Last week, while casually browsing Instagram, I landed on an eye-catching post from one of my favorite brands. It featured an interesting new product, and immediately I started justifying reasons to buy several: my neighbor would love it, it would make a great gift for my friend, and of course I needed one or more of them for myself.
This situation went from zero to ready-to-buy embarrassingly quick. All that was left to do was tap on the image, click on the product, and I would be on my way to purchase. Except…there was no way to purchase it from the image. There were no tags or text or even a “Shop Now” link.
To this day, I still have not purchased that product. Sure, I could have searched for it online, but I haven’t because, well, I’m not interested in taking extra steps. And that’s my point: many other consumers aren’t either, and once that magical moment is gone, the sale could be, too.
So, if you are an ecommerce brand on Instagram, and you are making it impossible to shop the products shown in your content, chances are your customers are feeling a lot like I did.
Luckily, it’s not too late to turn this ship around.
Here are a few Instagram shopping tips for eCommerce brands that want to use this highly engaging platform to sell products and keep their customers happy (after all, there are more than 500 million people who engage with Instagram on a daily basis).
Interested to know more about social media marketing strategies? Check out the Advanced Social Media Marketing Training.
Make Your Posts Shoppable
First things first, you need to make it possible (and easy) for Instagram users to shop right from your posts or Stories. You can do this by tagging the products in your images or placing stickers on your Stories.
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You can connect a Shopify or BigCommerce store to your Instagram account. That way, users are able to click through to the product from the image and make a purchase.
Use More than One Product Tag
In order to upsell consumers on your products, you can add several product tags to your post. For example, if you want to tag a sofa in your post, consider adding additional tags for other items that pair well with the sofa, like the pillows, blanket, or a floor rug.
Or, an entire outfit, like in this example:
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Prioritize High-Quality Images and Videos
Another important Instagram shopping tip for ecommerce brands: use only your best images and videos available. If your visual assets aren’t compelling enough to make users slow their scroll, then you won’t be getting the clicks anyway.
Include Hashtags
When you add hashtags to your Instagram content, you help shoppers using hashtags to find what they want more easily. This also gets more attention to your posts and Stories, which can help you sell more products.
Switch Up Your Posts
While Instagram is a valuable platform for ecommerce brands, it’s important to remember the IG is not your storefront. Be sure you are mixing things up by publishing content other than shoppable posts and Stories. You might consider sharing the content of your customers when they feature your products (provided you ask their permission, of course). This goes a long way in helping users see your brand from a perspective other than your own, building trust and credibility.
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Wrapping Up
The opportunity for ecommerce brands to sell products on Instagram is, frankly, too big to pass up. Not only is the audience large and active, but consumers also expect to be able to click on products and buy them from the app (whether in-app or linked to a website).
Don’t leave consumers hanging when they’re attracted to your products on Instagram; make it easy for them to complete their purchase, at that very moment, or else risk losing that sale forever.
Get Your Social Marketers Up to Speed
Social media is an essential part of any business these days, particularly ecommerce. New tactics and channels are constantly becoming available so it’s essential that your marketing team be on top of the latest platforms and their respective features. Simplilearn’s Advanced Social Media Certification Training offers comprehensive training with the flexibility your team needs to learn at their own pace. Also, learn about the Corporate Training programs we offer to ensure that your business is always at the cutting edge.