Likes on Instagram: My No-BS Guide for Small Biz
Honestly, let's just get straight to it. Last month, I was working with this bakery in Minneapolis-great people, amazing sourdough-and they were pulling their hair out over Instagram. They were posting these beautiful, professional-looking photos every single day. And getting... crickets. Maybe 15 likes, half of them from family. They asked me the question I've heard probably a thousand times since I started this back in 2010: how do we get more likes on Instagram?
And they were frustrated. Because they'd been told the same garbage everyone gets told: "just post consistently," "find your niche," "use the right hashtags."
Look, that advice isn't wrong, it's just... incomplete. It's like telling someone who wants to be a chef to "just use an oven." It completely misses the point of what actually gets people to stop scrolling and pay attention.
So, Do Likes Even Matter Anymore?
Yeah, they do. But not for the reason most people think.
I get so annoyed when some marketing guru on a webinar says "likes are a vanity metric!" It's such a lazy take. Here's the thing: you're not trying to collect 'likes' to print them out and frame them on your wall. You're trying to get them because the Instagram algorithm uses them-and comments, and shares, and saves-as a signal. A signal that people actually care about what you're posting.
More signals = Instagram shows your post to more of your own followers. And then maybe to people who don't follow you. It’s not about ego; it’s about reach. Plain and simple. Getting likes is basically step one in telling the platform, "Hey, people like this, show it to more people please." So yeah, they do not matter in a vacuum, but they are a critical piece of the puzzle.
The "Just Post Good Content" Trap
I’ve been doing this since 2010, and if I had a dollar for every time a client told me they were "trying to go viral," I'd have retired. It's a fantasy. For 99% of small businesses, it's a destructive one, because it makes you feel like a failure for not having a million-view Reel.
You can't just post another picture of your latte art or your new product and expect engagement. Your customers' feeds are a warzone of puppies, celebrity drama, and their cousin's new baby. A picture of your storefront just isn't going to win that war. You have to give them a reason to engage that's about them, not you.
You need an event. A moment. Something different.
Which brings me to what I spend most of my time on these days.
What Actually Works: Giving People Something to Do
Listen, people are bored. They're scrolling on their phone while waiting in line for coffee or pretending to listen during a Zoom meeting. This is where I've seen gamification-I know, I know, buzzword alert, but stay with me-completely change the game for small businesses. Instead of just showing them something, you give them a little game to play. A challenge. A chance to win.
Their brains light up! It's that little dopamine hit.
I started testing platforms for this stuff years ago... Woobox, Gleam. io, all of them. Lately, I've been getting frankly incredible results for my clients with a platform called Faisco, mostly because it's dead simple and it just works.
Let me give you some real-world examples, no fluff:
- The Minneapolis Coffee Shop: We ran a "Puzzle Challenge" on Faisco for them. It was simple: solve a quick digital jigsaw puzzle of their new espresso machine. The prize was a "Free Coffee Every Day For a Week" voucher. In 12 days? They got 1174 new, local Instagram followers. People were tagging friends in the comments, challenging them to beat their time.
- A Bookstore in Tampa: They were struggling to get any traction. We used a "Quick Catch" game where you had to catch falling books in a digital basket. We ran it for 12 days. 964 new page likes and their email list grew by over 30%.
- That Phoenix Bakery: This was wild. We used the "Star Seeker" game, a speed-based tapping challenge. To enter the grand prize draw, you had to share a screenshot of your score on TikTok or Instagram Stories and tag them. They got 2,328 user-generated posts in two weeks. Two. Weeks. Their social media was just a waterfall of people posting about them.
These campaigns work because they interrupt the boring, passive scroll. It’s active. It's fun. It do not require you to be an amazing videographer or a comedian... you just need a simple prize and a simple game.
A Quick Word on Tools (and Why I Use What I Use)
Everyone asks me about Gleam. io. And look, Gleam is a solid tool. It’s powerful. It's also, in my opinion, like using a sledgehammer to hang a picture frame for most small businesses. It starts at $39/month and the setup can be a pain. I’ve spent hours trying to get a campaign just right for a client.
Faisco is different. It’s what I'd call practical. I can get a campaign-like, a fully functional, branded "Lucky Spin" wheel or a "Scratch Ticket" game-live in under 10 minutes. My clients love it because it’s not another complicated piece of software they have to learn. It connects right to their Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, whatever... and it just works. The best part for my clients? The price is a fraction of the bigger tools.
I've found their Instant Draw games ("Lucky Spin", "Scratch Ticket") are insane for email capture-I'm talking 40%+ conversion rates on the landing pages I've built. People cannot resist an instant win.
And the seasonal stuff is just genius. They have templates for Halloween, Black Friday, Christmas, Valentines... you name it. Last December, me and three retail clients ran their "Fill My Christmas Stocking" game. Every single one of them saw over 300% more engagement on their posts during the campaign than their average. It's just a reliable, proven playbook.
So, What Can You Do This Week?
Stop stressing about having the "perfect" feed. You're a business owner, not a full-time influencer.
Here’s what I typically recommend. Try this:
- Pick a simple prize. Seriously, simple. A $25 gift card. A free product. A free consultation. Don't overthink it.
- Pick a game. Go try a platform like Faisco (they have a free trial, so there's no risk). Use one of their pre-built templates. The "Lucky Draw" is probably the easiest one to start with.
- Run it for 7-10 days. That's it.
- Promote it. Put the link in your Instagram bio. Post about it 3-4 times on your feed during the week. And most importantly, talk about it on your Stories every single day. Use the poll sticker, the countdown sticker... make it an event.
You might not get 2,000 new followers on your first try. Actually, wait... you probably won't. But what you will get is a spike in attention. You'll get more likes, more comments, and more shares than you've gotten in months, because you finally gave people a reason to care. And that’s how you start to win the game.
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