With the growth of online sales, businesses need to take advantage of all available channels. For companies that are getting into e-commerce or want to develop their social media strategy , we’ve put tog
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Gone are the days when Instagram was just a social network for sharing photos with filters. The platform, which was launched in 2010, has evolved and offers a very different user profile from that of its beginnings. Today, Instagram is also an important sales channel for businesses of different sizes, providing resources for businesses to generate revenue, grow their audience, and build their brand image through the platform.
It was in 2019, when it announced the launch of the Checkout function , which allows customers to finalize and pay for their purchase without leaving the application, that the platform assumed its transformation as a marketplace. At the time, the company’s product manager, Vishal Shah, compared Instagram to a digital mall, where people can ” shop or catch up on trends or the latest fashions” (article in English). Currently, nearly 21 million French people use the platform monthly
, with the 20-24 age group making up 52% of its audience. Globally, 25,000 brands have an Instagram account, while 90% of users follow at least one business account.
In this article, learn tips on how to integrate Instagram into your sales strategy.
The first steps to selling on Instagram
Before creating a business account for your business, define your goals. Social media actions are relationship-based: the return won’t be immediate, it will only come after you establish a core audience that engages with your content and brand.
It is also essential to define a visual language for the profile from the start. In the same way that you spent time creating your website, work on the design of your feed (or news feed), investing in choosing an adequate profile photo, the text of the bio and post language. After this first step, it’s time to publish content. Create quality images, videos and texts and also set aside time to interact with your followers.
You may have noticed that while it can drive results, maintaining a business profile on Instagram takes some time. One way to optimize this step is to automate the process through social media management software . Combined with the use of e-commerce software , which streamlines the daily tasks of your online store, you will be able to gain in efficiency.
Automation tools to support your sales
There are several social media tools on the market that eliminate the tedious step of manually managing your accounts. We have listed a number of essential tasks below that can be automated through social media management platforms.
Planning your publications
Lack of posting frequency can doom your presence on Instagram. By posting regularly, the algorithms spot a certain consistency and followers begin to attach more relevance to your activity. By choosing the right software, you can schedule your posts from the feed and stories.
Reporting
The performance of your current actions is what will guide the next ones. Data such as the number of impressions, likes, comments, as well as video views can be extracted using specific tools. This information is essential for effective content management. Besides the level of engagement, these tools allow you to track the growth of the follower base, as well as the number of users who have stopped following your brand, segmenting by age, gender and location.
Increase in the number of subscribers
Increasing the number of your followers can be a daunting task, but solutions exist to support this task. You can count on the help of platforms that search, based on hashtags, location and competitor profiles, for possible followers for your brand. The tool automatically likes and follows users, giving people the choice whether or not to follow your business.
Quick replies
Customer service is an area that requires efficiency. To maintain the speed and organization of customer service, it is worth using tools that collect comments and direct messages, not only from Instagram but also from other social networks, allowing you to respond to all your customer interactions in one place. To choose the marketing automation tool that’s right for you, keep in mind your brand’s goals and current issues that a management platform could address.
Create bespoke content
You should already know that your publications of your brand will be in competition with a significant number of posts. Therefore, with every post, create posts that pique people’s interest not only in your product, but also in your brand. Below, here’s how to use each element to optimize your posts.
Post with a photo or video
Photographies
In online sales, product photos make a big difference. They constitute the customer’s first contact with the product or service concerned. So invest in professional photos, always paying attention to the lighting.
Remember the importance of maintaining a consistent visual language style. In other words, define the type of image that best suits your brand: whether it is a simple highlighting of the product, the product in use, or a mixture of the two styles. .
Videos
If you choose to use videos instead of photos, you should also produce a professional rendering, again focusing on visual identity. Here, several content models can be explored: tutorials, videos from followers, videos with influencers, etc.
Hashtags
Hashtags connect the user to the topic he is looking for and, in addition to promoting your publications, make you gain new followers. If you have a decoration brand, rather than using general hashtags like #decoration, #homedecor or #mobile to advertise your products, focus on specific hashtags.
Product labels
Through Instagram Shopping, Instagram launched the ability to tag products to enhance the shopping experience, showing available products and information about them. The user just has to click on the product, before being redirected to finalize the purchase. If you intend to sell online, be sure to use this feature.
Stories
Stories allow you to post a sequence of images that are available for 24 hours. With this tool, the trick is to tell a story using storytelling techniques, capable of capturing your audience while arousing their curiosity.
Liens
Ads in Stories, as well as gifs and other animated images, allow you to add a link, which redirects the user to another page. Remember for each publication to include a link.
Live broadcasts
Live streams are a great way to grab the attention of your followers. You can make a live showing behind the scenes of your activity or set up a launch campaign including the participation of an influencer. Using this feature makes your brand more human in front of the audience.
Direct
Instagram Direct is the functionality of the tool for exchanging private messages. In your Instagram sales strategy, you can use it to answer questions about products, as well as to offer assistance during the checkout process or even when tracking delivery.
ether tips on how to sell on Instagram in this article.