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Are you wondering how to sell your products on Instagram?
Want some tips to get started?
To make the most of interactions with customers on Instagram, your images and descriptions need to stand out and purchasing needs to be as easy as possible.
In this article you'll discover five tips for selling your products on Instagram.
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#1: Develop a Signature Look
Before you start posting, think about how you want to position your products on your page. The right product placement is key to driving Instagram sales and engagement. Identify the aesthetic you want for your page and stick to it.
Once you have your product shots, use Instagram‘s internal filters or an app like VSCO Cam to make your photos visually sharper and clearer. Remember that you want to showcase the true product to your customers, so sometimes no filter works best in social selling.
If you want to show one product in a variety of ways, try the Instagram Layout app. The app makes it easy to combine multiple images into a single image. Use it to show your product at different angles, which is particularly useful for fashion and jewelry businesses.
Rocksbox showcases their products in an effective and consistent manner on their Instagram page. They feature close-ups of their products or have a model wear them. People can really see the products and find out how to incorporate them in their everyday fashion.
#2: Give Product Descriptions Something Extra
While it's important to be clear about what you're selling, you also need to attract the attention and interest of likely customers with your descriptions.
One way to do that is to add a few relevant emojis. They help break up the copy and work well with an emoji-obsessed demographic.
Birchbox uses emojis to detail their products and how to purchase them. Here, the emojis help viewers understand what scents are in each perfume.
#3: Promote Product Visibility in Search With Hashtags
Hashtags have a lot to do with how your products get discovered on Instagram. You can use Instagram‘s Search and Explore feature to view the top hashtags for your demographic and vertical, and then use three to five of them in your social selling campaigns.
Don't forget to create and use your own branded hashtag, too. Do a daily search for that hashtag to see who‘s using it, and consider regramming the best photos or videos from fans on your own marketing platforms. Use the Regram app to easily feature your customers‘ photos on your Instagram feed.
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#4: Make Purchasing Easy
Now it's time to convert your followers into customers. Use an Instagram selling tool like Have2Have.It to add a shoppable link to your Instagram bio. This will eliminate the clunky user experience created when you include a website or Bitly link in your product posts.
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By clicking on the link in your bio, followers are taken to a page (with the same look and feel as your Instagram page) where they can purchase your products.
You can import your products from ecommerce databases like Shopify and WooCommerce into Instagram, and analyze the results so you know what products are converting. Then you can focus on promoting those products to increase sales.
The Have2Have.It dashboard also includes conversion tracking, so you can attribute revenue to the platform itself. For social media managers trying to prove ROI for Instagram, this is key in social selling.
#5: Partner With Influencers
You can expand brand awareness and increase sales by partnering with Instagram influencers to reach an audience that‘s specifically targeted to your products and services.
Simplify the process of connecting your brand and influencers with a tool like Captiv8. From search, discovery and workflow management, you can solidify the relationship right in the marketplace. Figure out the best product placement that's in line with the influencer's authentic voice and the trending hashtags and copy that will gain the most engagement.
Zach King is a social media influencer with over 7.4 million Instagram followers. In this post Zach eats SweeTARTS and jumps out of a laptop to slip and slide into summer.
In the caption he tagged the candy brand and used the brand's hashtag. This post received over 650,000 likes and tons of engagement.
Instagram influencer marketing is becoming a key factor in social selling, and the high brand recognition rates prove that. In fact, it's not unheard of to have 29% to 45% recognition rates, driving engagement up by nearly 60% in some campaigns.
Build a Community on Instagram
As with any social media platform, building a community is key. You need followers who are keen to learn more about your company and products. Here are some ways to build a following:
- Use Instagram‘s Search and Explore feature to find users who are passionate about the types of products you sell through trending hashtags, places, curated influencer feeds and current topics. Build your followers by adding users who are in your company‘s demographic. There's a good chance that they'll follow you back.
- Whether you're a brick-and-mortar or online store, use the geotagging feature to include your location in your product posts.
Whether you're a small or large business, there are many ways to work with Instagram influencers. Once your photo is live, tap the location name to see photos tagged with the same location. From there, find customers and prospects in surrounding areas. Follow and comment on their photos to increase engagement.
- Drive users to your Instagram account from other marketing channels. Ask customers who subscribe to your email newsletter or like you on Facebook to follow you on Instagram. They're already engaged with your content, so they're key to your social selling campaigns.
Final Thoughts
Each day, people are discovering new products from their favorite brands on Instagram. Now is the time to clearly define your own social selling style so you stand out from the crowd.
What do you think? Are you planning on selling your products on Instagram? What are your conversion goals for the platform? Share your plans in the comments below.
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