8 Tips to Selling on Instagram in 2021

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If you are also a business owner and GenZ dominates your target base, then Instagram must be your ultimate priority. Surpassing over a billion monthly users, it has opened new doors to endless marketing opportunities.

According to Market Insider, GenZ earnings are expected to hit $33 trillion by 2030, and industries like luxury, payment, media, eCommerce, etc., will be benefiting from it hugely. The good news is you can reach out to this elite sect on this platform.

But why just Instagram when there are loads of other social media platforms? Let’s find out.

Benefits of selling on Instagram

Instagram is addictive. As per social media statistics, an Instagrammer uses Instagram daily for an average of 30 minutes. 90% of the total users follow at least one brand. These figures are convincing enough to begin selling on Instagram.

  1. Compelling branding

There are so many ways in which you can establish strong branding for your business with Instagram. Campaigns, IGTV series, stories, Reels challenges, guides, and collaborations allow you to break through the monotonous marketing trail.

  1. Personal connect

Want to know more about your audiences’ preferences? How about asking them their pain points through polls or integrating an email platform to speak with them directly? You can also take their feedback and interact one on one. Such a connection helps you personalize your marketing and make a lasting relationship with your audience.

  1. Endless UGC

Ever wondered what to post next? If you have a staggering presence with thousands of followers using your brand hashtags, just share their posts on your Instagram account. That gives your brand a solid testimonial edge and social proof.

  1. Interested traffic

Did you know that 70% of shopaholics rely on Instagram to discover new products? They are already looking out for you! So you are spared from the additional sales pitch and forceful convincing. You just have to let them know why you are the perfect fit for their needs. The interested traffic to your website from the Instagram business account has a higher percentage of completing the buyer journey. Thus, more sales!

  1. Advanced tracking and targeting

Tracking the figures of likes and shares is not enough. Instagram business accounts give you insights into numbers that speak the actual truth. These analytics include number of visiting accounts, impressions, reach, interaction, and more which help you target and market better.

But how do you start selling on Instagram? How do you stand out from the crowd and sell without the salesman’s spam? Let’s explore some successful tips to do that.

How to get started selling on Instagram with a business account

While there are instances where individuals sell well, even with their personal profiles, it’s advisable to switch to a business account. You get better visibility, access to in-depth analytics, ad benefits, shoppable features, and more. Here’s how you can switch from your personal account to a business account.

Step 1: Go to Settings by clicking on your profile picture on the top right corner if you are using the web version. Click on ≡ from your profile page if you are using the app. Tap on Settings from the bottom right corner.

Step 2: Select Switch to Professional account. Fill in the following details:

Tick the Similar Account Suggestion checkbox to be recommended to audiences following other accounts in your business niche.

Step 3: Click on the Submit button and then Next.

Step 4: Select the category from the given suggestions or directly type it out. Tick the given checkbox if you want your business category to be displayed on your business profile page. Click on the Done button.

Step 5: Select Business and click on the Next button.

Step 6: Give your contact details like phone number, email address, and physical address so your followers can directly reach out to you too. You can opt out by clicking on the Don’t use my contact info button or save it.

Step 7: Click on the Done button. Now you have successfully switched your personal account to a business account.

Step 8: Click on Professional Dashboard on your profile page to access Instagram analytics.

Leverage top posts

Head over to your professional dashboard and find your best-performing post, reels, and IGTV videos. It will let you know what kind of content gets you the most engagement. Hence you can boost these specific posts to get more impressions. You can also use social media tools to track your overall performance on Instagram.

8 Amazing tips to sell on Instagram

Instagram can be overwhelming at times. It is continuously updating and releasing new features to help booming marketers expand faster easily. Here are some tips you should implement right away to improve your selling strategy on Instagram.

  1. Find out the demographics

Marketing is all about timing, especially when it comes to social media marketing. Leverage insights to find out the age range, locations, gender, hourly, and day-wise active times. There’s no use in posting irrelevant content, even in bulks, if you fail to assist your customer.

So monitor these closely and create posts that your audience can relate to. The timings are crucial for getting engagement. You might get more prospects than expected if you happen to appear on your followers’ feeds at the right time.

  1. Tap into an Instagram shop

Your audience is hooked to your posts. You got the engagement you wanted. But now what? They don’t seem to take the pain of visiting your site. So you must bring your shop to them. Setting up an Instagram shop is simple.

