Good riddance to Instagram likes: Now brands can focus on real marketing
Martin Hong is head of social and digital at Magnum & Co, and Instagram likes are his “lifeblood”. So, personally, he was affected by yesterday’s removal of his “digital report card”. But professionally, the change will allow marketers to stop focusing on vanity metrics and get to the real work of marketing, he argues.
If you heard a shriek yesterday morning, it was the sound of me finding out that Instagram has removed public like counts from posts. As an (elder) millennial, I’ve been dreading this news since whispers of it emerged in early April, and finally confirmed at Facebook’s F8 Developers Conference by head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri.
For a generation raised on constant feedback, where everything is measured and praised, likes are my lifeblood. My digital report card. We don’t just want to excel at taking photos of our lunch – we want proof that we did it better than anyone else.
Yet this digital one-upmanship is exactly what this change is designed to combat.
Likes = transparency into popularity (engagement success).
No Likes = Marketers are not scrutinized by the public with publicly visible success insights.
Disagree Steve to easy to tap the like button, by the like or use a auto liked as many do. Real engagement is what business owners want, not a quick flick of the finger.
*Like*