It is 2022. Instagram is one of the biggest raves of the time. If you are a vendor or entrepreneur, Instagram might just be the goldmine you have been standing on. With good knowledge about how to sell products on Instagram, you can hit your business's next huge sales target.
Just how popular is Instagram anyway?
Statista says Instagram has the 4th highest number of monthly active users. Every month, 1 billion people actively use Instagram. Yet, that number is expected to increase to 1.5 billion in 2023. Even more interesting, about 71% of its users are 35 years of age and below. This age bracket is easily the most marketable for most kinds of products. That is why businesses are included in the Instagram fever as well.
Presently, there are over 200 million business accounts on Instagram, according to earthweb. In 2019 alone, the platform generated a whopping $20 billion from business ads, as Bloomberg reports. Also, about 80% of Instagram users follow business accounts. This shows that many people actually advertise and buy on Instagram. In other words, the platform has become a platform for online marketing.
With these facts, it is clear that business owners need to learn how to sell on Instagram. Thankfully, the platform allows businesses from diverse niches to sell. This means there is a high chance of you earning big from Instagram, whether you sell tech accessories, real estate, or cheap wigs. Before we answer the question 'how do you sell on Instagram?' let's see some benefits of Instagram you should explore.
Why You Must Sell On Instagram as a Business Owner
Image taken from Strikingly User
1. Niche Targeting
2. Automated Buying Process
3. Allows Visual Product Showcase
4. Easy Brand Recognition
5. Increase Website Traffic
6. Wider Marketing Options
1. Niche Targeting
Whatever product or service you offer, there is a specific set of people that need it. They are called your niche market. You must therefore target this set of people when you are marketing yourself. Let's imagine this for a second. Say you sell iPhone accessories (like earpods, chargers, and cables). Amelia and Tim are Instagram users within your reach. Amelia uses an iPhone. Tim, a Samsung phone. Which of them do you think will buy from you? Naturally, it will be Amelia.
Instagram allows you to target people like Amelia, who are already looking for what you offer. This makes Instagram selling easier and more effective than traditional selling. You will generate stronger leads (people who are likely to buy) and increase your chances of high conversion rates (people who buy).
Learn more about niche targeting on this Strikingly blog post.
2. Automated Buying Process
Nowadays, people have very short attention spans. If your customer has to go through a long or complicated process to buy what you sell, they will likely abandon the product halfway into the journey. No doubt, there will be other people who offer what you sell, and your potential customers will likely opt for them. This is more so now that everyone runs an online business. Instagram selling gives you access to features that make buying easy and short for your customers.
For example, if you have built a customized eCommerce store with Strikingly, your customers can move from Instagram and place their orders straight on your website or landing page. See how we showcase our new template updates on our Strikingly Instagram page. Meanwhile, you should absolutely check out these new landing page templates.
Image taken from Strikingly Instagram
3. Allows Visual Product Showcase
You probably already know that people are more attracted to pictures than words. This research from SageJournals confirms it. Thus, people are persuaded to buy better when they see what they are buying. Since it is a graphic-based platform, selling on Instagram allows you to capture your buyers’ attention with pictures and videos of your product. Naturally, this will amount to more sales than you would ordinarily have made if you did not display pictures.
4. Easy Brand Recognition
When you first glance at a product with a yellow and red logo on it, your mind already tells you that it is either a McDonalds, a DHL, or perhaps, Lego. On a closer look, you might find out that you were wrong. However, you thought so because your mind has been conditioned to recognize those logos. You saw them everywhere, so you were used to them. That is the function of proper branding. You can make your brand recognizable to your potential customers when you sell products on Instagram.
Even when you are not exactly selling, Instagram allows you to share stuff about your business brand. For example, you can share reels that tell your brand story, post pictures bearing your logo, or use a sound that is easy to identify with your business videos. The overall idea is that with time, people become used to your brand, so much so that they can easily identify it when they see it anywhere.
5. Increase Website Traffic
You can link your website or eCommerce store to your Instagram business account. Usually, when you run an eCommerce store, you want your customers to move directly from Instagram to your landing page. That way, your website gains more traffic. In turn, the Search Engine will rank your website better since it has more visitors. You can read better about Search Engine Optimization in this article by Strikingly.
6. Wider Marketing Options
You can sell products on Instagram in many different ways. You could leverage influencer marketing to advertise that next big event you have. Or run paid ads for that new batch of products you just brought in. If you already have a large following, you could make crazy sales by showing your product to your followers through reels or regular posts. This is called organic selling. Use two or more of these methods for each product or service you offer for maximum results.
