How to Increase Sales on Instagram

Want to take your marketing strategies to the next level and grow your e-commerce business? If you’re looking for some practical ways to grow a profitable online store and improve your marketing tactic, you’ve come to the right place.

Out of 1 billion worldwide users, around 90% of Instagram users follow at least one business account on the platform. More than 200 million Instagram users visit a business profile every day. And one-third of the most-viewed Stories are from brands and businesses.

81% of users research products and services on the platform, while 83% discover new ones. This shows that Instagram is an excellent platform for both small and large-scale e-commerce businesses.

However, growing your e-commerce business through Instagram isn’t as easy as it looks. Even though Instagram offers much potential for marketing and conversions, e-commerce business owners still need to plan an innovative marketing strategy. If they play their cards right, they’ll be able to double their revenue in no time.

Let’s have a look at some powerful and effective ways to market your e-commerce store and increase your sales on Instagram.

Also Read: Best Sites for Social Media Marketing

1.      Optimize Your Profile and Bio

The first and foremost step is to switch your account to a business profile. It will open up many options, such as ads, shoppable posts, and insights.

The next step in optimizing your profile is to add a good profile picture. Either use your logo as your profile picture or upload an image related to your e-commerce store.

After that, write an interesting bio with the required information about what you do, and add your link. By doing so, people who visit your Instagram account will see a complete profile.

2.      Make Your Profile Searchable

Many people complain that they’ve been doing everything but still can’t get more followers and find potential customers. But we’re sure you’re missing out on this step. To make your profile discoverable, you have to write about your business in the name section. Sounds confusing? Let us explain.

Let’s suppose you offer graphic designing services to people, and you’ve written graphic designer in place of your name. When people search for this phrase in the Instagram search bar, your profile is more likely to pop up. Isn’t it great?

Another way to make your posts and profile discoverable is by adding a location in your posts and bio. So that people living in your region or country can find your profile and avail of your services or purchase your products.

3.      Use Instagram Stories

You already know that one-third of the most-viewed stories come from businesses. If this isn’t enough, then we have more to tell you. Do you know that 500 million daily active users use Instagram stories? Around 86% of Instagrammers post stories and 70% of users watch them every day.

This shows that stories can be an essential part of your marketing strategy if you use them wisely. Use all the features that Instagram stories have to offer, including stickers, polls, questions, countdown, effects, and so on. Make appealing stories to grab more attention and attract more customers.

Apart from all the features, stories have another great benefit. If you have 10,000 or more Instagram followers, you can even embed a link to your story. It will help you get more traffic and boost your sales.

4.      Take Your Hashtag Strategy to the Next Level

Everyone knows that the key to expanding your reach on Instagram is using hashtags. But no one knows how to use them wisely to get the desired results. Here are some tips to improve your hashtag tactic.

• Use trending but only relevant hashtags.
• Don’t use way too popular hashtags, or else your post will disappear on that page. Prevent using hashtags that are used in millions of posts.
• Avoid using banned hashtags.
• Don’t repeat the same hashtags in every post. It might cause a shadowban.
• Instagram allows thirty hashtags per post. But adding thirty every time is unnecessary as it will make your post look like spam. Only use ten or eleven hashtags for each post.

Also Read: Instagram Tricks and Features You Probably Didn’t Know About

5.      Share User-Generated Content

Sharing content created by your users work like a charm. You can showcase your customers using your product through these posts. Many brands that featured their customers using their products have seen increased sales and higher conversion rates.

Let’s imagine you own a clothing brand. Lots of people wear your clothes and share pictures, using your hashtag or tagging you. When you repost UGC on your feed or stories, it will lead to positive sentiment. It will give people an idea of how your clothes will look when they wear them.

6.      Pay Attention to Instagram Analytics

How often do you review your analytics? If you don’t check them regularly, you’re making a mistake. This in-app analytics option will give you all the important data you need.

It will show you the essential demographics of your audience through which you can get to understand them better. You’ll also be able to see your top posts, which will give an idea of what interests your viewers the most.

Besides that, the most important thing it shows is the time when most of your followers are active. You can plan your posts accordingly and post at that time to boost your engagement.

7.      Share Better Photos of Your Product

Do we need to emphasize the importance of sharing high-quality content? You already know that brands that share unique and creative content are the most successful ones. Since Instagram is a visual platform, you also need to step up your content game.

For e-commerce businesses on this platform, sharing a clear and good photo of your product is everything. The sales you drive mostly depend on the quality of your content.

(Pro tip: Try to show your products in action.) If your content displays the product nicely, you will convince more people to purchase it.

8.      Contests, Discounts, and Giveaways

One of the best ways to connect with your audience and develop trust is to reward them. It can be anything, a 50% off sale, a hashtag contest with a prize, or a giveaway. Besides rewarding your customers, your visibility will also increase with these strategies, resulting in more sales. As long as you make your customers happy, nothing can stop your e-commerce business from growing.

Giving limited-time promotional and seasonal offers will also make a difference. People are more likely to buy stuff from a sale rather than getting it at its original price. Especially when the time is limited, they will most probably buy it.

9.      Tag Products in Your Posts

The most incredible feature that Instagram offers for e-commerce businesses is shoppable posts. It allows you to provide a clear call-to-action. You can now tag your products in your posts, making it easier for your customers to find and buy them.

By using this feature, you can make it effortless for consumers to purchase your products. Just by one click, they can easily get to your product. In our opinion, tagging products in your posts is the game-changer.

10. Work With Influencers

Many marketers claimed that collaborating with influencers helped them increase their popularity and sales. Especially in 2020, where businesses choose influencers over celebrities to promote their brand, influencer marketing is skyrocketing.

Influencers are those people who have social influence and an expert level of knowledge in their field. They have a vast number of followers. If they share a positive review of your product, their followers are more likely to reach out to you to purchase the product.

However, you can even pay that influencer to promote your brand and for sponsored posts, which will also increase your sales.

11. Use Instagram Ads

There isn’t a better way to reach higher audiences than promoting your business through ads. Instagram ads serve as an excellent tool for brands, businesses, and marketers. Running ads allow you to get noticed by your target audience.

These ads allow you to reach and target people according to location, demographics, and interests. Isn’t that amazing? You can now get the most engaged audience who’ll be interested in your brand and purchasing your products.

12. Engage and Interact

Engagement is the key! To boost engagement on your posts, drive traffic to your website, and increase sales, you need to interact with your followers. Connect with your audience, develop trust, and build a strong relationship with them.

Run contests, ask questions, respond to their DMs, reply to their comments, do story takeovers, invite your audience in your live-session, and feature your customers on your profile. Do whatever it takes to encourage engagement. So there you have it! Twelve ways on how to market your e-commerce business and drive sales! We hope this guide helped you. Do you have any other effective ideas for marketing? Comment them down and share them with us. We’d love to hear them.

About the Author:

Hamna is a freelance content writer and lifelong learner with an ongoing curiosity to learn new things. She is good at research and deepens her understanding of a topic or issue. By developing all sorts of great content, she provides great value to her clients.
Hamna is fascinated by traveling and loves going on adventures. She is also a skilled makeup artist with her Instagram feed full of colorful and edgy makeup looks.