Instagram remains one of the fastest growing social networks for mobile business sales. According to an article on Hootsuite, there are 1 billion active users each month. 500 million people use the Stories feature each day. The potential to reach people through advertising is especially high at 849.3 million users.
While people come to Facebook to connect with friends and discover things from people they know, people turn to Instagram for visual inspiration and to discover brands and ideas through visual content. This provides businesses the opportunity to connect with people where they’re open to learning about new things.
By taking advantage of both platforms, you can increase your exposure and improve conversions. You will have the potential to be seen by a growing number of mobile users. This huge audience searches and makes purchases from their devices. Certainly, most at least begin their buying journey online.
Why Can Instagram Help You To Increase Your Sales?
According to Adweek:
“Instagram provides access to a very large, very engaged audience. The fact that you can use the same rich Facebook targeting criteria on Instagram will make it massively effective for advertisers looking to get their products or services in front of exactly the right people at the right time.”
Take a look at these mobile sales statistics from OuterBox:
- 62% of people made a purchase using their mobile device in the last 6 months
- 10% of eCommerce retail value comes from mobile
- 80% of people will use their mobile device to find information on a product or service rather than visiting a store
Since 2016 when free business accounts were launched, prospects are now able to find your website more easily, contact your business, and make a purchase right from their smartphone or tablet.
You may also want to read: Does Instagram Have a Place in B2B? Yes, and Here’s How
Here are a few steps you can take in order to increase your brand reach and sales:
1. Sponsored Posts
In addition to organic posts, you can promote your business directly from Facebook Ads Manager or inside your Instagram account. These are labeled as a sponsored post and blend in well for high visibility and can include a CTA or call to action. As the mobile platform adds more features such as the use of targeted hashtags, enhanced photo filters, audience targeting, etc., your business has the potential to reach a more targeted audience who are ready to make a purchase.
2. Affiliate Links and Sponsors
Once you have established a credible brand, this provides an opportunity to tag and promote other leaders in your industry. For a nominal fee, you can create content that drives visitors to their profiles and helps generate more publicity for what they are offering. Typically, you can charge between $200 and $400, depending on your number of followers, engagement, the type of influencer, etc.
Blogs are still a good way to generate recurring income by mentioning other brand products or services. This has been widely used on Instagram profiles as well with a lot of success from high-level accounts who have a large number of followers. In order to be successful, you should have a niche that is relevant to what you are posting about, include the right hashtags, and include geo-location of where someone can find what you are mentioning. Here’s a great example of this from travel writer, Ann Tran:
3. Shopping From Posts
Just about anything you sell from your website can be sold right from your Instagram posts. If you have created a sales page specifically for these be sure to include this in your profile as well as in the comments section. For business accounts, users can make a purchase with their shoppable posts feature where users can see a price just by hovering over something on an image (available in limited release) or by offering a clear call to action in an image.
In Closing
As Instagram continues to expand its platform, brands and businesses can benefit from additional selling features. These will not only increase exposure beyond Facebook, but allow campaigns to become more profitable. Your content is available to thousands of desktop and mobile users, which also provides an increase in traffic to your website or sales page.
You may also want to read: How To Use The Right Hashtags For Your Instagram Marketing
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Susan Gilbert
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