A picture's worth a thousand words... or likes

Why do we take pictures?

Do we do it to capture a moment in time? Is it to hold on to memories for years to come? Or did you and your friend just so happen to look really cute that day? 

In a world that has been taken over by popularity and social media, I think the answer is simple. We take pictures so we can post them on social media and pray to get a lot of "likes" on our photos. That is the honest answer. 

I am just as guilty as the next person when it comes to worrying about the number of likes you get on Instagram. We all know how it goes.. especially my lady friends. We spend probably a good 30 minutes picking out our favorite photo out of 20 that we took in a matter of 3 minutes. Then we go back and forth between filters and exposure and cropping only to finally come up with our finished product. What's sad is that what we just did isn't even the hardest part. That's right, next is choosing a caption! So, today my goal is to help guide my fellow Instagram lovers on how to get more likes on your photos in a matter of 3 easy steps. Disclaimer: These steps are for the mediocre Instagramer like myself trying to step up their Insta game, and for the people who refuse to pay for their Insta likes. All others are more than welcome to follow along! 

Step 1.) Timing is everything.

Believe it or not, it has been proven that there are "peak" times throughout the day that will determine how many "likes" you will receive on a photo. I was mind blown when I discovered that people actually took time out of their day to study Instagram (probably for advertising reasons). Think about it, if you post a photo around 6 p.m. when everyone is having their "me" time and scrolling through their Insta you will most likely receive more likes because they are seeing your picture then and now. No one wants to be a creeper and like a photo 10 hours after it has been posted. Well, except that one creepy guy that we don't know, but always likes our photos. Other good quality times throughout the day include 10a.m. to 1 p.m. (because of lunch breaks) and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. I know it sounds a little bizarre, but these proven times really will help with your Insta likes, according to the Instagram gurus. 

Step 2.) Filter me this.

There is nothing better than having your go to filter. You can make almost any picture look insta fabulous with the correct filter, and thats what makes Instagram fun right?  Instagram currently has 24 filters to choose from and they are all fabulous! My personal favorite is Lo-fi. Some advice I have is to make sure you have your go to filter. I promise it will make Instagraming a lot more simple and easy. Some people are completely against using filters, but they are obviously boring people with no soul. I understand that originality is an important characteristic to have, but come on people, Instagram in itself is no where near original. So that being said, go outside (for lighting purposes), snap a pic, and filter away! 

Step 3.) Captions make all the difference.

The hardest part of posting a photo is also what mostly determines how many likes you will receive. Life would be so simple if our captions could literally say what we were doing at that moment in time. For example, "Hey, I'm walking my dog". But unfortunately, it doesn't work that way anymore. Instead, we have to say something like this, "Snoop Dog got nothing on my pooch" (creative right). There is so much pressure that comes along with creating the perfect clever and witty caption, and it is very important that we follow societies idea of what these captions should be in order to gain those likes. I have literally not posted a photo before because I couldn't think of a clever enough caption to go along with it, how sad is that? A couple of tips I would like to give you are as follows; keep it short, keep it cute and keep it clever. If you follow these three tips the chances of your Insta likes going up will increase greatly. It completely baffles me how creative people can get with their captions. And I am guilty of borrowing (stealing) captions. I guess I wasn't blessed with the creative gene that runs in my family. Thanks mom.



Hopefully these tips will inspire you to step up your Insta game and go after those likes. I mean, that's what all the cool kids are doing, right?


Xo- Mel