How much time do you spend on Instagram? Statistics show that the daily average is 53 minutes and it’s similar to the amount of time people spend on Facebook. The social network has over 500 million DAILY active users, which is a massive audience.
Business-savvy individuals can make good use of that audience by selling products on Instagram. The social network provides wonderful opportunities for visual promotion but what does it take to make the most of it?
Build Your Profile First
Before starting to feature promotional messages, you will have to build your profile and your network first.
Tell the world who you are and what you’re dealing with in a comprehensive Instagram profile page. Statistics show that many people are turning to Instagram rather than Google to search for brands. Thus, you want to be easy to find for industry keywords and terms that describe your products.
Next, begin populating your page with content. Interacting with other profiles is also crucial to get the word out there and start winning followers.
Avoid aggressive, direct promotion at that time. Posting 10,000 photos of your products per day will do very little. In fact, such an approach can alienate the audience and once you lose these people, they’re never coming back.
Use Instagram Ads
Spending a bit of money on reaching the right target audience is another good idea. For example, the demographic profile of a person looking for a dating site is completely different from that of an avid pet lover. Like other social media, Instagram offers excellent targeting options for paid advertising. You will engage the right crowd, which will maximize the campaign’s ROI.
An Instagram marketing strategy is needed and it should feature paid promotion. You can grow your reach organically but the process will be a lot slower (unless you’re lucky enough to have your content going viral).
You’re in full control of the campaign parameters: you decide how much to spend, what your daily limit is, where you want the ad to appear, how long you want to run the campaign and what audience you want to reach.
In addition, you can view results as the campaign is unfolding. If you’re not happy with the outcome, you can modify parameters on the go to achieve better targeting.
Start Using Instagram Shoppable Posts Today
We live in a dynamic, engaging tech world. Hence, you don’t want your Instagram audience to be just an observer. You want people to be proactive in terms of brand engagement.
Shoppable Instagram posts are a powerful tool you can use to engage and to sell your products.
A shoppable post allows people to tap on the image and view a link that will take them to an online store or a product catalog.
Shoppable posts allow for an immediate online shopping experience. You will benefit from the instant emotional connection that people experience when viewing your products. In other words, the easier you make it for people to shop, the better your results are going to be.
In order to feature shoppable Instagram posts, you have to meet a few conditions:
- Set up a business account
- Have an associated Facebook business page
- Have a product catalog on your business page
- Sell physical goods rather than electronic downloads
- Link your Facebook catalog to your Instagram account
Make Sure Your Instagram Pictures Are Engaging and of Sufficiently High Quality
This one is obvious, but many brands forget why people are on Instagram. Instagram users want to be entertained. They want to see beautiful, inspiring or original photographs.
Even if you’re doing product photography, there should be a story behind the picture. Why does your target audience have to care? What does your brand stand for? What are your values and beliefs? These can be highlighted in the choice of theme, subjects, and objects you photograph.
Remember, content on Instagram isn’t going to accomplish a lot if it’s solely promotional. A focus on a lifestyle, on the other hand, will be a much better approach.
Use Hashtags To Your Benefit
Selling products on Instagram is all about reaching the right people and growing the number of your followers.
Luckily, the platform gives you the tools you need for the purpose. Hashtags are an incredibly powerful tool. When used correctly, they can grow the popularity of your profile exponentially.
You can start by examining the popular hashtags in your industry. Adding those to every single post will ensure relevance and it will also help you reach the right people.
As your viewership grows, you can also create dedicated branded tags. Launching your own tag ensures 100 percent recognition and tailored visibility. To make the hashtag a real thing, you can easily launch a game or a sweepstake that will stimulate people to create their own content (user-generated content) that features the brand-specific hashtag.
Selling Products on Instagram Takes Strategy And Patience
Determine your goal, determine your budget and the profile of the perfect audience you would like to reach. Armed with all of this information, you can start crafting content that’s entertaining, fresh and valuable. You will have to give in order to start getting something back from your audience.
Finally, know your goal and your focus but don’t be afraid to have a bit of fun. You cannot make every single publication promotion-focused. Let people know a bit more about who you are and what you stand for. As they get to know the brand, they’ll become much more willing to start spending money on it.
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