The Instagram shop or eCommerce feature is the combination of marketing and selling products through the platform.
Brands use Instagram to create business profiles, develop their followers and endorse products through content producion and ads.
According to SendPulse, the Instagram shop tool allows you to:
- create a customizable business page with online store functionality
- add product tags with a name and price that will make your Instagram content shoppable
- complete the entire ordering process without making users leave the app
- sell your products directly from influencers’ posts
- make live presentations of your products and convert customers in real-time
It has grown rapidly in usage over the years, in fact, it has been found that over 90% of users of the app follow at least one business account.
Therefore, making Instagram Shop a highly attractive avenue to get discovered, market and sell your product offerings.
Top tips to market your Instagram shop account
Using effective hashtags & CTA’s
On any post on Instagram, it is recommended to use relevant hashtags to increase your visibility in the Explore page and the platforms very own search engine.
This can result in increased engagement, which can strengthen your brand’s social media engagement through likes, shares, comments and hopefully lead to new purchases.
A good rule of thumb to follow for hashtags for Instagram Shop:
Use your company name for branded hashtags
Use specific hashtags
Make sure your profile is on public
Don’t over complicate it with too many words
Complimentary to hashtags, using a Call To Action is crucial to turn interest into… well, action.
It is a great strategy to drive traffic, increase sales and improve conversion rates.
Simple CTA’s like “Tap to buy” or “Share with a friend” or “Swipe up to buy” are easy ways to get started to drive the number of clicks and lead to purchases.
Collaborate with an influencer
Depending on the size of your brand, you can work with micro influencers if your business is just getting started or influencers with a large following if your business is well established.
Influencers are ideal candidates to promote your products or brand, due to the fact that they have high engagement rates.
What this means is that they possess the ability to turn interest into sales much faster and easier than traditional marketing methods.
Consumers today have transitioned their buying behavioural habits and influencers have been a large force in this shift. More and more consumers tend to trust the recommendations given by influencers and will be more inclined to make a purchase.
It is highly important to consider if a particular person is the right fit for your brand and if they have authentic followers (I.E not bot accounts), which is why working with a reputatable Influencer Marketing agency such as ITP Live is recommended in order to ensure the influencer is highly vetted.
Carry out an ad campaign
Another measure you can take to effectively market your Instagram Shop account, is to run an ad campaign.
As per Instagram:
Ads with product tags allow you to maximize the reach of your products by boosting shoppable posts or creating the ad from scratch in Ads Manager for more creative flexibility.
Ads with product tags are essential because you keep that consumer to stay within the app, when exploring your product to then lead to an in-app purchase.
Ads that contain product tags will direct users directly to a product detail page to learn more. From there, people can go to your website to purchase (eliminating the need to explore substitutes online).
Hollister ran an ad campaign on Instagram, they sought to see how effective it would be to show these shoppable ads to the newly available Shopping Lookalike Audiences.
The results depicted that they witnessed:
- 32% higher click-through rate
- 47% lower cost per click
- Over 90% increase in traffic
Focus on cohessive branding
The final takeaway from this article is that there must be consistent branding of your business across social media to successfully marketing your Instagram Shop account.
The aesthetic of your Instagram posts should be consistent with the visuals shared by your brand on the website and other social media platforms.
Finding your brand voice and delivering this to your audience will allow you to stand out against competition and remain imprinted in the minds of consumers.
Take a look at our article here on why establishing brand consistency is the key to success for any business and find ways that you can bring this concept to fruition.
Do you have any tips for those starting out on Instagram Shop? We’d love to hear your advice on Twitter @itpliveme.
