Social media

How to Leverage Instagram to Boost Sales

tg3tg35g35Instagram has well over 600 million active users and its acquisition by Facebook has led to innovations that has rocketed it to becoming one of the leading social media networks on the planet. For businesses, there are plenty of ways of leveraging Instagram to boost sales. Here are some of the secrets of taking advantage of Instagram.

Use Instagram Stories

This is our number one tip because it’s also the most recent. Instagram Stories is a feature where users can post photos and videos that only last for 24 hours. Early signs from companies have been positive because studies have shown that Instagram Stories has increased the number of direct messages between users and businesses. There’s also strong data gathering possibilities for marketers.

How do you best take advantage of Instagram stories?

Create engaging content, but give people a reason not to miss each story. Remember that they only last for 24 hours so getting people to tune in daily can improve engagement and generate a buzz about your brand.

Create the Right Type of Content

We always talk about creating unique and original content. The problem is that this has become something of a generic term for what you should be doing on any platform. For Instagram, you need to create the right type of content.

First, Instagram users don’t respond to the hard sell. This is a more social playground and you need to be able to sell subtly. Next, you need to look at aesthetics. Instagram users want to see amazing images, so if you just produce what’s found anywhere else you’re going to come across as a used car salesperson. Think about style, different angles, and color coordination.

Finally, add a professional finishing touch to your photos. Make sure your images are shot with a good camera and edited afterwards. If you don’t have the time you should look at Instagram’s filters, but if you want to go the extra mile you may even consider professional photo editing programs like Adobe Lightroom.

This is how you get the attention of your target audience.

Grow Your Audience

Great content will attract followers, but it’s not enough on its own. Remember this is not about growing the quantity of followers but the quality of followers. You can buy Instagram likes, but your real focus must be on real, human buyers if you’re going to increase your revenue.

Growing your audience is about using relevant hashtags and including the content of your users on your own feed. But something else you can do that can expand your audience exponentially is to take advantage of brand ambassadors.

Brand ambassadors are figures in your industry with huge followings. Introduce yourself to these ambassadors through engaging with their content and getting in touch with them directly. In the long-term, forming collaborative working relationships with brand ambassadors can enable you to access a huge audience you wouldn’t have reached on your own.

Making the Sale – It’s Not About Selling

We touched upon the fact earlier that hard selling is not a good way of encouraging more sales via Instagram. But you still must sell. The key to doing this is to show the best side of your brand and allow users to naturally dig deeper into what you do.

That doesn’t mean you can’t insert interesting giveaways and contests every so often, but it does mean you need to be prepared to be in this for the long haul.

Selling on Instagram is not an overnight process. Once you master the art of engaging on Instagram, the sales will come. How are you going to increase your sales by using Instagram?

If you have any questions, please ask below!