Why turning off Instagram likes is costing you brand deals

Creators who hide their Instagram likes are quietly pricing themselves out of campaigns, warns Natalya Cogolludo, Senior Influence Account Manager at WPP’s ONEFLUENCE.

Cogolludo told The Daily Influence that while Instagram’s “hide likes” feature was designed to reduce social pressure, it’s now hurting creators’ chances of being picked for paid campaigns and making it harder for brands to measure how their content performs.

ONEFLUENCE is the agency group behind influencer strategy for L’Oréal Luxe brands such as Armani Beauty, YSL Beauty and Prada Beauty, and its campaigns rely heavily on visible data.

“It’s a small thing, but it really makes a big difference for the brands that we work with,” Cogolludo said. “When we do our reporting on the backend, we have to collate all the likes, comments, saves and other data to calculate engagement. If those likes are turned off, the post can look like it’s performed badly, even if it hasn’t.”

Cogolludo said this often results in content creators losing out on follow-up campaigns or being ruled out of brand partnerships on Instagram altogether.

“There are a lot of creators that I see where I think, ‘Oh my God, their TikTok engagement rate is absolutely fantastic. They’ve got a really engaged audience over there.’

“Then I look at their Instagram and I think, ‘has something gone wrong here? They’ve got a similar following and their content’s very similar, so I wouldn’t expect this to perform so differently.

 “And then I go into their page and I see ‘liked by others’, and I go, oh, they’ve got their likes off. I can’t put them forward to a brand to work with on Instagram, because we don’t know what that content is going to perform like. It’s one of the most important benchmarks for us to gauge.”

Cogolludo said it’s not just visibility,  payment rates are also affected, as the data ties into “lots of different things.”

Content creators can have millions of followers and generate millions of views, but likes and comments are where brands are really focusing because they show genuine engagement, she said.

“It shows somebody’s enjoyed this content and is considering it so much they’ve gone and liked or commented, or saved it, or shared it with a friend. And that then obviously ties into the fees we’re paying, because we’re not going to pay you the same fee as we might pay somebody with, you know, a 10% engagement rate if you’ve only got 5%, even if you’ve got a similar following.”

Transparency first

For many creators, the instinct to hide likes comes from insecurity. But Cogolludo argues that transparency is a stronger long-term play.

“The advice that I’ve given creators before, when I’ve met them, is if you’re seeing that your content isn’t performing, don’t shy away from that — because sometimes content doesn’t perform, sometimes algorithms change,” she said.

Instead, flexibility with fees also goes a long way when engagement rates are down.

“Where we do face the difficulty is when we do want to work with a creator who maybe has a lower engagement rate, but there’s no wiggle room in their fees to account for that,” she said. “If you have a slightly lower engagement rate, it’s actually not the end of the world, because it’s going to get boosted. But if your fees don’t reflect the fact that your content isn’t performing as it has before, then we’re at a bit of a stalemate.”

Cogolludo said she’s also seen brands reward openness with ongoing partnerships.

Stats fluctuate, she said, but maintaining that long-term relationship is “very beneficial.”

“Be upfront with the brand and say, ‘look, I’ve had bad engagement rates, I know — let me know if there’s anything I can do.’ That kind of organic relationship pays off long term,” she said.