During the time of Instagram’s humble beginnings, getting likes wasn’t that much of a big deal. Today, many among us treat likes as currency as if we can’t sleep at night without viewing the analytics. It’s understandable to feel this way, especially if you’re a media personality or a businessman. Many exert more effort to up their stats, while others resort to various tactics. Sadly, a bunch of these practices is illegal and suspicious, putting your account at risk.

By all means, don’t stoop down to that level. Don’t gamble your hard-earned reputation for something so shady.

Actually, there are reliable ways to get more likes on Instagram. The good news is they come in apps which you can use anytime, anywhere. While these programs involve you spending money, you are guaranteed that the service is safe and effective. Besides, all fraudulent providers demand payment anyway, so why bother?

Before we get into that, let’s compare the two: buying likes and trying organic means. These are polar opposites, and both have pros and cons. Obviously, one is much better than the other, but we’ll find out why in this article.

Purchasing Instagram Likes: Instant, Yet Unsafe

The idea of buying Instagram likes seems lucrative at first, but there are major problems you can encounter.

Basically, there are two ways on how you purchase likes. The first type of service is the usage of multiple fake accounts. Providers can easily create thousands of dummy accounts which is used to like your post. The next method is by programming bots to generate likes from real Instagram accounts.

Now, we will be looking at two factors: Practicality and Legality.

These services are very tempting to resist, given that they are affordable. One may think of these methods as practical and efficient overall. However, that is not the case. Fake accounts don’t have profile pictures with them, and they can’t comment as well. This kills the engagement aspect of social media. Not only your real users will notice this, but also Instagram. Fundamentally, you are breaching the users’  trust in the process.

As for the practice of bot-generated activity, tech companies are getting smarter in catching these schemes. For instance, YouTube has formulated a system in place to detect it. Here’s how it works:

If a video has 300 views or less, YouTube doesn’t conduct checking for bots. However, upon reaching 301 views, YouTube can simply prompt its detection system to use an algorithm that determines where the likes or views are coming from. If it appears that most of these come from only a few computers, that is a red flag already. Most likely, your video will get deleted. Instagram can also do the same thing, being a direct competitor of YouTube.

On the legal side of things, these services clearly violate Instagram’s Community Guidelines. Here’s a tidbit of info from their Terms of Use section:

“You must not create accounts with the Service through unauthorized means, including but not limited to, by using an automated device, script, bot, spider, crawler or scraper.”

There’s a high chance of account deactivation once Instagram discovers that you’re deviating from their usual standards. It’s one thing if you’re an individual. However, if you have a business, the losses would be even more tremendous.

Many businesses make use of Instagram to promote their business. The marketing department already undergoes hectic operations on a daily basis. Usually, these activities consume time and money. This is where the temptation comes through – in a desire to reduce overhead costs and to speed up the advertising process.

Unbelievably, many companies don’t mind using these services, especially those associated with bots. Regardless, Instagram views individuals and companies equally; thus, both are subject to similar rules.

Organic Means of Generating Likes: Slowly, But Surely

Getting likes via organic means is pretty much straightforward. It entails that real people have viewed your post or content, preferably all the way through. They have substantially taken their mouse, moved it over to the “Like” icon, and clicked it. When hundreds or even thousands of users view that similar post at the same time, it creates traffic. This is actually a good thing for advertisers.

While growing traffic takes a long time and laborious levels of effort, it is bound to stay long-term. This is primarily because real people have actually seen the content. If they liked it, they will go back for more.  

Unlike the first method, you won’t be achieving instant gratification, but at least there’s user engagement going on. It’s more rewarding to see a slow yet progressive flow rather than a spike-and-drop graph. Also, you won’t be needing to spend every now and then for dubious services since your followers are guaranteed to stick to you. Of course, you need to keep up the pace by posting content regularly.

Now that we have established this, let’s check out some apps that will assist you in getting more likes on Instagram. Bear in mind that we strongly support the use of organic methods. We’ll only be including programs that legitimately adhere to Instagram’s Community Standards.

Three Examples of Organic Instagram Apps

Upleap – This program lets you find an Instagram manager to keep user engagement. This further boosts your presence through the following:

• Audience selection
• Hashtag targeting
• User targeting
• Location selection
• Content filtering

Keyhole – As one of the reliable hashtag tracking tools online, it offers the following services:

• Hashtag & Keyword tracking
• Account Tracking & Reporting

The advantages you can get are:

• You get the necessary data for your cause
• Your brand’s message increases its promotional value
• The value of your work is much more evident

RiteTag – This app enables you to instantly get hashtag ideas for images and texts. It is based on real-time hashtag engagement. Also, this program is suitable for desktop and mobile.

Wrapping Up

Instagram likes are much more valuable now than before. People seem to consider it as a commodity today. And what do you do before buying something? You think a hundred times and conduct further research, right? The same thing goes for Instagram likes as well.

There are tons of apps around the corner that could enable you to get more likes in a clean, legal way. Always watch out if the service providers use bots or they generate likes naturally. You’re probably tired of us telling you this, but you must never rely on shady services. It’s not worth the risk, to be honest.