How to write comments that get thousands of likes on Instagram

A few months ago, I started a brand new Instagram account and wrote a comment on someone else’s reel. Little did I know that that comment would gain 1000 likes, several comments and spike the amount of views on my profile, leading to more views on my content too. This got me thinking: how many brands and businesses are missing out on this simple, free opportunity to grow their brand awareness and get more views on social media?

In this article, I set out to unravel the magic of this spur-of-the-moment action, and break it down into a repeatable strategy that can be leveraged to grow social media followings and boost businesses. What were the reasons for the success of my comment and its ripple effects, and how can this be replicated?

It all starts with choosing the right content to comment on…

Finding the right content

Over 95 million photos and videos are shared on Instagram every day, with some sources reporting that 1.3 billion photos are uploaded daily. That’s plenty of content to comment on! In this section, we’re going to focus on finding content where your efforts will make a difference to your business, and we’ll explore simple and effective ways to do this.

Relevance to your business

The aim is to get relevant people to view and like your comments before curiously clicking onto your profile to discover more. This is vital if you want your business to blossom alongside social media follower growth. It is wasted effort to get an influx of profile views from a booming comment if the new viewers don’t relate with your brand and won’t buy your products or services.

Focus on the feed

I wrote my high impact comment on content that Instagram displayed on my home feed, from a profile that was new to me. What did this tell me? That the Instagram algorithm was actively dishing up the content to home feeds. By choosing to comment on content that Instagram is already actively serving up in feeds, you can ride the wave of views that the content is currently gaining.

Get the right content popping up

To get content that is relevant to your audience appearing in your feed, ready for you to comment on, you must look at content and watch reels that your audience would enjoy. Looking at photos for several seconds, flicking through every slide in a carousel and watching reels in their entirety sends signals to the algorithm that you are interested in the content and likely to watch similar content. This triggers the algorithm to serve up similar content in your home feed, so you don’t have to waste precious time repeatedly seeking the perfect content out. To get started with this strategic step, go to the Instagram profiles of your competitors, community members and brands, public figures and businesses in your niche - and get watching.

Look for rising content

Another factor that made my comment have a high impact on my Instagram presence is that I commented on a reel that was only at the beginning of getting the staggering amount of reach it would accumulate over the following days and weeks. As the reel kept racking up views, my comment continued stacking up likes and my profile continued getting visited, long after I’d initially written the comment.

If you comment on content that is on the rise, your comment could be seen and interacted with by a significant amount of people. To spot rising content, note the date the content was published. Content on Instagram appears to have a longer life cycle in the home feed than it had in previous years, so if a piece of content has been recently published, get commenting fast to increase the chances of your comment being seen for weeks and months to come.

Next, take note of how many comments there are in relation to the amount of likes, reposts and sends. If there are already loads of comments, your comment is more likely to get missed, so look for that sweet spot where engagement is building but hasn’t yet reached its peak. If there are relatively few comments but the other engagement metrics are building up, that’s indicative of there being a great opportunity to write a comment that gets noticed.

Now that you have an idea of the types of content to make a beeline for, let’s look at how to write a comment that pops off and gets a tonne of likes…

What to write in the comments section

You can write up to 2,200 characters in an Instagram comment, but what’s the secret sauce for writing comments that zing? I’ve pulled these 5 must-try tips from my own experience, as well as the analysis of several high-hitting comments currently making the rounds on viral Instagram content.

View and respond

It may sound obvious, but actually viewing the content and responding authentically is the first step in writing comments that hit. If you want to get lots of likes on your comments, you should write comments worth liking, so avoid anything too boring or generic.

For example, don’t:

• Mass comment on a single post
• Spam the comments section with unrelated rhetoric
• Copy and paste generic text across one or multiple posts

If you engage in any of the above techniques, you could potentially damage your brand and you’ll be unlikely to get quality followers or potential customers from that kind of activity. Spamming can also lead to your account getting reported and suspended.

Instead, watch and respond. Watching a piece of content in its entirety or giving it multiple views will also trigger the algorithm to keep serving up similar, relevant content in your feed, so you can keep getting content worth commenting on popping up without any additional effort.

Speak as a person, not a brand

People relate to other people over corporations, so comment as an individual. Include thoughts and feelings, and write in a way that flows as naturally as chatting with a friend. Brand and business accounts writing copy that is personable, heartfelt, humorous and/or relatable create connection and community.

Include your opinion

Giving an opinion or stating your feelings about a piece of content can be enough to get people interacting with your comment, as it gives people a reason to engage. Writing something that people can agree or disagree with doesn’t have to be controversial; simply stand for something. An easy way to apply this is to comment what you think everyone is thinking. It’s not uncommon for people to look through the comments section to see if the take they had has already been made. If your comment is the first to pop up, it’ll be more likely to get likes.

Size matters

Don’t inspire TL;DR. Save paragraph after paragraph of ramblings for your Substack. But equally, one word comments or a comment of only emojis provides no substance. Remember: to get loads of likes on a comment, your comment must be worth engaging with.

A general sweet spot is to aim for a comment that’s not too long, not too short. You can pack a punch with something compact and get a solid thought across without any of it being hidden behind a ‘read more’ button. Try opting for a couple of well-thought-out sentences.

Add an emoji

Make your comment stand out by including an emoji with some colour to grab attention. Avoid bombarding the comments section with lines of symbols as this looks spammy. Instead, stick to one or two to effectively catch the eye quickly. 

A red emoji is a good choice because it is one of the most visible colours in the colour spectrum. Its ability to instantly grab people's attention is the reason it's used for stop signs, sirens, fire engines and traffic lights.

Make a difference to your brand

Getting likes on your comments is a quick and free way to build brand awareness, boost your Instagram profile and get more views on your Instagram content. The more likes you have on a comment, the more likely it is to be seen by more people. This is because comments with more likes appear higher up when viewing comments on a piece of content.

When you write comments that thousands of people like, you create opportunities for new people to discover your business through your profile. Ultimately, the goal is to convert people into followers and customers by having products and services that are brilliant and a social media presence that’s worth sticking around for. 

Make sure you can capitalise on an influx of new attention by making sure you have an Instagram profile that peaks and holds interest. Find more tips to build your brand on social media at minter.io/blog. Then use Minter.io to track key metrics such as likes, comments, engagement rate, profile visits, average watch time and so much more to make sure your stats are heading in the right direction. You can also ensure you’re focusing on the right target audience by viewing your audience insights and getting crystal clear about the types of people who already love your brand.

For analytics that help your brand grow on social media, head to Minter.io now and activate your free trial.