Wondering if it’s worth selling on Instagram?
People are spending more and more time using apps like Instagram. In fact, Instagram now has over one billion active users, with around 50% of those users visiting the app daily. So what does that mean for you?
Well, it means that there’s a ton of potential customers to sell your products and services to. The first step is to start a business on Instagram.
If you’re wondering how to do that, keep reading.
Why Is Instagram So Popular?
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Instagram’s success is a complex phenomenon. Why do people spend hours scrolling through someone else’s photos when they could be doing anything else in the world?
You can attribute one part of Instagram’s popularity to how much it has changed over time. People used to use Facebook and Twitter to passively watch what their friends were up to all day. Now, Instagram has shifted to a platform where people post and watch interesting content.
In addition to that, the layout of Instagram is perfectly designed for taking in information. People can easily scroll through a photo album and flip through a few hashtags in just a few seconds. That means they have more time to see your products or services in a way where they may be much more willing to purchase them.
Can You Sell Products On Instagram?
Yes, you absolutely can sell products on Instagram.
By setting up a business account and adding products to your stories as highlights (see how in the guide below), you’ll instantly be able to start selling your products. Since you’re already familiar with Instagram, this is also a relatively easy way to market yourself and build an audience.
It’s also worth mentioning that people love shopping on the app. In a study conducted by Hootsuite, the research found that over 130 million users of users discover new products through Instagram every month.
In other words, there’s tons of potential to make sales from your store because you’re using an app that is already helping you build a loyal customer base.
The Benefits Of Selling On Instagram
Now that you’ve built yourself a following, it’s time to think about selling your products and services. Here are just a few benefits of selling on Instagram:
1. Instant Exposure – As we talked about before, people spend hours scrolling through the app every day. That means they spend a lot of time looking at every photo. If your products and services show up in those photos, you instantly have them as an audience.
2. An Exciting Way To Brand – Instagram is now home to over one billion active users and is continuing to grow rapidly. That’s a ton of potential customers for your products and services.
3. People Love to Shop Online – If you’ve ever tried to buy anything online, then you know how much people love it now. Millennials would rather shop on their phone with mobile wallets than in stores.
4. Good ROI – While Instagram is not typically used to drive direct sales, it can lead to them in the future.
Best Ways To Sell On Instagram
So now that you know why selling on Instagram is a good idea, let’s talk about how you can actually do it.
First, you’ll want to create a business account on Instagram. This is going to allow you to have an actual store where you list all of your products. It’s also going to help promote your posts and get more followers by showing up in the “explore” section, just like a normal person’s profile does.
Once you’ve created your account, you’ll want to head into the settings and link it with your other social accounts. From there, you can choose whether or not to allow people to send direct messages to you on Instagram. This is a great feature for any business that wants to use Instagram as an actual marketing tool.
After that, you’ll want to add some products to your store. There are two ways you can do this:
First, you could highlight them in your story. This is an easy way of putting them on display without making followers go through the hassle of following you (which they might not do if they’re not interested). You can also use this for discounts, by putting a temporary price cut in the story.
Second, you could add a “shop now” link in your bio. This is going to send people directly to your store so they can buy anything they want without leaving Instagram.
Once you have these things set up, it’s just a matter of waiting for sales to come in. You can learn more about how to convert customers by reading this article.
How To Sell On Instagram: Step-By-Step
Make sure you’re following these steps to sell on Instagram:
1. Set Up a Business Account – If you haven’t already, set up an account that’s dedicated to your business. You can still link it to your personal profile, but this will allow you more control over what you post.
2. Link With Other Social Media Accounts – To simplify your profiles, you can use Instagram as a hub for the rest of them by linking with other social media accounts. That way, one post on Instagram can go out to all of your different channels so nothing gets missed.
3. Choose Your Settings – Go into the settings and decide what you want your account to do. If you don’t want people sending direct messages, then set it so they can’t.
4. List Your Products – Once everything is set up, start putting products into your store. You can do this with links in the bio or highlights in the stories.
5. Wait to Get Sales – Once your store is set up and ready to go, it’s just a matter of waiting for sales. Whenever you get one, make sure to respond quickly and thank the customer for their purchase.
6. Sit Back and Relax – While this may seem like a lot of work (especially since it takes up a lot of time), the return on your investment is better than any other social media platform out there.
That’s all you need to do in order to sell on Instagram! You can set everything up within an afternoon and the sales will come in on their own. It’s all about quality over quantity, so don’t expect sales to start rolling in right away.
You should probably wait about a month before you see any major movement.
How To Reach Your Target Audience On Instagram
Now that you have a better idea of how to start a business on Instagram, let’s talk about gaining more followers and connecting with your target audience.
In order to sell on Instagram, you need to be sure that people actually know that you’re selling something. Thankfully, the process is fairly simple as long as you’ve already optimized your Instagram page.
In this case, optimizing your Instagram page means that you have a great profile picture, bio, and cover photo designed for maximum conversion. If you don’t have anything on your Instagram page right now, then it’s time to set up a business account so that people can see what you’re all about.
Once that’s done, you can start running ads to grow your following. Ads are one of the best ways to market on Instagram because they take up minimal time and effort and still produce great results.
Running ads on Instagram is very similar to running regular ads – you can target your audience by location, demographics, interests, and behavior. Just remember to write a good ad that compels people to follow you!
Keep in mind that this may take a little while to get going. Instagram is a very popular social media platform, which means that there are a lot of potential customers out there. If you want to be sure that you’re going after the right people, then it may take a week or two before your ads start delivering great results.
How To Get More Followers On Instagram
If you want more customers, you’ll need to build up your followers on Instagram. Luckily, there are several different ways to do it.
The first step is to post photos that people will want to follow. Good quality content goes a long way. The next important thing is to interact with other users – comment on photos and hashtag your own to get more exposure.
Another way is to take advantage of the “suggested” section. Instagram often suggests popular accounts for you to follow based on what you might like. However, a lot of the time, they’ll suggest similar accounts that already have a lot of followers or verified users.
Don’t worry, there’s a simple hack to fix that. Just go to the account and click on “Suggested Users” in their bio section. It will bring up all the accounts recommended for you by Instagram. Now follow some of those users’ profiles and you’ll get even more suggestions; keep repeating this process once or twice a day and your followers will start to grow quickly.
Use these tips and tricks to grow your following even faster than before, and you should see great results when you post new photos.
Sell Products On Instagram Today
Now that you have some tips for selling on Instagram, it’s time to give it a try.
It can be an extremely lucrative way to make money, and the only limit is your own creativity. Put in the work (especially when it comes to building up your reputation), and you’ll get results!
For more helpful tips, be sure to check out the rest of our blog!
Learn more about Digital Marketing at Digital Business Grow.
