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14 Ways to Use Instagram to Drive eCommerce Sales
1. 14 Ways to Use Instagram to Drive eCommerce
Sales
eCommerce Software for Indian SME’s
2. Instagram is the largest acquisition that Facebook has ever made and this fact
makes this tool extremely important. Facebook has nearly a billion users, and
it is the number one social networking website on the internet. More and
more people are spending more time on Facebook than anywhere else.
Another fact is that number one content that is shared on Facebook is
photos.
3. Instagram just hit 150 million users and is becoming a social platform that is
becoming harder and harder to ignore. Instagram, the photo sharing social
media website, isn’t just for sharing your pretty day to day photos with
friends and family. In fact, for some clever businessmen it’s become a free
marketing platform. The key, they say, is to build a following that wants to see
you, whether you are selling something or not. If you want you and your
products to get heard and seen in front of your desired target audience,
Instagram is the thing for you as it is an excellent platform for engaging
customers and retaining them.
4. Competition in the market which is already an oversaturated one is hard and
simply setting up a flashy e-commerce site is not good enough to draw the
sales you want. Using strategies involving social media to promote your online
store and turning your e-commerce site into something more than just a
place to buy products actually helps boost sales. Instagram is a powerfull tool.
It allows you to connect directly with current and future potential customers,
developing a relationship that leads ultimately to sales, as consumers tend to
shop with retailers they feel like they can relate to. Instagram allows you to
build that kind of relationship with your customer.
5.
6. Many large brands are using Instagram for brand reinforcement. Brands like
Starbucks (561,293 followers) use it to tell a behind-the-scenes story of how
the coffee is made. Redbull (245,019 followers) is also doing a great job by
posting “gives you wings” photos. Other social brands like Puma (5,865
followers) and Playboy (96,195 followers) all have carved out their strategy in
Instagram as well. But these are all mostly brand reinforcement. Who is
actually turning photos into online sales?
7. With Instagram, marketers have access to a massive audience of 150 million
active users uploading over 40 million photos per day and posting 1000
comments per second. Like I said before, Instagram is more than a place for
day to day pictures. Consumers are photographing and discussing brands
every day.
8. Instagram is the largest acquisition that Facebook has ever made and this fact
makes this tool extremely important. Facebook has nearly a billion users, and
it is the number one social networking website on the internet. More and
more people are spending more time on Facebook than anywhere else.
Another fact is that number one content that is shared on Facebook is
photos. Most people now carry smartphones with cameras in their pocket
everywhere they go, and that people are now spending more time accessing
Facebook through their smartphones than through a desktop or laptop.
9. The connection suddenly becomes crystal clear. Photo sharing is what
Facebook users do more than anything. Now Facebook owns the fastest
growing smartphone photo sharing app and its network of users. What does
Facebook know about Instagram that business owners need to understand?
People love to share photos, and not just photos of them and their friends,
they like to share all kinds of photos. Why? Because photos create and build
emotional connections, and that’s exactly what Instagram will help you do.
12. Pictures are the best way convey your actions. Before setting up your
Instagram account, you should determine first, what kind of image and
impression you want to build for your company and what kind of pictures you
can use to convey your ideas. First go and check out the hashtags to
determine which ones are the most popular. Keep in mind that hashtags
make it easy for you to collect photos from your followers around a certain
theme. To use hashtags simply add a hash (e.g. “#tshirt”) to your photo’s
caption, and the photo will be tagged with “tshirt”.
14. Just like on other websites, make your content interesting, original and worth
sharing. Creating share worthy content will force people to promote you.
Think about what your target customers will enjoy seeing. For instance, if you
are posting pictures of your product or services be sure to post pictures of
other things as well. Think about the people that are part of your company
and showcase them, too. Are you having an office outing or a charity event?
Be sure to have these human elements of your business represented. Pictures
speak to us and tell stories, so try to capture the moments that make your
company special and post those as well.
16. When your business is all set up on Instagram, go and shout out to your
Twitter and Facebook followers that you’re on Instagram. Let your Twitter
followers and Facebook friends find you easily when using Instagram’s Find
Friends tool.
18. Instagram is an app that you should set as your default app for photo sharing
if you want to maximize the benefits. You do not have to worry about your old
Facebook or Twitter business accounts. It is very easy to share photos from
Instagram to the social networking giants once posted.
20. Make sure that each piece of content you upload is a part of a bigger picture
and aligns with the overall image of your brand. Each of the pictures you
upload should be significant and important. Remember that frequency of
posting pictures is not as important as consistency. Make a posting schedule
that you feel comfortable in and maintain it. Do not over commit thinking you
must post daily if you know that you really cannot keep that commitment. If
you can only post weekly, that is okay, just make sure you do it consistently.
