Ecommerce retailers invest extensively in enhancing the user experience and design of their online store or website to generate sales. They include cues and content that motivate customers to make purchase decisions more easily.
However, you should know that simply focusing on a single channel for sales generation is not enough, especially if you are just starting an online business. Brands must leverage social media platforms to boost sales strategies, and Instagram is a great platform for that. The social media platform offers several robust features to help you generate more engagement and sales.
Let’s look into what Instagram Shopping is, how to sell on Instagram and even understand how to sell on Instagram without a website.
Understanding Instagram Shopping and How to Sell on Instagram
If you are an eCommerce retailer looking to fully leverage the potential of your target audience, you must consider integrating Instagram Shopping into your strategy. Instagram Shopping refers to a set of features that let people shop for products based on the product videos and images on the Instagram app.
When working out how to sell on Instagram shop, you can empower your profile on the app to start making money for you. You can create a store on your profile, and tag some of your best products online in posts and reels so that customers can directly browse and purchase them.
Some of the primary features of Instagram Shopping are:
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Checkout: Instagram shopping lets users purchase products without leaving Instagram, instead of getting redirected to the website.
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Shopping Tags: You can add shopping tags to your reels, stories, and posts that can direct potential customers to your website
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Storefront: You can create product pages and collections, as well as seamlessly share your brand story on Instagram, just as you would on your online store.
While you may be already using Instagram for your marketing campaigns, you can also utilise the platform in other ways and even capitalise on it to boost your sales and communicate your brand story effectively. If you are wondering how to sell on Instagram for free, the good news is that it is actually free until you decide to run paid ads on the platform.
How to Set Up Instagram Shopping?
If your online store or dropshipping platform qualifies for selling products on social media platforms, Instagram is the perfect place to start. We will now look at the actionable part of setting up and leveraging Instagram Shopping, but for now, let us start with some of the basics that you must get right.
Assuming that you have already set up an Instagram account for your business, you must start by creating a powerful yet clear bio for your profile. Your bio will help you connect with potential followers and help them understand what to expect from your brand profile, so it is good to work harder on these aspects.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when writing your Instagram profile bio:
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Provide a short and clear description of your brand and store
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Keep the length concise, and words clear in the description
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Include a CTA button to an Instagram-specific landing page or your store
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Highlight key information by making it more attractive with a quirky tone or emojis
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Include a branded hashtag in all your posts so you can curate images and videos
Once you have your business profile and bio ready to go, there are a couple more steps to ensure you set up your Instagram Shopping feature effectively. That said, here is what you need to do:
1. Adding or Syncing Product Catalogue
Once your profile is all set and ready to go, you can start adding trending products to your store. You can either integrate your catalogue into your website CMS platform or go about it manually. Here are the processes associated with both approaches:
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Create Product Catalogue Manually: Create a Commerce Manager account to upload your product catalogue manually, customise your shop and create product collections. Create an eCommerce catalogue by clicking “Add Catalog”, and selecting “Upload Product Info” to add information about each product.
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Sync Your Product Catalogue: You can also sync your product catalogues with your online store to eliminate the extra hassle, by learning how to sell on Instagram and Facebook apps and connecting your accounts on both the platforms.
2. How to Sell on an Instagram Account?
Once you have created your Instagram business account, and added your entire product catalogue on the platform, you can go ahead, and enable Instagram Shopping. That said, here are the steps associated with this process:
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Navigate to your Instagram profile settings
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Tap Business, then tap on Set Up Instagram Shopping link at the bottom
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Finally, connect your profile with your product catalogue
Once you carry out these steps, you can start promoting your shop actively and tagging products in your posts. Once done, you can then move on to creating and running Instagram Shopping ads.
When creating an effective Instagram Shop, you must also follow the Commerce Eligibility Requirements. This may include:
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The Instagram Shop must comply with the Community Standards and Guidelines, Terms of Service, and Commercial Terms
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Mention and verify the domain of your online store and ensure linking to product listings
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Instagram Shop is currently available only for physical goods, and not services.