  • Connect the business account with your Facebook page.
  • Upload your Product Catalogue from Catalogue Manager or your hosted website.
  • Submit this for review.
  • Turn on Shopping features once the account is approved.

Before these, note to confirm all the eligibility as per the Instagram shopping guidelines.

  1. Tagging products

Why limit your customers to just likes? Create shoppable feeds for your followers. It can be a shoppable video or a shoppable image post. Tag up to 5 products in your posts. You can choose these from your product catalogue. It shows elaborate product details with prices and an impressive visual. All they need to do is tap to be redirected to your website to complete the purchase. They can even add your product to their wishlist.

Here’s how Magnolia Boutique witnessed a 20% rise in revenue from Instagram by enabling shoppable features on their feed, as reported by BigCommerce.

  1. Product links in the story

Almost 500 million people view stories each day on Instagram. It gives your followers a teaser of your posts. Use shoppable stickers and product links on your story. Add a subtle CTA without messing with the aesthetics.

Gap posts multiple stories throughout the day to showcase their new hauls for the season. They also add the product link to their story for their followers to get direct access to their fresh collection.

  1. Promotional Ads

Fun fact! 50% of users are more interested in products when they appear as ads on Instagram.

You can’t miss out on this at any cost; no pun intended. You can either boost posts or use Ad Manager to promote ads on multiple platforms. Complete the following steps to boost your posts.

  1. Head over to content you want to promote.
  2. Click on the Promote button.
  3. Select a goal. It can be more profile visits, website visits, or more messages.
  4. Select the target audience. You can either choose Special Ad Category or Automatic for lookalike audiences. Create your own audience by filling in demographic details.
  5. Set the budget and duration.
  6. Add the payment information. Click on the Create Promotion button to complete the process.

Instagram ads offer several ad formats like photos, creators, and shops. Use good video editing software if you are opting for a video ad. Here’s an image ad by Lebert fitness to get them stellar momentum.

  1. Use all features offered

It won’t be wise to stick to one format when Instagram offers you a collection of amazing features. Post diversified content to get more engagement. Try experimenting with different things. Use IGTV and Reels for DIY series, tutorials, and testimonials. Use guides to cover procedures.

The famous cosmetic brand Sephora uses Guides, Reels, IGTV for their 20+ million followers. They have also added a link to their official site in their bio to maximize website visits too.

  1. Branded hashtags

Want to know a secret? You can almost triple your reach on Instagram even without ads! A hashtag strategy is the secret weapon to such organic reach. Like Twitter, hashtags here show some extraordinary results when used correctly.  It allows up to 30 hashtags, but it is best to use 5-6.

Don’t use any random hashtag. Proper research is a must. Additionally, create a brand hashtag which can be either a brand name or your tagline. You can also curate user-generated content through these hashtags. Mention them in your bio too.

Here’s how Dior has used hashtags in their well-written caption. Did you notice that they used relevant hashtags as the first comment to their posts? This tactic will get them good visibility without cluttering their caption. You can do it with the first comment feature by SocialPilot.

  1. Influencer marketing

Honestly, not everyone can spend a fortune to feature their product on Kylie’s feed. But she’s not the only one. There are 500,000 influencers on Instagram with millions of followers. You can go for multiple micro-influencers if you lack the necessary budget for a macro influencer. Not just market your product, you can give your account to famous influencers to manage it for an entire day. Such collaborations are fun and very engaging. Both parties involved get cross-promotional benefits, so it’s a win-win strategy.

Portland-based brand Hilos Shoes often collaborates with micro-influencers to get global recognition. They partnered up with Abby, a famous fashion blogger, to get more engagement.

Conclusion

Instagram is all about careful vigilance and taking action. You see what trends are working for others and their reactions. You implement something even better and track the progress. Working hard on your Instagram marketing strategy is not enough. You need to play smart here and use tips to get more out of this platform. What is your take on Instagram marketing for phenomenal results? Share with us in the comments below.

About the author:

Sweta Panigrahi is a Content Writer at SocialPilot. Her strongest pursuit is to capture social media happenings in her well-researched blogs. From codes to meme posts, her search history is a confounding mess. When not typing out blogs, you can find her in a sunny corner scribbling poems.