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Dec 28, 2020 | 10 min read
2. Selling on Instagram. Why, though?
More pictures of the items. More definition is shooting. More visual content, please. More imagination than that. Why would a Shopify store really spend so much time on one platform to reach out to its customers, particularly when there are so many other channels that could be used to sell goods online?
Here are some of the reasons why we think Instagram marketing is a must for Shop stores of all sizes.
Instagram format is the perfect way to highlight your products.
Because of its visual existence, Instagram gives online brands a fantastic forum to showcase their products. Whether it’s by daily product photographs or videos from product shoots or even Instagram posts, companies across the globe know the value of ‘visuals’ for selling online items.
Regardless of their business, they realise that visually displaying their products has a positive effect on their other marketing and promotional activities.
Users of Instagram are more active
Approximately 40% of Internet users respond better to visual material. That’s why Instagram users have proved to be much more active than other social media platforms-including Facebook and Twitter.
Given the increasing rivalry on the site, bearing in mind the time when your audience is most involved and using the right hashtags will make you more engaged in your posts. We’re going to cover all about this in the coming pages.
Users of Instagram are more likely to make purchases
According to a new survey, about 72% of Instagram users make a buying decision right after they see something on Instagram. This is because they can immediately see if the product is trending (based on likes and post comments) and even user-generated content from people who have already purchased it. The most common categories that see this purchasing activity include fashion and clothes, cosmetics, shoes , jewellery and packaged food.
Instagram equips your company with interactive tools.
From what began as a simple forum for posting photos as posts, Instagram today provided online businesses with a range of interactive resources. Right from Carousel posts to Instagram videos, video posts, IGTV and Instagram posts, there are so many ways for your Shop store to sell on Instagram.
Simply put, Instagram equips you with visually-driven tools to meet, engage and turn high-intensity buyers to customers.
But just like every other platform, in order to make Instagram marketing work for you, you need to concentrate on turning your profile into a sales engine. It’s not enough to just upload fantastic pictures of your items!
3. Optimizing your Instagram Shop page to sell products online
Add your logo to the profile picture
First things, first things. Start optimising your Instagram page from your profile image. This position is not intended for random icons, personal images or stock photos. You need to add a logo to your brand here so that users of Instagram know that this is a ‘brand page’ and not a personal profile.
It’s also something that strengthens your brand’s mind every time a shopper visits your feed. So make sure your account looks genuine and credible with a logo attached to it. Remember to resize the logo to make sure it’s not cropped from either end.
Create your bio-impressive Instagram
Your Instagram bio makes or breaks the image you make of a shopper. Typically, an Instagram user will come across your post while browsing their feed or looking for a particular hashtag. The very next move for them is to review your profile before they click on your store site.
So make sure your Instagram bio tells you exactly what your brand is all about. You may also use this space to share a little bit about how your goods are created or your vision and purpose. Adding a few emojis and trendy hashtags to your Instagram bio can go a long way too!
Include the right link for your Instagram bio
Instagram doesn’t let you add links to any of the posts. But you can add one of them to your Instagram bio. To make the most of this, make sure that the link you add brings the shopper directly to the page where they are most likely to be converted.
For example, if you’ve been promoting a 50 percent sales site through your articles, add a link to your ‘sale’ page. Similarly, if you are promoting a new collection that you have introduced, use the space to connect interested shoppers to it.
You can keep adjusting this relation on the basis of your Instagram marketing plan to promote goods and discounts.
If you’re running marketing campaigns on various platforms, make sure you add a trackable URL to the bio. This will allow you to figure out where your traffic is coming from and whether your Instagram efforts are really paying off. You can use the Google URL Creator to do this.
Identify the hashtags that have been searched most
Before you start uploading content to your Instagram stream, make sure you have a list of hashtags that will help you find them. Identify the industry that your products fall under, then search for hashtags that are widely used by Instagram users in their messages. Don’t forget to take a peek at the Instagram hashtags that similar businesses use in their posts-it’s a perfect way to get started.
You can also use the Keyword Feature to find the best and most trendy hashtags on Instagram. Simply type in a keyword that best defines what your store offers and lists all the hashtags along with the amount of posts you make using them. You can also filter these hashtags based on criteria like ‘new’ to search the latest trend.
Up to 30 Instagram hashtags are allowed to be included in a post. So make the most of this opportunity to reach out to your audience!
Growth Hack for Instagram Marketing: You can even post Instagram hashtags to your post comments. After a few hours, you can delete a comment and post the same or new hashtags again. This will help you meet more users on Instagram-those you haven’t been able to reach when you first post.
Find the best Instagram hashtags for your post: remember to find out what’s going on in your target market. Take a look at the kind of content that your potential consumers are engaging in and creating posts that do not only join them, but also encourage your product to do so.
For example, we all know about the Banana Challenge. So if your Shopify store sells sunglasses, why not make an interesting post about it?
Build a theme for the Instagram feed
There’s so much competition going on instagram. Visual-appealing is no longer just high-quality product photos and videos. The aesthetics in which you post this material, too, in capturing the interest of Instagram users and nudging them to make a purchase from your store.
Simply put, the better your Instagram feed looks, the more commitment you have on your blog.
