Instagram has emerged as a social commerce platform and has become a lot more than just a social network. With a massive user base of over 1 billion monthly users, it is an important platform for brands and marketers.
And, the visual nature of the platform makes it perfect for displaying product pictures making it a virtual shop. This is one of the reasons why Instagram is a social media platform of choice for sellers.
However, it is not a small feat to set up an Instagram shop and start selling. It could take a long time for you to gain enough visibility on the platform to even get the desired traffic. There are certain things that you need to be aware of before you start selling on Instagram. This is where we can help you.
In this post, we have listed seven tips that can help you sell on Instagram the right way. So, read on and find out some of the best tips for becoming a successful Instagram seller.
Selling on Instagram - Here are 7 Tips to Bolster Your Sales in 2020:
1. Optimise Your Profile
Every retailer knows the importance of having a good brand image and its impact on sales. If consumers have a positive brand image for your brand, they’ll be more likely to buy from you.
When it comes to Instagram selling, your brand’s first impression is formed by your profile. People can reach your profile from different sources, as a result of your lead generation efforts. And, regardless of how they got there, they will look at your profile to judge whether they want to buy from you or not.
So, it is important to optimise your Instagram profile to make a good first impression and drive leads through the Instagram sales funnel.
Here are a few tips on optimising your Instagram profile.
- Have a clear and crisp bio with details about the type of you business you have and why your brand is unique.
- Tell your brand’s story to form a connection with your prospective customers.
- Always provide your contact details and a link to your website in your bio.
- Use a profile picture, preferably your brand logo, that makes it easy to identify your brand.
- Have a consistent aesthetic when it comes to your Instagram feed as that makes your brand stand out.
- Mention any brand or campaign related hashtags in your bio.
Here’s an example of a good Instagram bio.
Source: instagram.com
2. Use Instagram’s Shoppable Posts
If you intend to sell on Instagram, the key thing that you need to do is use shoppable posts and set up an Instagram shop. Instagram allows you to create posts where you can place clickable links on the products displayed in the picture. When a user clicks on these links they can be redirected directly to a page on your website from where they can buy the product.
You can also integrate Instagram with ecommerce apps like Shopify to create an in-app store. This way you can display your products like you do on your website and enable people to make a purchase directly from Instagram.
Shopify’s shoppable Instagram gallery plugin is an easy way for Instagram sellers to make a sale directly from Instagram. And, the easier it is to make a purchase, the more likely it is that people will end up making one.
3. Add CTAs to Your Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories presents another great opportunity for you to sell your products from Instagram. All you need to do is add product links, along with CTAs to your Stories to make them shoppable.
Instagram Stories are an engaging content format that has significantly grown in popularity. There are over 500 million people who use Instagram Stories on a daily basis. This clearly represents a huge opportunity for Instagram sellers to utilise this avenue to increase their sales.
This is similar to shoppable posts and you simply need to add a product link to your Stories. However, the only catch is that Instagram allows this feature only for accounts with more than 10,000 followers.
Another benefit of selling via Stories is that it is easier to grab audience attention with them. Your posts might not show right at the top of all your followers’ feeds, but Stories appear one after another and most people end up watching all the Stories shown on their feeds.
4. Clearly Highlight Your Promotions in Your Photos or Videos
Instagram is essentially a visual social media platform where people hardly ever look beyond images and captions. The platform is built like a visual feed where users keep scrolling down looking at pictures. This is why it is important not to rely too much on captions and show all important details in the picture or video itself.
So, if you’re running any promotions or offers, you should clearly highlight that in the picture. The same goes for any unique product features or any other USP that makes your product stand out.
This will help ensure that people immediately know your value proposition without needing to read the caption. This will also encourage them to make a faster decision and click on the link to make a purchase or check out the product.
5. Get Social Proof
The best way to convince someone to buy something is by showing how other people are using it and enjoying. This need to buy something because others have it is inherent in everyone and can be easily exploited to generate sales. This concept, where a user validates the value of a product based on the number of other people who are using it, is called social proof.
A good way of providing social proof is by leveraging user-generated content. A lot of Instagram sellers repost photos of their existing customers using their products. The more influential people you can show as your customers, the better it is for your brand’s image.
Daniel Wellington is a brand that immediately comes to mind when we talk about leveraging user-generated content.
The brand has aced their UGC game and asks their customers to tag their brand when posting a picture wearing their watches for a chance to get featured. They select one user post every day and post it on their feed.
Here’s an example of one such post.
6. Use Influencer Marketing
This list of tips for selling on Instagram would not be complete without the mention of influencer marketing. After all, influencers can generate leads and drive sales conversions for brands in an efficient way.
Influencers have engaged and loyal followers that you can reach by collaborating with them. Working with influencers in your niche can help you reach an extremely relevant audience that can easily convert into customers.
There are numerous ways in which you can collaborate with influencers. You can ask them to create sponsored content for your brand and mention you to drive traffic to your Instagram account.
You can also ask them to create sponsored and shoppable Instagram Stories promoting your products. Influencers can also help promote your offers and discounts and encourage their followers to make a purchase.
7. Leverage Instagram Ads
Advertising is the traditional way of generating sales leads and conversions and works just as well for Instagram selling as it does for ecommerce. And, Instagram Ads also provide advanced audience targeting options that can help you to reach a relevant audience.
You can control who you want to show your ads to, how much you want to spend, and what goals you want to achieve with these ads.
Instagram provides multiple advertising options and you can also create Instagram Stories Ads. These will be shown in between the Stories on a user’s feed and appear like native content. This makes these types of ads even more impactful.
Overall, if you want to sell on Instagram, then ads should be an integral part of your strategy. Instagram Ads can help you generate more sales by reaching out to more people on the platform than you could by yourself.
Just like we mentioned for organic content, it is important to add CTAs and highlight your key value proposition in ads as well. Here’s an example of an Instagram Stories Ad that has a clear CTA and clearly highlights the offer.
Source: instagram.com
Conclusion
Instagram is a great social commerce platform if you know how to leverage it the right way. These tips will help you do just that and ace your Instagram selling game.
Using shoppable posts and Stories are the two obvious ways of selling on Instagram. However, there are certain other things that you can do to generate more leads and conversions. The tips mentioned above can help you get more relevant leads and generate more sales.
If you haven’t yet started selling on Instagram, it’s time that you give it a try. And use these tips to get the most out of it.
