Understanding the basics on how to use Instagram to increase sales and drive brand awareness:
It is no secret that social media marketing has been a thriving marketing channel for several marketers and businesses. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest have revolutionized how brands speak and how sales funnels work.
Social Media marketing offers SME’s, large businesses, B2C and B2B companies a platform to connect with target audiences and sell like never before. The benefits of social media marketing for business range from greater brand advocacy to customer engagement and revenue generation. Among these platforms, Instagram has proven to be largely rewarding, yet an underrated social media marketing platform. Whereas if planned and executed well, Instagram could become a powerful sales channel for businesses. Here’s a quick look at how to use Instagram to increase sales.
“87% users followed a brand, visited the brand website or made a purchase online, after seeing product information on Instagram.”
This itself is a good insight. The benefits of using Instagram for business surpass brand awareness to give sales impetus to brands and products. The same study, concludes that brands on Instagram create a lasting impression on potential shoppers. While Instagram ads directly benefit brands and companies, just being on Instagram alone has a tremendous branding effect.
And building an Instagram presence in the right manner, visually and thoughtfully is an art. Let’s jump right into it.
Build an Instagram Profile
Instagram being a visual platform means target audiences need to see stunning images of product and service. Or have access to information and content about the brand that is relevant and most resonates with the audience.
- Instagram Business Account
Start with creating an Instagram business account for the company. If you already have a Facebook Business Page, simply connect the same to the desired Instagram profile. Head to the settings and click on ‘Switch to Business Profile’. Follow the instructions and link both pages to enjoy cross-functional posting and advertising. Need help with this?
2. Instagram Bio
An interesting Bio creates a lasting impression. This section offers users a quick inside into the brand, relevant hashtags and website address. Ensure the Instagram profile has a picture that creates immediate recognition for the brand and company. An interesting and creative Bio helps the IG community understand what to expect on the profile.
Instagram’s “Link in Bio” feature is an excellent tool for brands to guide visitors to blogs, e-commerce site, sales or campaigns. Use keywords and hashtags in the bio as Instagram has now made hashtags searchable when they’re on bio.
Considering Instagram does not allow clickable links, the only clickable link in bio becomes crucial to directing leads to a website. Boost traffic to your website, encourage sales and increase access to your blogs and key information with the clickable link in the bio. Easily track the number of users visiting the link through the analytics Instagram offers.
3. Instagram Call-To-Actions Buttons
Ensure the Instagram profile has relevant call-to-action buttons, such as email and contact – another important tool for to ensure sales and customer touchpoints. When content strategy and Instagram ad campaigns work efficiently, users are likely to head to the handle to check out more details for contact.
Build Content on Instagram
Instagram is a social place with its own culture and the IG Community do not like hard-sell. A showcase of company products works well, however hard-selling brands rarely find success on Instagram.
Instagrammers are huge content consumers. This means brands need to offer these shoppers a reason to follow, information that is relevant, interactive videos and attractive imagery. Instagram’s interactive tools for businesses allow brands to reach target customers across various types of content. From shoppable Instagram posts to Instagram Stories, Instagram reels and IGTV. Facebook and Instagram also offers features which are most often missed by companies.
A sound content strategy makes shoppers fans of the brand and products. Good content and good-looking content is the first driver of sales on Instagram. And this holds true for brands and companies with products to sell. Attractive posts and interesting stories on Instagram create influence among users and encourages them to share within their networks. Prepare the content strategy in advance with measurable KPI’s to drive business objectives for each Instagram tool.
- Instagram Shoppable Posts
Instagram posts are the foundation of a good Instagram handle. Great photography and stunning pictures become the social media storefront for target audiences on Instagram. Instagram posts need to be curated, just like a physical store’s merchandise is curated.
Every post shared on the handle must drive a key objective. The Instagram profile could have posts that announce sales and events. Another post could feature products and services with a clickable bag icon on image.
This drives users to click on the image and get instant access to price tags and buy feature. Need help set this up on your page?
This is arguably one of the quickest ways to use Instagram to increase sales. The shoppable Instagram post option also opens up into an e-commerce storefront that lets the IG Community shop instantly.
