Posted by The secret to boosting your sales on Instagram may surprise you. If you want to increase your sales, then don’t actually ask for the sale.
What?
That’s right. Hard selling doesn’t work on Instagram. It’s a turn-off to people, and it actually stops people from following you or engaging with your content.
The best way to boost your sales is to create authentic and engaging content that your audience enjoys. They will quickly follow you and then also purchase from you. Here are some strategies to include in your Instagram marketing.
“Shopping on Instagram” features
This past fall, Instagram set up new “Shopping on Instagram” features. It’s a game-changer for product-based businesses.
Let’s take a look at what they are and how to strategically use them to sell more on Instagram.
Redesign of the “Shop” tab on your business Instagram profile
Business profiles have the option to add a “Shop” tab. It allows users to look at all of your posts that features a product. For example, if you’re marketing apartments in Denver, Colorado, you might consider adding a shop tab taking users directly to the listings — it’s an easy way for users to scroll through all of your products and look at the item name, price, and read the post about it. Simply add your products to your feed, and it becomes a lot easier to shop with you.
Photo Credit: @target on Instagram
Add shopping to videos
It’s not a secret that video content is the latest trend in digital marketing. Instagram has made a new feature that allows your videos to also feature the Shopping tag. Now users can watch your video and click to learn more about the products featured. You have no excuse to not add video into your Instagram marketing strategy at this point.
Photo Credit: @outdoorvoices on Instagram
What else can you do to boost your sales on Instagram?
Even if you’re not a product-based business, there are still plenty of ways to use Instagram to boost your sales. Let’s take a look at a few key features that can turn your casual onlooker into a follower.
Link to a strategic page
Your Instagram bio gives you the option to add a link. Some people choose to link to the home page of their website and call it done. However, if you want to play your cards right, you may want to choose a different link depending on what you are posting. If you are promoting a new blog post, then link to your blog. If you are promoting a certain service, then link to the landing page for that service.
What if you want to add multiple links? You can opt to use a service like Linktree. It provides one link to a page with multiple buttons leading to different pages.
Photo credit: Linktree
Keep your followers engaged with promotions
It’s almost a guarantee that your audience loves free stuff. You may have seen giveaways on Instagram before. They offer a chance to win a product or get a discount on services if you do the following:
- Follow their page
- Like the giveaway post
- Tag a friend in the comments
Photo credit: @thechocodc on Instagram
Giveaways are an easy way to engage your audience and have them introduce you to other people. Just don’t go overboard. Too many giveaways may come off as spammy to your audience.
You can also offer exclusive promotions that you can only learn about on Instagram. For example, you can post something like “Get a free brownie if you follow us on Instagram”. Not only do you boost your sales and increase the number of followers, but you also attract followers that already know you and your product.
Measure the analytics
Analyzing the stats of your posts is the most crucial part about boosting your sales on Instagram. This is an important step, and you shouldn’t skip it if you are serious about increasing your sales.
The first thing you should do is take a look at your data and see what times your audience is most likely online. It can help you decide if posting on Friday at 10am is less likely to be seen compared to posting on Wednesday at 3pm.
You should also take the time to discover which posts got the most engagement from your audience. What did people like and comment on the most? Once you notice a theme in what is popular with your audience, then create similar content. It makes your audience feel like you care about providing content that they enjoy.
Boosting your sales on Instagram takes some creative effort and strategic analysis. The main goal is to create content that your audience enjoys engaging with on Instagram. Don’t be afraid to try new things and see how it resonates with your audience. Once your audience knows you and trusts you, they are more likely to purchase from you. Instagram is a great way to introduce yourself to new audiences and ultimately increase your sales.
This is a guest post by Natasha Ponomaroff. Natasha is the Senior Marketing Director of Instasize – a content creating tool kit for anyone editing photos and online content on mobile. A weekly contributor on the site’s blog, Natasha tracks social media trends and updates the millions of “creatives” who are currently using Instasize to curate awesome online content. When she isn’t writing up the latest trend, Natasha is overseeing a team of 10 over at the Instasize HQ – ensuring that the marketing content on the apps various social platforms is ready to go.