Feed Your Ego: How to Get More Likes and Followers

In a world where favorites and retweets line the path to self-validation, we must ask ourselves the (new) age-old question:

If you didn’t get double digits amounts of likes on your instagram photo, did you even instagram at all?

If the answer is no, keep your chin up—no one ever said being instafamous was easy. It requires strategy, manipulation, and a keen eye for photo filters. There will always be another #tbt or #selfiesunday opportunity on the horizon. You can be better prepared for the next one by learning how to maximize your social media presence.

Twitter: How we bare our innermost thoughts and feelings, in 140 characters or less.

What we are doing, what we are wearing, what we are watching. We can’t just keep this information bottled up inside. The world deserves to know. Hell, the world needs to know, and Twitter gives us the perfect outlet to share it all. However, when these tweets don’t get any attention from our followers, our ego feels the pain. Here’s how to ensure that you will always get that twitter love…

1. Become Retweetable
re-tweet-able; adjective 
…describes tweets that your followers find valuable enough to pass along to their own followers Tweet information that others can identify with. This can entail your viewpoint on current events, daily happenings in your life or even those song lyrics that are stuck in your head. Be witty. Don’t try too hard with it. Just remember, relatable=retweetable.

2. “I don’t give favorites, I only get them.” That is the golden rule for favorites (inspired by Regina George.) Be sparing with your twitter love. If you’re excessively favoriting a guy’s tweets, it can be misconstrued as you favoriting him as a person. Don’t be that easy. Only click that star for the tweets that are truly your favorites.

3. Improve your Followers to Following Ratio. Easiest way to do this? Use your 140 characters to their maximum potential—see step #1. Also, shamelessly ask your bestie for a retweet. Some of the people that follow her do not follow you (yet).  Her retweet will put you on their radars, and seeing your twitter wisdom is all it will take to seal the deal.

Instagram: Who, What, Where, and When

Who is the picture of? Often, the subject of the photo directly correlates to the number of likes. Your family members, your bffs, your dog, that DP Dough calzone that you love like a boyfriend – the list goes on.

A general note on selfies: Regardless of how beautiful you are, the selfie should be a rare act. If you took basic economics, you should know that the scarcity of a good creates a higher demand. Apply this idea to your selfie-taking. The more often people see your duck face in their feed, the less likely they’ll be to click that “heart” button and the more likely they’ll be to think you are conceited as hell. Solo pictures of you should be rare and beautiful, like a unicorn. Everybody likes unicorns. Everybody will like your photo.

What filter do you use? There is no one-size-fits-all filter. While we can all agree that “Toaster” is very nice, sometimes the situation may call for “Walden” or “Lo-Fi” instead. Use your discretion.

Where was the picture taken? You need photos that showcase you being a fun person living your fun life surrounded by all of your fun friends. Exuding all of that in one picture is no easy feat—thankfully, the setting does most of the works. Instagram from concerts, frats, tailgates, bars, etc.

When should I post? Prime gramming time is anywhere from 1 pm-4pm on weekdays and any time after 11:30 am on weekends.

Facebook: The 8^th Graders are the Masters

Somehow, 8^th graders have managed to rig the system so that their picture gets a like from every person in the universe. They do it by repeatedly sharing their latest pro pic and by constantly changing it back to the same picture. The strategy is to keep putting the same picture on their friends’ news feed over and over again. So if you are thirsty for the Facebook likes, take a lesson from your thirteen-year old cousin. But realize that while you may achieve your desired result, your desperation is obvious to everyone else.

***A final tip for getting likes: join a sorority. It’s like, sisterly duty to give love to every single post on every outlet of social media.***

Photo by Victoria Oberdorf