Your audience will get used to your frequency and they will be trained to
know how often to expect your posts.
22. The way to use Instagram effectively, efficiently and for maximum impact is by
focusing on branding. The best way to do this is by using your brand’s name
within a hashtag or to create unique hashtags associated with your brand or
products. Puma uses their brand name in unique hashtags like #pumastyle,
#pumalife and even #pumapigeon. The clever thing about this strategy is that
over time your fans will start to use these tags and this will achieve two
important goals, differentiating your brand from the thousands of others in
your space and help spread brand awareness on the back of the social
network.
24. Instagram is all about life and events. Everyday 40 million photos are
uploaded to this social network. In order to have an impact and gain a
following on Instagram you need to be as authentic as possible. This means
focusing on creating an Instagram profile which taps emotions in people who
view your photos. Look at Instagram as a blank page where you can show
your favorite emotions, products, occasions and events. Instagram should not
be looked at as a marketing platform but a happening and fun place.
Marketing is more of a byproduct on Instagram.
26. The fact that Instagram is an open social network with so many pictures being
uploaded everyday makes it an ideal platform to encourage the creation of
user generated content by your fan following which is a great thing. Add the
user generated photos to your product pages. Present “social proof” to your
prospective customers that your products are popular and purchased
regularly. Run photo competitions and encourage your fans, customers and
others to share photos of them engaging with your product. Try and be as
unique as you can and tie together all your marketing activities around these
competitions.
28. Instagram is an extremely open social network which means that you have
the opportunity to be very direct when engaging your followers. One of the
cool ways you can do this is by picking one follower a day or a week and
making them your star follower. You can repost their image on your profile or
tag them in the picture. This will be a huge surprise to the follower and result
in a lot of excitement. The fact that a huge brand can reach out to one
individual and say thank you is what makes social networks so amazing and
every company should be utilising this power to give back to their fans.
30. Many of your customers are posting photos of the items they bought from
your online store. Pay attention to what they are saying. Positive and happy
reviews are great for your e-commerce site and boost sales. Negative
comments are an opportunity for you to reach out immediately and turn the
bad experience into a good one. Reaching out to your customers to address
the situation reveals that there is a genuine and invested human voice behind
your business. Developing that rapport is key to gaining consumer trust,
which, in turn, can lead to customer loyalty and increased sales.
32. As with other social networks, the posts shared on Instagram have a short
shelf life. They show up on people’s feeds but are quickly pushed back by new
ones. To maximize the benefits of using Instagram, you have to make sure the
content remains visible for a prolonged time period. Convert Instagram posts
from customers into content. Launch a page on your e-commerce site
dedicated to Instagram photos showing your product. You can also create a
blog post using the favorite Instagram posts of the day, week or month.
Repost Instagram photos featuring your product on Facebook or Twitter or
other social media websites. Not only using these images in other social
media will make your loyal customers and followers happy, but also
encourage the visibility of these customer-generated posts. Yet another
benefit from reposting customer Instagram photos is that now you can link
the image to the corresponding product page on your e-commerce site.
34. You have always let your customers lead the conversations. Enter the
conversations yourself and make your voice reach with content that your
followers will enjoy and will want to share. Give your customers a glimpse at
behind-the-scenes culture to create the sense of transparency. Moreover,
customers find this interesting and would want to share it. Post photos of
new products in motion and add links in the comments but at the same time,
remember, you don’t have to bombard your followers with heavy
promotional materials. You want to establish rapport, so post and share like a
real person, rather than a company looking for a sale when you use Instagram
for e-commerce. With Instagram, you can target your desired audience and
engage them in a conversation, developing a relationship that can lead to
excellent word-of-mouth and loyalty. In this saturated e-commerce world,
consumers tend to buy from retailers they trust and know. Instagram can act
as a shortcut to build that feeling.
36. Encourage your customers to share their unboxing experiences when you
send them products. To effectively do so, create a specific hashtag about your
brand, something like #KartRocketDelivery, for instance. Then promote it on
your various networks. Your customers are likely to take photos of your
products as they unpack them. Add a card on your packages mentioning your
hashtag and a call to action for your customers to share their photos on
Instagram.
38. Instagram has the ability to make almost anything look enviable. Many-a-time
you may have scrolled through your feeds and wished you were at that glam
dinner party or lavish vacation, so why not give your store that same “I want
to go there” feel? Brands that manage pop-up shops are already quite adept
at promoting in-store events on Instagram. Few retailers for instance, are
constantly posting pictures of the yummy treats and well-styled mingling that
define their parties.
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