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Have a business account and link it to your business account on Facebook
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Demonstrate credibility and accuracy by following the brand's best practices
6 Powerful Tips To Boost Your Sales With Instagram Shopping
Now that we have looked at the process to follow when setting up your Instagram Shop and product catalogue, let us look at some useful tips you can follow to boost sales on the platform. When done right, social media selling can help you maximise your revenue and customer base significantly.
1. Leverage Influencer Marketing
Gone are the days when social media influencers were considered inferior to YouTube or celebrity influencers. Today, Instagram influencers if aligned with your brand can take up the role of ambassadors and help you rake in more sales through their reach and engagement on the platform. Not only this, but they can help you boost your online visibility too.
When selling through Instagram Shopping features, businesses can leverage social media influencers to promote their products and generate immediate sales. While TikTok is a pretty solid sales-generating platform too, Instagram tends to bring more sales through influencer activity.
Plus, nano-influencers and micro-influencers on Instagram tend to get more engagement than some of the celebrity influencers out there. The best results are generated by influencers interested in your product offering and can translate their excitement to their followers.
2. Design and Publish Creative Reels
Most people browsing Instagram today, ignore everything other than reels on the platform. Reels are great for communicating an important product or business idea to customers in 60 seconds or less. What’s more, Instagram offers plenty of options and features like AR filters, background music, and overlays that help you get creative with your reels. Also, look into how to sell on Instagram live to fully leverage the feature.
Reels are great marketing tools because they appear on the Explore page and are visible to everyone on Instagram who shares similar interests. You can also tag the products featured in those reels and let customers purchase them directly on the platform.
3. Create and Promote User-Generated Content
The best way to generate more sales is to showcase the satisfaction of customers who have purchased products from your brand before. Encourage customers to post about their purchasing and user experience with your brand, on social media platforms and tag you in their posts.
While building a solid presence on social media requires you to post quality content consistently, leveraging UGC can help you diffuse some of the pressure. You can take advantage of Instagram Shopping features to showcase UGC and drive more product sales. Since social media platforms like Instagram allow you to engage with your audience on a deeper level, obtaining UGC from them is even easier and more beneficial.
4. Utilise the Right Hashtags
Wondering how to sell on Instagram posts?
Instagram hashtags are underrated in the fact that they play a crucial role in making your brand and posts more discoverable. The more people your shoppable content reaches, the higher your sales revenue from the platform. Hashtags also impact how the Instagram algorithm treats your profile and posts, as they provide hints about the content of your post.
The right hashtags will ensure your posts are displayed and discoverable to users who share similar interests and are potential buyers. To balance things, insert hashtags in your informative posts and your shoppable posts so that they are visible to the right people.
5. Use Instagram Stories for Sales
Instagram Stories are a great way to interact and engage with your audience, compared to any other content format on the platform. Learn how to sell on Instagram stories by leveraging visual storytelling and showcasing your products in a positive light. You can add shoppable stickers and swipe-up links to help users engage with your brand and shop right from the story.
Come up with creative ideas like BTS videos showing your products in use, or their manufacturing processes. These are great ways to generate sales from these stories and engage with your audience by utilising exclusivity and urgency to trigger their FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and excitement.
6. Provide Plenty of Links to Bio
Let us also look at how to sell on Instagram with a website, shall we?
Shoppable posts make it quite easy for businesses to target the right customers on the platform and generate more sales on Instagram. In some cases, customers might want to get more information about the product or brand before making a purchase decision. Provide the right links in your bio so that customers can get access to your website and product pages before purchasing.
Remember, you can only add one link in the bio, but you can use the Linktree app to catalogue all the essential links you want to highlight and showcase to potential customers. All you have to do is create a landing page on the app and paste the link to it in your bio.
Concluding Remarks
Over the years, Instagram has evolved into being much more than a social media platform or a marketing tool for businesses. When used right, the platform can double up as a storefront for you to maximise sales. That said, you must set up your Instagram Shopping account right, and utilise some of the aforementioned tips to make the most of it.
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