Instagram Marketing Strategies | How to Effectively Use Instagram to Boost Sales
Instagram is an image based social platform which has over 1 billion monthly users! It is a favourite of both the young as well as the adult population. Although it started as a social platform to share images, it has now become a most popular and widely used method for marketing. Did you know that more than 70% of the Instagram users have bought things that they have seen on Instagram? Yes! Instagram can be used to promote new products as well as create awareness about a brand. So how to effectively use Instagram to boost sales? There are few simple yet important Instagram marketing strategies that can be applied to boost online sales.
Get the basics right
First thing to be taken care of while adapting to Instagram marketing strategies is getting the basics of your Instagram account right. Make sure that you are using the Instagram page in the name of your business. The ultimate goal of Instagram is to directly or indirectly lead the page followers to your eCommerce store. Next aspect to be taken care of is to always maintain the same name and profile photo on your Instagram page. Preferably, the logo as it can be easily remembered. Make sure there is a link to your eCommerce page in the profile details as it is the only place where a clickable link to your page can be added. Next, the ‘bio’ option is to be optimally used to draw users to your page. It should be crisp and interesting (can be witty too!) as only upto 10-15 words are visible on the profile page. And most importantly, use the bio detail and link to promote any sales pitch!
Keep the page interesting
As Instagram is all about pictures, use this feature wisely to keep your followers interested in your page. Posts that are too sale oriented may not be liked and if you keep posting such posts followers may stop following you. One of the best Instagram marketing strategies is to invest in a good mobile phone with excellent camera and other supporting features. As the name suggests, posts should be ‘instant’ ones and phones with good features can help create magic with your pictures. An d interesting instant pictures brings you more followers! The basic idea is to post some interesting pictures or posts along with a tag line or company logo that makes people check the image in detail and like,comment and/or share it with their friends.
One thing to remember at all times is not to hard sell anything. So make sure that your pictures are creative and look professional too! There are several tools available in the Instagram app that can be used to highlight your pictures. There are also several add on images, features available when you post your picture as a ‘story’. Such ‘stories’ can also be shared as a ‘post’ on Instagram as well as other social platforms. Additionally, images edited on other apps can also be posted on Instagram.
Widen the horizon
The images or posts posted on Instagram can reach not only your followers but can reach many more too! One of the Instagram marketing strategies to be used here is hashtags. Interesting hashtags are followed through by users looking for interesting posts and posts related to their interests. Hence, using the hashtags wisely can help you get more likes, comments and shares. Hashtags also enable the posts to be searched easily and also segregate them if required. However, make sure there are not more than 5 hashtags for each post. More than 5 hashtags can create clutter and the main message may get lost! You can also have your own unique tag for your brand that can be used in all posts. This unique hashtag can also become your brand identity. You can also post challenges with such hashtags and ask your followers to take up these challenges.
Sharing the pictures posted by your buyers who have used your brand hashtag on your Instagram page is also one of the important Instagram marketing strategies! This makes the buyers feel important and they will definitely share such posts with their friends – leading to more followers and higher chance of followers becoming buyers.
Keep it two way
Another one of the important Instagram marketing strategies is keeping the posts engaging! One way traffic can be boring not only for your followers, but for you too! One of the best ways to keep it interesting is by having your followers want to comment on your posts. It should also be ensured that comments or queries are answered on a regular basis. This not only makes your followers feel important but also creates a bonding! One way to engage your followers is to post pictures with questions or puzzles that they would love to answer. You can also ask for suggestions related to your brand and if you implement any of it, make sure you create a post about it and tag that person whose suggestion was implemented.
Another way to engage your followers is to put up contests! You can give away some simple yet attractive prizes, keepables, gift coupons, etc for the winners. To make it more engaging include relevant and witty hashtags too. And don’t forget to post pictures of the winners on your official Instagram page.
Know the numbers
One of the built-in features that helps assess the Instagram marketing strategies is the insight feature. This feature allows you to understand the behaviour of your followers. It gives you details such as most liked post, the day and time during which the posts were most frequently liked, the follower who likes or engages with your post the most, etc. How is this useful? For example, knowing the day and time during which the posts were most frequently liked gives you an idea about the day and time during which you need to put up the Instagram posts. These features can be used wisely to improve your visibility, brand loyalty and online sales too!
So go ahead, explore all these Instagram marketing strategies, and use it to increase the user engagement and boost online sales.
