How to Sell on Instagram in 2023: Step by Step Guide for Beginners – On Instagram, people are looking for inspiration and new ideas by allowing themselves to be convinced by photos, videos and stories. By doing so, they also discover new designs, products and new trends . With a modern and trendy profile, companies are able to reach the desired target on Instagram. Starting from a similar base, it is also possible to sell your products profitably. In particular, social media is a very appropriate channel for Sell trendy physical and digital products. But what possibilities do companies have to increase their sales through Instagram?
Excellent predictions and good sales results on Instagram
Social media has enormous coverage and for this reason it fits well into the marketing mix strategy. The trend shows no signs of abating in the future either: according to the eMarketer.com website, in 2021 over three billion people will use a social network on their mobile device at least once a month, which represents gigantic potential for marketing. Today, social media already reaches well over 70 percent of all Internet users worldwide and the phenomenon is growing steadily.
What other arguments are there in favor of Sell on Instagram?
Regardless of the predictions and the usual considerations regarding inspiration and popularity, other figures also point clearly in favor of Instagram and other social channels. Instagram alone has now reached over a billion users . According to the provider, around 60 percent of all users discover new products directly on the platform today. In addition, more than 200 million Instagram users visit at least one company profile every day.
Thus the so-called brand engagement on Instagram is much higher than on Facebook or WhatsApp, the other offers of the Facebook corporate group. However, certain targets are reached better on Facebook than on Instagram. Based on the product or service offered, one should therefore also think about Sell on Facebook.
Instagram Stories are the key to Instagram success. According to the service itself, stories increase the time users spend watching videos by 80 percent. A surprising but comforting fact is that in reality almost a third of the most viewed stories are those created by companies and not by influencers or private users.Advise
Instagram is just one platform among many to integrate into your marketing mix. Other networks like Facebook or Pinterest also offer good possibilities. So social media advertising, social Sell and social commerce are interrelated.
How to Sell on Instagram: Step by step guide for beginners
The basis for a successful transaction on Instagram is an eye-catching and likeable company profile , which almost becomes your own website on Instagram. The more you can get a behind-the-scenes look, the more actions you can take, the more people show interest, the better. Obviously the products also appear, but they are inserted organically in the Instagram feed and stories.
An eye-catching business profile on the photo platform
These three elements must never be missing in an Instagram business profile:
- A profile photo or logo appropriate to your target . The graphics should be easily recognizable and suited to the presentation of your brand on the site and in the online store.
- An Optimized Biography . The art consists in capturing the attention of one’s target with emotions and content, using a few words.
- A direct link to the online store or site . Again, Instagram reduces to the essentials, since it is possible to insert a single link. For this reason, the link should always work and be equipped with tracking in order to be able to evaluate how many visitors arrive on your site via Instagram.
Instagram Ads
Another possible step is Instagram Ads, which allow you to reach a wider audience without necessarily having to upload many images and videos. A paid Instagram ad appears to users on the feed by organically appearing there, but with the additional wording “Sponsored”.
Advertisements can be used to generate followers and increase the number of likes. But of course it is also possible to promote direct sales . To conclude a sale it is preferable to present the products in an attractive way and make them easily accessible; in this way you can count on a fast transaction and a short customer journey, starting from the Instagram ad passing to the product landing page up to the sale.
As with other popular advertising formats (e.g. Google Ads), Instagram Ads also allow for constant optimization. All useful data for optimization is made available via the business functions of the Instagram app .
Read Also: The Ultimate Guide to Setting Up an Instagram Shop in 2023
Insider tip: Instagram Stories with product links
In an even more direct way, it works with Instagram stories, which can each contain a link to the product. Stories are very popular among Instagram users. If the content is funny, stirs emotions, or is particularly informative, viewers will even watch the stories multiple times. Therefore Instagram Stories are also suitable for direct sales, especially for trending products, popular apps, games and for promotional offers (with or without promotion).
A positive secondary effect is that in this way it is possible to circumvent the well-known essentiality of Instagram as regards links, at least for the 24 hours of visibility made available. Each story can contain another external link to the online store or site.
With appropriately configured tracking and a link to the product used only once, the results of an Instagram story designed for sales can also be followed. The knowledge gained can be used for subsequent sales promotions. Constant optimization is the key to ongoing sales success, just like with Instagram Ads
Be successful Sell on Instagram? Marketing for social media and the web
Certain internet-savvy target groups , such as girls and boys aged 18 to 29, are often only reached via social channels, such as Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. Therefore, success in sales comes from and is achieved with a presence on these media. The site and the online store are important for the actual transaction, but visitors are increasingly coming from social media, and not necessarily from Google.
When Sell on Instagram, as on the platform in general, exclusivity and direct contact are much more at the center . Therefore it is recommended to always work on this social network with personalized content. For this reason it is worth optimizing them to the end. In fact, some Instagram ads are seen even a year or two later, precisely because they have achieved good results.
People’s attention can be drawn easily with images, because more than 90 percent of all the information that enters our brains is visual in nature. If movements or sounds are added to these, the message will remain even more impressed. Therefore videos work better than images and images better than texts. If you want to sell on Instagram, you can take advantage of this fact. Text plays a minor role on the platform.
To align with Instagram’s high visual standards, it can be helpful to partner with professional photographers and video producers , at least in the initial stage of a channel or marketing campaign. Later, when the company has sufficient skills in managing an Instagram profile, the stories, images and videos can be created independently, without having to resort to external experts anymore.
Greater reach through hashtags, keywords and influencers
For many companies, it is difficult to arrive at coverage that is broad enough and authentic enough on their own. Luckily there is, for practically every topic, at least one channel with followers, reach and content: it is the influencers. In influencer marketing, the company concerned and the channel of the influencer with considerable reach enter into a strategic, temporary or ongoing collaboration. These charismatic personalities use their communication to bring their followers closer to certain products and the brand that produces them. If the character of the influencer and the brand being promoted are similar, the sale will be easier.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is always recommended for companies with small marketing budgets . Anyone who is already profitable on Instagram and manages to make sales is also well positioned from an SEO point of view, since Instagram hashtags are ultimately similar to the search terms that are so well known in engine optimization of research. Both reflect user demand and interests. So much of what you know from search engine marketing can also be applied to social media.