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November Issue
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Fur-Ever Famous
Robert Dean Hilliard
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Fur-Ever Famous

When Internet Pets Never (Officially) Die
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Still Posting Post-Death
Dustin Dooling
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Still Posting Post-Death

The future of social: Too many zombies, not enough brains
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Mercy Kill Your Online Persona
Ashley Sava
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Mercy Kill Your Online Persona

A Step-by-Step Guide to Euthanizing Your Brand
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Prove You're Human
Nick Gaudio
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Prove You're Human

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Engagement Dread: It’s Not Your Fault (But It Kinda Is?)
Nick Gaudio
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Engagement Dread: It’s Not Your Fault (But It Kinda Is?)

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What’s a like on Instagram ‘worth’ in 2024?

Actually...more than you'd think
Nick Gaudio
To start, a little joke:

What do Instagram creators have in common with my girlfriend?

They’re both obsessed with Engagement 🥁

For the past 15 years, nearly everybody in the social media sphere has understood the general benefit of getting those Likes, comments, shares, saves, and whatnot for your content — these often serve as proof (to yourself, to your dad) that you’ve got a community hanging on your every post.

You are the Pied Piper, they're... whatever follows the Pied Piper.

Wanna grow your Insta? Need engagement .

Wanna make money posts? Engagement.

Want brands to sponsor you? They don’t care so much about “vanity metrics.”

They wanna see…
engagement!
Engagement, engagement, engagement!

But there’s been something missing here: specificity.

What does this word, this idea we keep seeing everywhere, really mean in terms of COLD HARD MONEY?

What VALUE — literally, how many dollars — does a Like represent on Instagram?

Sitting around the office, we were wondering and surely, SURELY the internet would have an answer for us.

We looked. We wondered. We found no answers. So, we took a big wide swing at figuring it out ourselves.

Before we get hate mail from the mathematicians among us....

It’s complicated, we know

Clearly, it makes sense that nobody has hunted down this info.

It’s murky, it’s complicated… there are pretty much a billion variables. And just so you know, we’re thinking of those, too.

The value of engagement varies based on what kind of creator you are

Influencers

For these lovely folks, a lot of Likes often translates directly into sponsorship deals and brand partnerships. A high engagement rate signals to brands that their audience is not only attentive but actively interested in what they’ve got to sell — a huge factor in determining the value of a collaboration.

content creators

Some creators may find that Likes play a huge role in driving ad and affiliate sales. Instagram rewards high engagement rates with more exposure and visibility, leading to more chances for monetization through ads or product promotions​.

Businesses

Businesses using Instagram as a marketing channel usually measure the value of their profile in terms of lead generation and customer conversion. A strong engagement strategy with a lotta Likes fosters brand loyalty, encourages repeat purchases, and ultimately contributes to their bottom line.

The other challenge in getting a hard number lies in distinguishing meaningful engagement from bots or mischievous crap.

Unlike my lovely lady, the integrity of engagement metrics themselves may often be... questioned. 😀

We live in an age where Likes can be purchased, and authenticity is increasingly more important. Building real connections with your audience requires not just quantity but quality — capturing hearts, sparking conversations, and inspiring action beyond the screen. From bots to engagement pods, the line between real interaction and B.S. inflation is terribly blurred, complicating the measurement of true audience engagement.

And even then, not all Likes are created equal.
Think about it: a double-tap from a casual scroller versus a heartfelt LOVE from a potential customer — are those equally valuable?

Nah. But there’s really no way to pull data for that.

So, this is about the study in aggregate, taking the bird's-eye view of the whole Instagram economy, to unravel a little of the mystery behind the metrics, exploring what it means to your wallet.

What’s the data say?

Any given month in 2024, around 2 billion people are using Instagram. It's estimated that around 30% of those accounts represent creators, businesses/marketers, affiliates, and folks just trying to make a living through monetizing the platform​ (Sprout Social​)

Let's work it out, first by estimating the monthly Likes:

Assuming commonly found data: 2 billion users, each liking an average of 2 posts per day…

2 billion * 2 * 30 days = ~120 billion Likes per month.

(That’s a lot of double-taps, right? Yeesh.)

Now, let’s focus on monetizable content: Assuming about 30% of Likes are on posts that could generate revenue (sponsored content, shopping posts, etc.), that means that there are...

36B
monetizable likes per month
exist out there in the world. And they are yours to take.

Now, let’s talk the amount of revenue generated from Instagram.

A conservative estimate is: $5 billion annually from legitimate sources (excluding the estimated $1 billion — yes a full $1B — from scams and fraud).

So, let's say that $5 billion / 432 billion monetizable Likes… (36 billion Likes per month * 12 months)

And with all that in mind... we get a final directional number of...

1.15
Cents
is the cost of one like on monetizable
content on Instagram

This is, of course, just a wild average, and the actual value varies significantly depending on the type of content, the engagement quality, and the specific monetization strategy in place.

Before you get upset about this number

"Hey, I got 1,000 Likes on my last post, where’s my $139?!" — this (very rough) calculation isn’t meant for that. Like we said: It’s meant to provide a baseline understanding of the financial impact of engagement on IG. 

And one can even say: a Like can be actually worth (way) more than this!

The potential for making money through real, genuine audience interaction will always mean those Likes are worth even more than that.
So, the next time you post, remember that every Like really does count, not just for the dopamine hit, but for the potential cents it can someday bring.
(Which could help you save up for, say, a ring of some sort one day.)