If you have a physical store, you already know that every detail counts when it comes to selling. Customers are increasingly demanding and the market is ever more saturated. What’s more, every customer is different and we don’t treat them all the same. You’re probably someone who watches closely how a customer behaves when they walk into your store. Do they head straight for the sale section? Do they always visit but never end up buying? Are they a loyal customer who goes straight to the new collection?
If you read all these signals perfectly in your physical store, why not do the same on Instagram? If you’re still wondering how to sell on Instagram, the answer is simple. Pay attention to the signals the Facebook pixel gives you and run personalized actions for each type of customer. Do that, and you’ll sell on Instagram and grow your online store’s sales. To use a physical-store analogy, your customers will go from “I’m just looking, thanks” to “I’ll take it”.
People who shop on Instagram consume twice as much content as those who don’t, and spend 85% of their weekly time online exploring the latest products and services.
Instagram data, US only, April 2016.
Get your Instagram profile ready to sell your online store’s products
If you want your Instagram presence to become a key part of your online store’s sales strategy, you need to set up your profile for it. Instagram was originally designed for sharing images and, although you can’t include links in posts, there are promoted posts and other strategies to drive traffic to your online store and get people to buy your products.
Use a business profile
To sell on Instagram, the first thing you need to do, if you haven’t already, is switch your personal profile to a business profile.
A business Instagram profile not only lets you present yourself as a professional brand, but also gives you access to features the social network only offers business profiles.
These are some of the most notable features and analytics you’ll be able to access once you switch your personal profile to a business one:
- Full analytics for your account and post reach.
- The option to promote your posts.
- Tag the products you post with Instagram Shopping.
Add the Facebook pixel to your online store
The Facebook pixel is essential for measuring the effectiveness of your Instagram advertising and understanding what visitors do in your online store.
You’ll find countless guides on how to install the Facebook pixel in your online store, but if you have trouble doing it, you can always leave the task to your web developer.
Once you’ve implemented the pixel and set up all the events, you’ll be able to use it to:
- Reach the right people with your ads. You’ll reach both new customers and people who have visited your online store.
- Increase your online store’s sales. You’ll be able to optimize your ads with automated bidding to target people with stronger purchase intent who are more likely to buy.
- Measure the actions and results of the ads you run. Data such as people who started a purchase but didn’t complete it, or the number and value of purchases, will be very useful for creating ads that really work.
Without the Facebook pixel, you’ll struggle to sell through Instagram. If you’ve spent a lot of money on Instagram advertising and your results aren’t good, it’s probably because you’re not using it.
Turn on Instagram Shopping
Instagram’s shopping feature is a great tool for reaching valuable customers and sending them to your eCommerce store to buy the product they’ve just seen. Businesses with Instagram Shopping can tag products in their posts, adding a direct link to the product page so the brand’s followers end up buying it.
What do you need to turn on Instagram Shopping? If you want to turn on Instagram Shopping, make sure you meet the following requirements:
- Your Instagram account must be a business account
- No country restrictions enabled
- You must meet the requirements set out by Facebook in the merchant agreement for commercial products and in its commerce policies.
- Have a Facebook Page connected to your Instagram profile.
- Sell physical goods.
- Have your account linked to a Facebook catalog.
Once you meet the requirements above, you can submit your account for review by following these steps:
- Go to your Instagram profile settings.
- Go to Business and then to Shopping on Instagram.
- Follow the steps to make sure everything is ready and submit your account for review.
Within a few days, Instagram Shopping will be available on your Instagram account. The process usually takes a week at most.
Once your account is approved, you’ll receive a notification on Instagram. And… that’s it! You can start tagging your products in your posts.
The challenge: 10,000 followers
Set your sights firmly on this challenge. Your top obsession should be reaching 10,000 followers. Once you hit that number, you’ll be able to add links to your Instagram Stories. This feature is enabled automatically and is very valuable, given how hard it is to drive organic traffic from Instagram to your online store.
You’re probably wondering: how do I get more followers on Instagram? There’s no single answer, but to help you, here are some actions that will help you gain followers quickly:
- Use hashtags. Analyze the hashtags your competitors use and include up to 30 hashtags per post. Don’t reuse them by copy-pasting, as you could be flagged as a spammer and that will hurt your organic reach.