How To Sell Anything On Instagram - An In-depth Guide
By now, you already know that selling through Instagram is pretty easy. With the right knowledge and the correct application, you can sell almost anything. You just have to make sure it complies with the community rules. Here are simple processes you should follow to sell products on Instagram.
1. Create a Business Account
2. Set Up Your Account
3. Create a Catalog
4. Use Build Ups
5. Run Paid Ads
6. Maximize Product tags
7. Use Influencer Marketing
8. Leverage Livestreams
1. Create a Business Account
You can sell through a personal account, especially if you already have a good number of organic followers. However, a business account offers you a lot of features that your personal account does not. An example is your product catalog. You will easily sell products on Instagram if potential customers have a place to check out your products by themselves. This and many more are the benefits of a business account. Remember, you can keep your personal account as well. It is best to build both accounts side-by-side. Besides, it is easier to transition to a business account when you already have an active personal account.
2. Set Up Your Business Account
After you create your account, make it look good. Start from your username. It is that name that begins with an ‘@’. You want to use a username that is short, easy to pronounce, and reflects your brand identity. Then, make sure to use your logo as your profile picture, if you have one. Again, you are better off getting one that reflects your brand. You can make one yourself or hire a professional graphics designer. Check out this Strikingly blog on how to create a good business logo. Don't forget to customize your images with your logo, even if they are not ad images. Look at the image below. Can you see our logo at the bottom of the picture?
Image taken from Strikingly Instagram
Next, find other brands in your niche or related niches and follow them. They do not have to be so many. It is best to keep your followership as a business page restricted to your competitors.
3. Create a Catalog
Remember that your customers need to see what they are buying. Besides, Instagram is so uniquely picture-oriented that text posts hardly get much traction. So if you must sell products on Instagram, you need to create a picture-based catalog. Your product pictures must be clear. Your best option is to hire a professional photographer. You don’t want low-quality pictures to hide the amazing features of your product that you want your customers to see. Otherwise, get a phone with a really good camera.
4. Use Build Up Posts
Selling on Instagram is easy, but it requires you to be proactive. The best marketers would tell you that your marketing efforts will get more results if you use a little bit of suspense. Before you are ready to sell, take some time to tell your followers about the amazing offer you have in the works for them. Tell them how you cannot wait for them to see it. Share some of the never-seen-before benefits, features, or pricing you are about to hit them with. You can even give a pre-order option. That way, your market is already anticipating your product before it starts selling.
Image taken from Strikingly product
5. Run Paid Ads
Paid ads give you a wider reach in a shorter time. You simply pay Instagram some money, and they help you put your products before the likeliest people to buy from you. Again, it is best to hire a professional for your paid ads. If you, however, choose to do it yourself, then you should know about A/B testing. It is running a couple of test ads with very little money. Each of the ads has different content from the others (it could be the ad flier or the ad copy). You watch the performance of each ad for about two weeks. After the testing period, you pull down the rest and focus on the highest-performing ones. That way, you maximize your marketing budget when you sell products on Instagram.
6. Maximize Product Tags
Product tags help your customers find your products with just a search. Hence, your tag must describe what your product is about. Of course, keep it short and sweet. Say you sell leather office bags for men. When you post a picture of your office bag, your tag should be something like ‘men’s office bag’ or ‘men’s leather office bag’.
7. Use Influencer Marketing
Many vendors who sell products on Instagram use this method. The Influencer has a large following. You pay them to advertise your product to their audience. Although it can be quite expensive, influencer marketing is one way to get fast results. As a small or medium business, you can go for micro-influencers. You will also get the best results if you find an influencer who already creates content related to your niche or another similar niche.
8. Leverage Livestreams
Another way to sell products on Instagram is through live streams. Take that your new product, and go live with it. Tell your audience about its benefits and sell directly to them on the live stream. It gives them the feeling that they are directly interacting with you, increasing their trust in you. As the saying goes, people buy from people they trust.
Now that you know how to sell products on Instagram, go ahead and smash those sales goals. You need some patience and consistency in your entrepreneurship journey. It's the same with selling on Instagram. Therefore, keep showing up, even if you do not start getting results immediately. Also, be proactive. Set up your website or eCommerce platform before selling so your customers can easily reach you.
You can get a free eCommerce website with amazing online selling features on Strikingly. A Strikingly website lets you redirect your audience from your Instagram account, posts and ads to your eCommerce store. That way, your customers can directly patronize you from your website. You will also get more website traffic, which means a better chance of getting found by your prospective customers. With a Strikingly website, it's a win-win situation for you.
