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

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.

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.

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.

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...

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...

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!