Tips to Increase Your Sales on Instagram

Brands and businesses can succeed in selling on Instagram with the right strategy.

Instagram has over 1 billion active users worldwide.If you have doubts, take a look at the statistics :

• 90% of Instagram users follow at least one brand.
• 83% of Instagram users find new brands or products on the platform.
• 80% of users say Instagram helps them when deciding to buy a product or service.

Here are some key tactics that can help boost your sales using Instagram.

1.  Use a Instagram Business Profile

If you have been using your personal profile, convert it into a business profile, which  gives you access to a number of selling and reporting options :

Instagram Insights. 

CTA button. This appears at the top of your profile under your bio

Story links

Being able to add links in your Instagram stories gives you the opportunity to direct your audience to various products and landing pages on your website

Facebook alignment. You can connect to your Facebook business page and start running ads through Business Manager/Ads Manager

Craft Stunning Images

Here are three tips to increase engagement with your images.

2. Post Images that Speak to Your Audience

For example, if you know your audience is interested in different cultures around the world, an image like this will spark their attention.

 Stick to the Rules of Great Photography

The great news is you don’t need a DSLR camera and expensive professional gear to take stunning photos.

Simply follow these rules with your smartphone, and you’re good to go.

• Use natural light whenever you can.
• Avoid overexposure (to do this, tap the brightest part of your frame before taking the photo).
• Shoot at sunrise, sunset, or on a cloudy day.
• Take photos from different vantage points. (That’s right! Crouch, crawl, lie down, even scale a wall if you’re feeling ambitious.)
• Use unique frames. A hedge, two skyscrapers, or just some extra space are stunning examples.

 Enhance Your Images with the Right Tools

Here are the top three image editing apps that further enhance your photos.

• VSCO – This app is ranked by photographers as the best image-editing app for Instagram.
• Canva – Canva has a ton of tools that allow you to customize your images.
• A Color Story – This app helps you stick to your theme color by offering customizable filter packs.

3. Run Contests

Here are three great Instagram contest ideas you can use.

• Like, comment, and follow. Users like your post and follow you to enter your contest.
• Tag a friend. Users get one entry for every friend they tag in your post.
• User-generated content (UGC). Your audience creates their own unique posts and tags your business or uses a hashtag you created.

So far, the best type of contest is the UGC contest.

4. Leverage Instagram Video

• Keep your videos short and grab your viewers’ attention with movement in the first few seconds of your clip.
• Add captions (Instagram videos are mute by default).
• Plan your videos with a specific goal in mind (e.g. drive traffic to your blog, spark engagement, gain new followers, or educate your audience).
• Add behind-the-scenes footage of your brand for a human touch.
• Capture your products in action (a video of customers using your products is great).

Instagram videos receive 2x the engagement of other posts

5. Give Exclusive Content with Stories

Use Instagram stories to show behind-the-scenes action and truly pull those viewers into what your brand does.

6. Join Instagram Pods

If you are new to Instagram marketing and don’t have many followers, join  quality Instagram Pods to ramp up your engagements.

• Find a small Instagram Pod. Pods are groups of Instagram users who band together to increase each other’s followers and engagements.
• Follow the Pod’s engagement guidelines. You usually have to like, comment, and share other Pod members’ posts.
• In return, your own posts will receive likes, comments, and shares from other members.

7. Use More Hashtags

Using hashtags is an excellent way to expand your Instagram audience. This is because they make your posts appear in the pages of hashtags you use.

Since Instagram allows you to use up to 30 hashtags per post, you can go all out with them!

First, make sure to use the most popular hashtags on Instagram. These will get you in front of millions of users.

Research Hashtags : Head to Discover > Search >Tags and search for terms related to your niche. You’ll then see how many posts have used that hashtag. When you use that hashtag in your post, you add your post to the Discover queue.

Then, create your own customized hashtags. This is a great step for when you’ve established your brand presence and already have a large following.

8. Use Instagram shopping if sell physical products

Shopping posts look like organic posts, with the exception that when users “tap to view products,” product names and prices are revealed. When they click on the tags that pop up, they’re taken to a product details page containing a description of the product and a CTA. From there, they click through to a landing page. 

9. Connect with Up & Coming Influencers

Connecting with real influencers can turn into a big win for you. It’s important to pick influencers carefully. Select people who:

• Have real influence in their area
• Do something relevant to your product
• Have followers who will benefit from what you’re selling

10. Run Compelling Instagram Ads

69% of marketers in the U.S. spend their influencer budgets on Instagram ads.

Follow these pro tips when creating your Instagram ads.

• Know what your audience wants to see.
• Keep your message short. Your text will be cut off after two rows, so motivate with a CTA as soon as you can.
• Engage with users. Treat your paid ads just like your organic posts to connect with your audience.

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