A lot of people think that making an Instagram feed is more about being confined to the colours you use in your photos. But this isn’t real! You can switch your Instagram feed to look vibrant and full of colours, or go with something minimal instead-the choice is always yours.
The aim is to be able to set a tone for your brand that your followers will resonate with. Using the brand colours is a smart way to boost brand recall in the long run.
Think editing your images is too complicated? You’re thinking of buying a preset that suits the look you want from Shopify stores like 123Presets. They have ready-to-use presets for quick editing of images in any theme!
Build a calendar of Instagram contents
A lot of Shopify stores are spending time in developing their product shoots. But what they’re not concentrating on is making a calendar for their Instagram page to keep things stable and track (or not) what’s working for them.
To start making a calendar, look at the insights on your Instagram profile. Identify the days and times that have performed well for you-in terms of scope, dedication and actions taken on your website. If you’re just starting with Instagram, it’s a good idea to follow the day and time suggested by Later.
The next move is to recognise the types of content that your audience loves the most and that have increased your interaction rate. Create a basic social media calendar for your Instagram page that includes the caption, the post styles (single picture , video, carousel, IGTV, GIF), the days and time you want to post and the connexion you will add to your Instagram bio when you post this material. Try to build a 3-week schedule in advance to stop a last-minute rush!
You don’t have to make a post every day. Only find a steady pace to keep your audience engaged. And when you’re doing that, make sure your content calendar covers various content types, because not everyone only likes the regular picture updates. Different strokes for different people!
Here are a few content formats that you can definitely include in your Instagram marketing content calendar:
- Instagram feed contents
- Live Videos Instagram
- IGTV (Instagram Television)
- Instagram’s stories
If you are not sure how to create an Instagram marketing content calendar, download this FREE template from HubSpot.
Make your Instagram feed accessible
Around 80 percent of Instagram users decide to make a purchase based on what they see on the website. Numbers show that for a lot of users, the Instagram shopping experience begins. Today, as a rule, a shopper will find a product on Instagram and then go to the store to make a purchase. But what if you could make things easier?
You can transform the Instagram feed shoppable on your Shopify store with Shoppable Instagram. This lets you tag products to your Instagram feed posts or even to your Instagram storeys. This makes it easier for shoppers who discover your brand on Instagram to tap the post and purchase it directly from Instagram.
With the Instagram feed you can reduce the amount of steps that a shopper needs to take to make a purchase. The more smooth and relaxed the ride, the more likely the purchase would be.
Analyze your results in order to maximise your day and time for posts
If you’re promoting your Instagram posts with paid campaigns or trying to improve your engagement with organic strategies, keep a close eye on the results. Take a look at Instagram Insights to see which day and time of posting you get the most reach, interaction and activity on your Instagram bio page.
Promote your most successful posts
Next move is to recognise and promote the best-performing roles through paid promotions. This is a foolproof way to get your target audience to connect with your brand and even lead them to take the desired action in your store-for example, build a wish list, sign up for your email to get offers and promotions, or even add the product they loved so much to their Instagram cart to get an exclusive 10 % discount.
It’s about knowing what online shoppers really like about your brand, and then using it to drive more traffic and conversions to your store.
Display your Instagram feed on your store
Since you’re doing so much to refine your Instagram bio to impress, build a feed that engages your audience, why don’t you use it in your store to keep this Instagram user interested as part of what your brand has to share even when they hit your site?
By embedding your Instagram feed to your home page, product page, or blog, you’re giving the visitor additional content to connect with. That, too, on a forum and in a style that they love to interact with!
Showing your beautifully crafted Instagram feed, you can reinforce the same brand storey you posted on the website. You can also post customer testimonials and user-generated content to show how much you enjoy your stuff.
4. Get more revenue from Instagram Marketing
Following the above steps is sure to help you develop your brand on Instagram, attract more of your target audience and also connect with your posts. But for your Instagram marketing activities to really start paying off and boosting sales, you need to go beyond using the best Instagram hashtags, updating your Instagram bio, and focusing on your Instagram captions.
You need to actively explore various ways to keep your audience engaged on all these fronts and calculate the effect of every little experiment on your brand.
The idea is to stand out and get the attention of these shoppers. Don’t fit in only by doing what other brands are doing.
You need to actively explore various ways to keep your audience engaged on all these fronts and calculate the effect of every little experiment on your brand.
Here are some of the best Instagram marketing strategies that you can bear in mind:
- Keep consistent with your Instagram content calendar
- Frequently change the best hashtags to Instagram posts
- Tap Instagram’s trending hashtags whenever necessary
- Adjust your bio link to Instagram at the same time as your promotions.
- Use your Instagram post to say a storey or product (and not just its price)
- Interact with the shoppers who are engaged with your posts
- Use Instagram storeys to reveal a new post (just in case anyone misses it)
- Encourage your followers to turn on your mail updates (you don’t want them to miss out on your products)
- Continue monitoring the success of your posts to optimise your calendar for optimum effect.
In a visually oriented user market, Instagram provides you a way to reach out and connect the viewer with what they want to see. So make sure that you know who your customers are and what they want before you start posting content on your Instagram profile.