- Run giveaways. Giving away your products is undoubtedly the best way to gain quality followers. And if you can create synergies with other brands through joint giveaways, even better.
- Social Ads. Facebook loves it when you spend. It won’t say so publicly, but profiles that invest in advertising get more engagement and greater organic reach.
- Take advantage of the influencer trend to reach out to influencers or micro-influencers who will accept products in exchange for one or more posts in their feed or Stories.
These are just a few tips for gaining quality followers. While reading, you’ve probably thought about buying followers. Well, forget it. If you buy followers, all you’ll achieve is a nosedive in your organic post reach and damage to your account’s visibility. Don’t do it!
The best ads for selling on Instagram
As we pointed out a few months ago in our post “Facebook Ads for eCommerce: make your ads work” , one of the best ad formats for selling your online store’s products on Instagram is Collection ads. This ad format creates an instant full-screen experience when someone clicks “Learn more”.
In the post we just mentioned, we explained in detail how to create these ads and what you need to do so.
This ad format is especially effective if we keep the following in mind:
- Targeting. If we target ads at customers who already know us through retargeting audiences, we’ll significantly lower the cost per conversion. For example, in online stores with high repeat purchases and an average order value of €60–100, we can achieve campaigns with a cost per conversion below €3.
- Discounts or promo codes. If we add a discount code to these ads or run them during sales periods, conversions will rain down. We’ll get customers to make more impulsive purchases they perhaps hadn’t planned.
- A feed synced with your online store’s products. It’s important to upload a feed from a data source that syncs automatically with your online store’s stock and prices. That way you avoid outdated prices or out-of-stock products appearing in your ads.
Inspire and sell through Instagram Stories
80% of Instagram users follow a brand to feel more connected to it and, as a result, many of them feel part of an exclusive group.
Instagram data, US only, April 2016.
This sense of belonging to an exclusive group is exactly what you need to create on your Instagram account.
Stories play a very important role in this connection. The ability to add animations and a wide variety of stickers and GIFs has made Instagram Stories one of the network’s most engaging formats.
And as if this format weren’t attractive enough for brands, new features have recently been introduced to help online businesses sell more through Instagram.
Among the new features Instagram has introduced in Stories, two stand out:
- The ability to run ads in Stories and include a link regardless of whether the account has 10,000 followers.
- Product tagging in Stories, just as it’s allowed in the Instagram feed for accounts with Instagram Shopping turned on.
Now that you know it’s a format worth investing in, with creativity and clever campaigns you can connect with your customers like never before.
That said, if you plan to create Stories ads, keep the following specifications in mind:
- Image ad
Image size: 1080×1920
Aspect ratio: 9:16
Duration: 10 seconds
- Video ad
Format: MOV, MP4 or GIF
Size: up to 2.3 GB
Resolution: at least 720p
Duration: 15 seconds
Aspect ratio: 9:16
Knowing Instagram’s algorithm gives you an edge over your competitors
Surprisingly, Instagram’s algorithm tries to mimic human social behavior. What does that mean? It means Instagram takes into account which posts a user likes most and which accounts they interact with most. For example, if a user likes or comments on posts from many women’s clothing stores, posts from other women’s clothing brands will be given more weight.
But how does Instagram’s algorithm work? Below is what you need to keep in mind if you want to gain visibility on the network and have your posts reach as many of your followers as possible:
- Share posts that are valuable to your followers. Instagram won’t only consider likes or comments; it will also look at other types of interactions.
- Build relationships with your followers. Comment on your followers’ posts and always reply to their comments.
Quality is what matters most on Instagram. Focus your strategy on providing valuable content for your followers and spend a few minutes a day interacting with your audience. That way you’ll stop seeing the algorithm as an enemy, and it can become your best ally.
With all this information, it’s time to get to work. Need help? At TLG Commerce we’ll be happy to help. Selling on Instagram isn’t easy, but with the right strategy and consistency you’re sure to grow your sales.
*Sources:
www.facebook.com/business/news/instagram
www.facebook.com/business/success/instagram
www.facebook.com/business/help
vilmanunez.com
quiennomesigueeninstagram.com
triunfagram.com
socialmediaexaminer.com
