Nowadays, Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms on the web. It’s a place where people share photos, create content and engage with both their friends and followed brands. While the photos and videos you share on a daily basis help to grow your audience and build your reputation, there is much more to Instagram than just uploading pictures and videos. If you want people to like, follow and engage with you, you need good content – something that appeals to your followers.
Instagram has more than 400 million active users daily, 80% of Instagrammers follow businesses and about one third of the Instagram stories with the most views are uploaded by businesses. Yes, Instagram stories J if you take advantage of this feature your brand will have a great opportunity to become more visible, thus, producing more sales on Instagram.
Most brands post about 10 times per week on the average but uploading too much content to your Instagram profile will have a negative impact. Studies show more and more consumers get annoyed when brands post too much on social media and they’re more likely to unfollow a brand for doing this. But then you want to share your content and oftentimes, posting once or twice a day isn’t enough to get your message across.
That’s when you should take advantage of Instagram story. Unlike an ordinary post, your Instagram story won’t flood your followers’ timelines. You can upload more pictures or videos to your story, and it’s just ok, it won’t affect anyone’s Instagram experience.
However, the longer your Instagram story is, the lesser chance it has of being watched in its entireness. You can post a new story every day since old stories disappear after 24 hours.
There are different approaches to Instagram stories that generate sales. Here are a few approaches:
Set up clickable tag for shopping.
You can tag products in an image, just like tagging a person. When your follower clicks on the tag, they are redirected to a page that enables them to buy from you. Clicking on a shoppable tag is easier than telling your followers to go to your bio and asking them to click a link there.
You can also take advantage of shoppable stories and just the same, tag an item from your product catalog on your story. Followers who view the story will see the clickable tag and when they click on that, they’ll be redirected to a page where they can purchase.
You can also add many different products to your Instagram shoppable story or another approach; you can also use your entire story to promote a certain product. Whichever strategy you choose, you’ll be able to create more sales. It’s a win-win!
Use testimonials to build your online reputation.
Putting a testimonial to your story will definitely increase your chances of generating sales. It’s one of the best ways to build your reputation and strengthen your credibility. 92% of the buying public refers to testimonials when making a purchase decision.
Drive engagement by creating a poll
Polls can immensely increase your engagement metrics on a story because it’s easy to run. People just have to click on one of the two choices to participate and that’s the only way they’ll be able to see who participated and how people have voted.
Adding a poll to your story increases your chances of getting higher engagement rates and users will be more likely to click your CTA. As a result, you’ll be able to produce more revenue.
Collaborating with an influencer
You can also use influencers to build your product’s credibility. Followers oftentimes follow someone they know and trust and follow their recommendation as a result. You don’t even need to post anything on your story. You just have to collaborate with influencers and ask them to promote your brand in their own stories, websites and other social media platforms. It’s a great strategy to extend your reach. You’ll be able to get more followers and increase website traffic which can help you increase sales.
Engage, engage.
Engage and encourage interaction with your followers is they come across your content. It will surely help your brand, products, and services to create visibility and recall.
Take advantage of user-generated content
Sometimes customers would like to tag you in their stories when they buy something from you so they upload an image to their story and tag you or your brand. You’ll get notifications every time your brand is tagged in a story and then you’ll have the chance to share that same content to your own story as well.
Sharing a story like this and thanking your customers will give them the idea that you’re appreciative and willing to repost content that they tagged you in. This also encourages them to do the same for a chance to be featured. In the end, you realize you are getting more and more people to talk about your brand for free!
Show your behind the scene story
This idea humanizes your brand, which is a good thing. It gives your followers the idea that you’re more than just a company. You are a real person they can relate to and can understand their needs.
Use your story to Promote.
Use your story to promote a new product. You can upload a video tutorial to your story showing how to use a new product or you can also build hype for new products just before they are launched. These will surely generate sales when they finally become available to the buying public,
Instagram has become a powerful tool for brands if you just take advantage of all the features available. Simply posting images isn’t enough. You have to utilize Instagram stories and create wonderful content. Happy Instagram story telling!