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Instagram is more than just a visual platform used to share those stunning images of mountainside views and great lakes. While those pictures are certainly welcome, users are also on the platform with the intent to do some research, interact with people and brands they love, and even do some shopping.
More than 500 million people log into Instagram every day and one billion log in at least once a month. And they don’t just scroll through the feed looking at pretty pics: 72% of users have bought a product they discovered on the platform. There’s enormous opportunity here.
Selling on Instagram is clearly a very profitable possibility. With the right strategies in place, you can start seeing the sales roll in before you know it.
In this post, we’re going to take a look at the 7 Instagram selling tips you should be using to maximize the sales you get from the platform.
1. Use Shoppable Instagram Features
The Shoppable Post updates were some of the bigger developments that came to Instagram recently.
Instagram has just announced that they’re expanding shopping capabilities on platform. These include adding Shopping sections in the Explore tab and allowing users to save Shoppable Posts and products they love.
Users can now shop your posts and your Stories. They’ll be clued in by a small shopping bag icon on the Shoppable posts, which are tagged with products and linked to product pages on your site. If they tap the post, they’ll see a product tag. This contains information like product name and price.
If they click that product tag, they’ll be taken to an in-app page with more information, including potential sizes, descriptions and product variations. Users can then choose to “view on website,” where they can purchase the product directly.
Setting up an Instagram shop can take some time, but it’s worth it. One case study saw a 25% increase in site traffic and an 8% increase in revenue attributed to Instagram.
At the moment, only business profiles can set up Instagram shops and you can only do it once you have a Facebook Shop up and running. This is true even when you’re using features like Shopify’s integration for Shoppable posts.
Once you connect your Instagram account to an account with a Facebook catalog and active shop, you’ll be automatically reviewed for Instagram Shoppable posts. After you’re approved, you’ll see a “Shopping” tab under your Settings that allows you to select the product catalog you want to use and then start tagging products in your posts.
You can learn more about the process here.
2. Optimize Your Profile
If people are discovering your products due to a well-timed hashtag search, seeing you tagged in someone’s post, or coming across you in the explore section, they might be finding out about your brand for the first time. In this case, they’ll almost definitely click to your profile to see what you have to offer and if they actually want to buy from you.
Keep this in mind because optimizing your profile bio for sales is so important. You should explain what makes you different, offer some branding information, and hopefully add a CTA and a link where users can buy your products. This will drive interested traffic to your site where they can complete their order.
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