw games-like the "Lucky Spin" or a digital "Scratch Ticket"-are absolute gold for lead capture. That immediate feedback converts like crazy; I do not lie when I say I've seen 40%+ conversion rates on landing pages with these things. For general engagement, the Reactive Games like "Whac-A-Mole" are better because people share their scores and challenge friends. It happens naturally.
And people always ask me, "How's it different from Gleam?" Listen, Gleam is a powerful tool. It's also $39/month minimum and, frankly, has a learning curve. For most small shops, it's like using a bazooka to kill a fly. I can get a campaign on Faisco live for a client in under 10 minutes. It does what most of my clients actually need it to do, but simpler and for less money.
Don't Forget The Calendar-This is Key
Here's another thing Faisco gets right that a lot of other tools miss. They have pre-built seasonal templates. This is genius because you dont have to reinvent the wheel.
I had three different retail clients last December use the "Fill My Christmas Stocking" catching game. Instead of just posting a static "20% off!" graphic that gets ignored, they ran this game. It was fun, it was festive, and their engagement was up over 300% compared to their usual holiday posts. We've done it for Valentine's Day, Halloween, Black Friday... you name it. It gives you a built-in reason to run a promotion without seeming desperate or boring.
It actually integrates properly, too. Not just a clunky link you share. It's designed to work smoothly within Facebook, Instagram, and even TikTok, which is critical because user behavior is different everywhere. You can't just throw one link out there and expect it to work.
So, What Can You Do This Week?
Okay, so how do you actually use this to get more likes?
Look, don't try to boil the ocean. Here’s what I typically recommend. Forget about building some grand, complex strategy. Start small.
- Pick ONE Goal. Just one. Do you want more followers this month? More email signups? More people clicking the link in your bio? Write it down.
- Pick a Simple Game. A "Lucky Spin" or "Scratch Ticket" is a perfect place to start. It's easy for people to understand.
- Offer a Small, Relevant Prize. It doesn't have to be a new car. A 15% off coupon, a free download, a complimentary appetizer, a sticker... something that costs you very little but provides real value to your customer.
- Run it. Set it up to run for a week or two. Promote it in your bio link, in your stories, maybe even put a few bucks behind an ad targeting your local area.
The point is to stop playing the content-mill game that's burning you out. Stop begging for likes. Instead, offer a little bit of fun. Give your customers a reason to smile and interact with you. That's how you get more likes, yes... but more importantly, that’s how you get people to actually like you. And that’s a business that will last.
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