Posting pictures of your products on Instagram and calling it a day isn’t enough to make a sale. You’ll need a plan to convert your social media following into paying consumers.
Beginning with the basics and progressing to more complex methods, this course will teach you all you need to know to start making money on Instagram. You will find out how to leverage Instagram’s Reels, Stories, and other features to attract the attention of Instagram users and boost product sales.
The benefits of using Instagram to promote things for companies
You still have doubts about Instagram, right? You should start selling your wares on Instagram for these three strong reasons:
Instagram is becoming a go-to resource for product research.
It’s no surprise that 70% of consumers use Instagram for product research due to the platform’s visual nature. A company profile is useful, but a shop where customers can learn more about your offerings is essential.
Younger customers assume you have an Instagram account.
For marketing to Generation Z, Instagram is essential since that’s where this demographic goes to learn about new products and interact with companies. And your Instagram presence (or lack thereof) can have a significant impact on the purchasing decisions of millennials and Gen Z.
Your rivals are using Instagram to market their products.
It’s safe to suppose that your rivals are also selling their wares on Instagram, given the network now hosts over 200 million companies. Don’t waste any time getting your Instagram store up and running (we’ll show you how in the next section).
Consistently update your status
Instagram is a competitive platform, so consistent posting is essential to getting your company seen. How frequently is “regularly” used? The average number of Instagram posts per day is two to three, as measured by the Sprout Social IndexTM. You may increase your engagement by posting two Instagram Stories every day.
Do more than merely advertise your wares
This may sound absurd, but bear with us: One of the best ways to make a sale on Instagram is to not think about sales at all. Certainly not every single time.
Content that isn’t directly tied to making a sale is a terrific approach to get new people interested in your company and increase your audience size. After all, modern consumers anticipate businesses to exhibit unique characteristics.
Note that this highlights the value of planning out your social media material in advance. You can strike a good mix between promotional and non-promotional material with the use of social media management solutions like Sprout Social. In this way, you can rest assured that your audience will continue to interact with your marketing content on a regular basis.
There is a lot of interaction with these kinds of articles, and they might introduce new people to your company. Our research for this social media for retail guide revealed that companies need to provide content for each stage of the customer’s journey. That goes for those who are just getting to know you as well as those who are already fond of you.
Feature customer-facing product photography
Instagram users spend the most time interacting with customer-centric photos, compared to the other four categories of brand images (employee-centric, product-centric, symbolic visuals).
Instagram users are interested in seeing items in action. Camelbak, for one, prefers to display its wares in natural settings like the outdoors versus more conventional settings like picture studios or kitchen countertops.
Using user-generated content, especially images of people, might start a snowball effect. Customers will want to use your product to shoot their own photos, which means you’ll need to include their photos in your feed as well. More interaction and exposure means more potential new clients for your business.
Promote your goods by showing them in action via video.
Video content may be preferable to still photographs depending on the goods you’re peddling. Customers will want to witness the functionality of high-end timepieces and performance bicycles.
Write attention-grabbing captions
Do you want to stop annoying your followers with constant sales pitches? Instagram captions may be written in several ways to avoid seeming overly salesy.
Participate in Real-Time Retail Streams
You may use Instagram Live Shopping to sell items in real time and communicate with consumers if you have a business situated in the United States, utilise Instagram checkout, and your products have been in your catalogue for at least three days.
Exhibit goods using reels
Reels allows you to easily make engaging films for your products. Easy as shooting a video and posting it on Instagram with product tags. After that, you should make a cover image and a call to action.
Advertise on Instagram
Advertisements on Instagram have been quite profitable for many companies.
Ads on Instagram take advantage of innovative formats like Stories and carousels to reach shoppers in a variety of ways. In addition, you can incorporate a colourful call to action that transforms from white as viewers progress through the stream.
User-generated content is a great way to increase sales.
User-generated material is becoming increasingly important to the Instagram social marketing tactics of many firms.
Sharing images from satisfied customers is a great way to boost engagement and turn them into unpaid brand advocates. Customers are usually more than happy to provide product images upon request, making it easy to get user-generated material.