Alexis Kestler
According to statistics, while Facebook helped one entrepreneur reach 100 Likes in a day for one of their product promotion posts for their e-commerce website, Instagram took the game to another level with 450 Likes in a day! Although the numbers for both the platforms isn’t too impressive for a day’s worth, but not bad for a starter.
This brings us to the conclusion and to the start of the discussion for this article, that Instagram today has become the most trusted and honestly, the easiest social media platform to attract traffic and get your e-commerce website rolling.
The purpose of Instagram’s introduction was to let users post pictures using Instagram filters and interact via the same. But with time, and evolution of the great social media sites, Instagram is pacing and performing way too better than its counterparts for user engagement and building a good e-commerce business.
But how exactly can one achieve the much talked about website traffic to their e-commerce website? Well, here’s a list of some points that you must make a note to excel in the Instagram marketing techniques.
1. Pictures speak louder than words
This is the unspoken motto of Instagram. Make sure that the pictures you post on Instagram of your products speak a thousand words without having to explain with any. Although, with a maximum character limit of 2200 words, you can play well with the image description, but think of yourself as the potential buyer.
What are you going to lay your eyes on first? A stunning, attractive image or a 1000 word description? Of course the latter! So use the IG filters, especially Lo-fi, Walden, Inkwell, Amaro, and Mayfair, for these have proven to attract the maximum eyeballs per post.
2. Hashtag hustle
While there was a time when your blog post or Facebook post attracted web users using keywords, Instagram is a bit different in this approach. It introduced the Hashtag to the world which further has made it much easier for users to search for relevant content, and for businesses to reach their target market.
On Instagram, the best posts have had 11 hashtags in their image descriptions, and you can try that or less too. Of course, use relevant hashtags for you don’t want to appear spammy, or irrelevant. Also, not using a hashtag on Instagram is like putting all the efforts in the world to make the base of the cake, and forgetting to add creamy layers to it.
This means you are basically wasting your time and efforts on IG sans hashtags because Instagram won’t be able to filter you into the relevant category and make you reachable enough to your target audience. One easy hack to get a list of potentially attractive hashtags relevant to your business or posts is by looking them up on Iconosquare, a website that not just helps you search for the most searched for hashtags, but also keeps a track of your Instagram posts traffic and engagement. Simply sign up on the website, and play along.
3. Become buyable through Instagram
What’s the use of showcasing your products or catalog to the world when there is no way on your Insta profile that lets a potential customer make a purchase? Instagram introduced its “Buy Now” feature in 2016 that lets a user connect their shopping carts directly to the “Buy Now” link.
You can also add a link to your website or e-store in your Bio to make it easier for customers to easily navigate to your e-commerce store and make a purchase. By doing the above-mentioned points, as well as this very point, you are not just making yourself popular in your niche, but also justifying what you were meant to do on Instagram in the first place. Sell!
4. Real People are the real models
Not every business owner on Instagram has the budget and the resources to hire professional models to showcase their products. If you too are one of those, then worry not. The trend today is to use real people instead of models.
You can never go wrong with user-generated content (UGC) on your site or profile, whether it is the reviews for a hotel that your website helped them a book, or whether it’s the dress that an ordinary girl is happy to pose in to be featured on your profile.
Honestly, such a content gains trust in your users, and they get to know how a particular product they are planning to purchase looks on ordinary people. By ordinary, we mean real people and not models.
5. Giveaways and contests for engagement
Come on, we all love the freebies or special gifts that come with a product or are sent to us for winning a contest, right? Do exactly that so that users look forward to your posts and this will even help you spread awareness about your brand.
You can give away free samples of the upcoming products you are about to launch or a dress that hit the maximum likes on your profile, or anything that you think your clients will love. The point is to be as magnetic as you can be, and as visible as possible on Instagram. The more you post (of course, relevant content), the more your buyers trust you.
So these are some basic ground rules that you must keep in mind while establishing your e-commerce website through Instagram, and trying these out for a month will definitely help you gain substantial results. Test the waters for yourself, and be as creative as you can. Like, like, like!