2. Instagram Stories
Instagram stories are a fun tool that lets brands explore interactive content for 24 hours. From polls to Q & A’s and stickers make brands more relevant to the audiences on Instagram. Run sales driven contests and product showcases on Instagram stories. Promote unique features after-sales services, discount, and price driven questions for Instagram users.
Instagram stories offers brands with over 10,000 followers a direct call to action called ‘Swipe to view website’. A unique to Instagram feature, if used well with interesting content can increase sales almost immediately. On swiping up audiences go to the brands desired e-commerce platform or website.
3. Instagram Reels and IGTV
A key brand tool on Instagram, both IGTV and Reels lets brands create engaging video content. Engaging the audience with the brand stories, delivering product benefits and showcasing services or expertise. Instagram Reels offer short format content for videos up to 1-minute. While IGTV can become a brands content hub of sales driven videos, D-I-Y’s, how to use and more. Optimize video copy with keywords and hashtags to reach wider network of audience to deliver the sales pitch.
4. Instagram Highlights
Turn Instagram highlights into brand showcase and catalog for target customers. All Instagram stories are clubbed topically and easily into highlight albums on the Instagram handle.
Feature new products, create a catalog for each product, Offers, User-Generate-Content features. Transform the Instagram profile into a storefront to showcase and drive sales.
Build Sales on Instagram
A well-thought-out Instagram strategy and content plan is vital to increase sales on Instagram. However, Instagram’s algorithm changes has caused much disarray among influencers, brands and users. Audiences aren’t seeing key content from brands in their feed. Often, even the best images and photography with the best content and hashtags do not reach out to a larger network of target customers.
An increasing number of brands on Instragram making their presence felt, creates more competition for existing brands on the platform. This is why, Instagram offers brands advertising opportunities to reach out to a larger audience. Use Instagram to increase sales through ads that feature among stories and the Instagram feed, while the target audience is browsing.
Instagram ads can potentially reach 849 million users
Thus, creating an ROI driven Instagram Ad Campaign becomes important to drive sales on Instagram for businesses. Most influencers, brands and SME’s find setting up Instagram a challenging and time-consuming task. At Mindstorm, we have dedicated teams to drive sales-focused ad campaigns across all social media marketing platforms. Our team has put together a quick step -by -step guide on Instagram Ads. This will help understand how to generate sales through Instagram Ads and increase visibility for posts and brands
1. Always begin with research:
Research the target audience, competitors and hashtags for products, companies and brands. This gives an understanding into whom are the competitors speaking to, what is the hashtag reach and how does the target audience respond.
2. Define Campaign Objectives:
Ad Campaigns for Facebook and Instagram are run via Facebook Ads Manager. The ads campaign manager lets advertisers define goals based on desired action of the audience viewing the ads. Choose from brand awareness to page likes, to boost posts for engagement. Drive traffic to e-commerce websites and even make purchases and encourage sales conversions. Instagram ads work exceedingly well to re-target customers who visit websites and profiles without taking any action. Thus, encouraging them to return.
3. Target the audience:
Instagram ads allow advertisers to target audiences to the minutest details and reach a wider audience. Introducing a festive offer for a product? Target audiences based on demographics, interests, gender, locations and more. The targeting of the audience is exhaustive and inclusive, giving advertisers an opportunity to reach audiences otherwise not accessible through traditional media.
4. Publish Stunning Creatives:
Instagram Ads enables the use of interactive content like videos, carousels, slideshows, clickable stories and more. From showcasing multiple images to motivate Instagram audience to purchase to interesting videos on persuading them to choose the service. Instagram ads look perfectly placed with the right context when the creatives are designed to encourage an action.
5. Track Instagram ads performance:
Instagram ad campaigns need constant tweaking and optimizing. So, it helps to have a team who is monitoring the performance of the ad campaigns regularly. Testing, editing and optimizing budgets for the best results is crucial to increasing sales through Instagram ads.
The Facebook ads manager is a relatively simple tool to run Instagram ads. But without constant monitoring, content expertise and detailed insight into how Instagram communication strategy works; it is likely the results would be poor. Brands and products must focus on their product offerings and allow experts and digital agencies to manage and run Instagram ad campaigns.
A holistic Instagram strategy means creating the right visual content, the right communications and the right Instagram advertising campaigns is the only way to increase sales using Instagram. We would be happy to help you build your brand on Instagram, give us a shout at: aniketh@mindstorm.in.
