If you want to set your ecommerce business on the road to success from the very start then Instagram marketing is a great place to start and these 4 secrets are often missed.
People love Instagram and so do business owners and entrepreneurs alike.
More than 1 billion accounts are active on a monthly basis and more than 500 million accounts use the app every day.
Out of all of the accounts on Instagram around 80% of them follow a business, which means that the platform has become a highly useful tool for businesses, especially for ecommerce brands that have just been launched.
Whether you are a small business or a multinational conglomerate, business owners can use Instagram to promote their business and products with possibly high returns.
With new features such as product tagging, IGTV and @shop, new and established ecommerce brands have more ways than ever before to convert their followers into lifelong customers.
But to be able to do this, you need to have a strategy that will help you to make sales on the platform.
Here are four tips that will help new ecommerce stores to make the most of their Instagram marketing.
1. Find the Instagram Feature That Works Best for You
Most people are only under the impression that the Instagram is only used for publishing and liking photos.
However, if you are a business the platform offers a huge range of features and tools that can help you to market your products and services to your target audience.
You can try out the different features and choose the ones that work the best for you and your products.
For example, Instagram Stories is a great place to promote your products or services.
Unlike the other features that let you create creative content on Instagram such as boomerang, superzoom and rewind, Instagram Stories only have a lifespan of 24 hours after which time they disappear. This makes it a great way of piquing the interest of your target audience especially if you have a new product, an upcoming event or want to build a sense of urgency for a limited period offer.
To make the most of this you will need to post stories when your followers are most active to generate instant engagement.
2. Get Creative
Instagram doesn’t let you use text only posts. Because of this Instagram is flooded with hundreds of thousands of images and videos every day. If your content lacks creativity or isn’t unique then it is likely to get lost in the crowd.
Luckily, Instagram offers plenty of features that will help you create snappy and eye-catching content that will help you to stand out.
Ben & Jerry’s might be famous for creating unique ice creams, but the brand is also admired for its playful witty and creative imagery that is used in its marketing on Instagram.
Whether it is a spinning wheel of ice cream toppings or showcasing their products in a mathematical equation. Ben & Jerry’s is sure to never let you down when it comes to creative and entertaining content.
The best part is that users will often share the content with their friends and family. This simple strategy helps to generate authentic and free reach for your brand across multiple social media channels.
Remember the more creative your content is the more likely your followers are to engage with your brand on Instagram.
3. Encourage User-Generated Content (UGC)
User-generated content helps to lend authenticity to your brand on Instagram, it helps to increase user engagement and sales conversions further. It also helps to make your brand look more human and people friendly.
Almost 80% of people say that user generated content highly impacts their purchasing decisions. Consumers are also 2.4X more likely to say user-generated content is authentic compared to brand-created content.
You can use this in many ways. You can run online contests or ask users to share product reviews or rope in your influential customers (those with significant numbers of followers) as your brand ambassadors.
Gymshark, a sportswear company which focusses on gym apparel, regularly uses the images shared by its followers and customers in its promotions. This has resulted in huge follower growth and its customers buy because they see real life people rather than idealistic models in the clothing.
4. Use the Right #Hashtags
You can be producing the best content in the world from the outset, but if no one can see it then it is pointless.
That’s where hashtags come in.
Without choosing the right hashtags, it is very difficult to promote your brand on Instagram. Hashtags are the keywords that your target audience will search to find the information that they want, and to expand what they see within their feed.
For example, a classic car enthusiast will probably start going through the content with the following hashtags.
#instacar #classiccars #OhSoRetro #classiccarsdaily #car #carofinstagram #classicsunited #retrocars #wheelwednesday #sss #tailendtuesday
In an Instagram post you can use up to 30 hashtags. But first you need to find relevant hashtags that will help you to reach your target audience.
You can start your hashtag research by find out the hashtags that your competitors use. That will give you a good start which will then let you find out what hashtags your target audience are also using.
You should also have a branded hashtag that will help to distinguish your brand on Instagram from your competitors. This needs to be simple and easy to remember that will help you capture the attention of your target audience. Make sure that you use it in every post.
You can use the Instagram search engine to find the relevant hashtags. However, you can also use online tools like Tailwind’s Hashtag finder, Hashtagify, All Hashtag, and #HashMe to find the relevant hashtags.
Parting Words
Instagram is one of the best and quickest ways to promote your new ecommerce site.
It is much easier to make an emotional connection with your target audience on Instagram through high-quality images, videos, and other visuals.
Hopefully, these tips will help you set up your Instagram marketing for success from the beginning.
