No matter what your business is, there is no doubt you crave increased sales and revenue. Seeking out alternative ways to promote your product, you need to hang out where your audience is. Thus, it’s no wonder most companies (71%) use social media marketing to achieve their business goals.

With over 800 million monthly active users, Instagram has become a must-have marketing tool for business owners. More and more businesses are trying their hand with Instagram marketing, and 37.6% of marketers plan to start using the platform in the near future.

However, just a few of them know how to grow their businesses with the help of Instagram marketing. Posting on your Instagram account isn’t enough to convert followers into customers. You need to keep an eye on current trends to get maximum results.

So, what is the point? Understand what Instagrammers love and give it to them.

Talking about modern Instagram trends, ephemeral content is on the rise. Ephemeral content is any content available for a certain period. Feeling the fear of missing out (FOMO), users spend more time watching Instagram Stories, and the audience hit 300 million daily active users.

As it disappears within 24 hours, most marketers don’t want to take it up as it seems to be a waste of time and efforts.

But:

You can turn Instagram followers into customers with ephemeral content… if you know how to make the most out of Instagram Stories.

What Makes a Good Instagram Story?

Instagram Stories allow marketers to stay in touch with your followers without clogging the main feed up with content. Your Instagram Story content doesn’t need to be perfect. But you should stay creative to catch and hold your audience’s attention.

A good Instagram Story is:

• Well-designed
• Useful
• Engaging

If you’re looking for more ways to engage your audience and boost sales, Instagram Stories can benefit your company.

Types of Instagram Stories that Sell

Good news: you don’t need to show off your product from different angles and run Instagram ads to make your followers want to buy it.

As Rand Fishkin said:

“Best way to sell something – don’t sell anything. Earn the awareness, respect, and trust of those who might buy”.

There are several types of Instagram Stories that help to gain followers’ trust and build your brand awareness, and therefore it leads to sales. Let’s take a look:

Product Launch

If you’re launching a new product or service, that’s great. It means your brand continues to evolve, offering something new to customers.

But:

If your potential customers don’t know about a new product, launching something is a waste of time and effort.

If you want to cause a buzz around your new product, using Instagram Stories to reveal your launch is a perfect place to generate followers’ excitement.

Let’s take JackThreads, for example. Once they have launched new patch tees, they use stop-motion feature to inform their followers about a new feature.

The promotion of a new product doesn’t have to be boring. So using engaging Instagram Stories features is a proven way to introduce the launch and attract potential buyers.

Q&A

No matter what your product is, it’s you who knows its features from A to Z to present their benefits accurately. You’re an expert in the niche. And your customers may have questions about your product before they make the final decision to buy it.

Hosting Q&A sessions is a great way to add the human touch to your brand and convert followers into customers.

How? Here’s a great example:

BaliBody predicted questions their customers may want to ask about their product. And they created an FAQ to make it easier for their potential buyers to get a reply fast:

Users want to know more about the product before buying it. So organizing Q&A sessions helps people to understand more about the company, its values, and products. Listen to your followers and give them what they need.

NB: The Instagram team is working on introducing a new Q&A sticker option, so brands will be able to get their followers’ feedback to improve their product and services.

Sales

Did you know that holiday purchases make up 25-40% of a retailer’s annual sales? And whereas B2B sales may not receive quite the same boost, it behooves them to be aware of when people are more likely to spend.

It’s in human’s nature to crave for good deals. So when people see an offer, they start making emotional purchase decisions.

Thus, most marketers know that sales attract customers’ attention. And if you want to unlock your sales potential, you need to ensure that followers see your offer. In order not to get buried in the Instagram feed, you need to beat the Instagram algorithm. Thus, use Instagram Stories to inform customers about the sale. As Stories appear in a separate feed, it’s more likely your customers won’t miss the offer.

Here’s this strategy in action by Lulus. Once they put items on sale, they inform their followers and add a clickable link to make it easier for interested Instagrammers to learn more about the product:

If you want to drive more sales, you can also offer a deal or discount to your followers. People seek out ways to save money, and when you help them do it – you increase sales and gain their trust.

Very useful article: How To Add a Link To An Instagram Story – 7 Inventive Ways

Bonus Tips

If you’re ready to improve your Instagram Story strategy to boost sales, pay attention to the list of bonus tips:

1. Include Links

Instagram keeps on revealing marketing tools to promote businesses. Including clickable links is one of the best ways to drive traffic to a website and boost sales. Instagram business accounts with 10k+ following can add links to their Stories. They appear at the bottom of the Story and followers can swipe up to visit the linked web page.

Many brands use this feature to make the purchase process easier. For example, UnderArmour shares Stories with an influencer to hint at how their clothes will look in action. They also include clickable links to allow their followers to find out more about an item they like.

If you have a small business and your following hasn’t reached 10k people, you can collaborate with influencers to enter their community and promote your product with their Stories.

The easier the purchase process is, the more people will make spontaneous purchase decisions.

2. Use Instagram Stories Highlights

In December 2017, Instagram rolled out Instagram Stories Highlights. This allows people to keep their Stories available for more than 24 hours. Now people can group their Stories to create permanent collections, and therefore turn short-lived content into long-term content. Instagram Stories Highlights appears below the bio section, so it helps followers and visitors learn the most important information about your company without scrolling the feed.

Businesses can use highlights for a variety of reasons. And one of the best options is to show off their new products.

For example, Lululemon adds new products to their Stories to group them into Highlights. It allows visitors to find out more about new items.

Many marketers don’t use ephemeral content as they believe it’s just a waste of time and efforts. With Stories Highlights, it’s getting easier to save your best Stories and use them to achieve your marketing goals.

3. Add Creativity with Apps and Tools

Most Instagrammers take care of their feed, so they use various tools to edit their photos before publishing. People add filters to improve their photos. And when it comes to posting Instagram Stories, you need to use apps and tools too. As the number of Instagram Stories keeps on growing, it’s getting harder to grab an audience’s attention. So you need to be creative to wow your followers.

Following design companies like TeamEasil, you can keep an eye on their updates and find various templates to use for creating outstanding Stories.

 

Instagram gives many opportunities to users to create unique Stories. But you can always rely on apps and tools like Canva, Unfold and HypeType to add more creativity and stand out from the crowd.

For additional help creating collages, read this article by Night Sky Pix

The Bottom Line

Ephemeral content is a social media trend that helps marketers achieve goals faster, even though it only lasts for 24 hours. Using Instagram Stories is a proven way to boost engagement, drive traffic to your website and increase sales. If you want to sell on Instagram, don’t forget to lay a bet on Instagram Stories.

You may also want to read: Want More Instagram Followers? Here Are 3 Foolproof Ways

Instagram Marketing: Which Types of Content Perform Best?

11 Instagram Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs

Hugh Beaulac is a content marketer and strategist who runs MC2 blog and contributes to different websites to share his knowledge. Having 5+ years of experience in social media marketing, he believes in the power of Instagram marketing to grow businesses online. You can tweet Hugh @HughBeaulac

Featured image: https://unsplash.com/photos/Fs1hfkNOGsQ