Use Instagram and boost your sales!

Introduction

First of all, as we are going to talk about Instagram… First Follow us! 😊

Mycreditsummit has stated eCommerce sales worldwide are expected to attain the 4.921 trillion dollar mark in 2023. With such cosmic numbers, the online market presents a substantial opportunity for businesses to grow and flourish.

The growth opportunities are immense in the eCommerce industry with the rise of globalization and expanding online consumers base, but at the same time, the competition is also expanding. Those who can provide a supreme consumer experience by delivering ease and quality will be able to survive and thrive. 

Social media is a key venue for eCommerce businesses to attract consumers, build communities, and integrate shopping, interaction, communication, and information-sharing. Social presence also works as a guide for directing consumers to your online storefront. 

Instagram is one such platform that requires the presence of any business to use it. And we have stated as to why it is important for eCommerce and how eCommerce sales can boost with the help of Instagram.

Instagram & eCommerce

Instagram especially is a crucial social media platform with over 1 billion active monthly users and 60% of them discovering new products and offerings on it. To support that Instagram’s consumer engagement rate is 10 times higher than its nearest competitor, Facebook.

With such figures and almost 70% engagement rate with the brands, Instagram should be in prime focus for eCommerce businesses. As this opportunity is fairly new and has not been explored much. Besides that, Instagram has also evolved in recent times making it more user-friendly and shoppable. 

Instagram can be leveraged into attracting, engaging, and converting consumers for an eCommerce business. 

Keeping the benefits into consideration, we have suggested a few ideas for you to link your eCommerce business with Instagram and using it for obtaining better results

#1 Encourage Participation

Engagement and interaction build relationships, whether it’s between consumers or brands and consumers. Better relationships lead to positive word of mouth and trustworthiness of the business, especially, eCommerce making it more attractive to consumers. 

“For eCommerce, the most important thing is trust” – Jack Ma

Liking and commenting on followers’ posts, holding contests and quizzes, promo codes and sharing interactive content and stories. All these ideas will grab a user’s attention instantly and drive engagement. Encouraging users to participate with your eCommerce business will help you to build rapport, brand loyalty, trustworthiness and incentivizing brand identity, all the while, enhancing conversions.

#2 Embed Instagram feed

Instagram feeds are tremendously creative and attractive. Embedding it onto your website helps in channelizing the traffic from Instagram to your eCommerce website.

Embedding an Instagram feed is easy, simple and helps your website look more interactive. It also acts as a social proof to your business making it more authentic, and trustworthy in the eyes of consumers. 

“Content Doesn’t Win. Moderated Content does.”

There are tools available to embed an Instagram feed and these help in displaying real-time content from Instagram using hashtags, handles, and profiles in a single feed. You can also customize the feed to make it more creative and similar to your eCommerce website. Furthermore, moderation tools let you control the content that is displayed on the feed. This gives you the freedom to design and display it to your suitability. 

#3 Shoppable posts

Another excellent way to link your eCommerce to Instagram and channelize traffic is through shoppable posts. It’s Instagram’s own feature which lets you tag products in a post and make them shoppable for the audience. 

This way you can post engaging photos and tag products which then clicked would lead the consumer to your eCommerce website to complete the checkout process and purchase. This is a prominent feature making it easy for consumers to make a purchase in real-time, quickly and easily. It also helps in reducing bounce rate and cart abandonment which are huge areas of concern for the eCommerce industry.

#4 User-generated content and Influencers

Influencers and user-generated content are an integral part of any marketing strategy, especially for the eCommerce business. It is a proven concept that consumer’s purchasing decisions are highly influenced by the recommendations and word of mouth of people they follow or admire. 

Firstly, influencers inspire people to buy products and they will be able to promote your business more subtlety and effectively. 

Secondly, user-generated content is a word of mouth everyone tends to trust more than firm-pushed content as it is based mostly on unbiased experiences, opinions, and reviews of experienced consumers. Displaying it on your website can also gain social proof for your eCommerce  with Instagram Wall. One effective way to showcase user-generated content related to your products or brand is by integrating an Instagram wall on your eCommerce website. An Instagram wall is a display of user-generated content from Instagram that can be embedded on your website.

#5 Visual attraction

Visuals are important for engaging the audience to something. They are more interactive and creative than simple texts. Instagram is a platform filled with visual content like photos, gifs, and videos. Therefore, posting striking images and product videos while linking them back to your website could help in driving traffic.

“A single photo can convey a message that a thousand words can’t.”

Visuals are more memorable, easy for the eye, catchy, and explanatory. It is better to show than to explain. For example, you can attach an interactive product guide video or photos to explain the features of a product than to write about it. And, integrating an Instagram wall of visual content will grab more attention, engagement and leads for the business. 

To Conclude

The influence of social media is increasing over commercial activities globally. And Instagram is the most profitable, worthy social media platform for eCommerce businesses to target. It does not require a massive budget, especially the shoppable posts and embedding tools, as they are extremely cost-effective and provide best returns on investment. 

So, incorporate these strategies in your marketing strategy and build a connection between your eCommerce business and Instagram to get maximum leads and conversions to boost your sales and revenue. 

Comment below if you have suggestions or questions relating to embedding, shoppable, or eCommerce and Instagram’s collective profitability.  

Finally, if You want more clues about eCommerce Marketing in Social Media, You must read this post about the Marketing  Calendar You need.

I’m Anne Griffin and I’m a digital marketer and technical writer.

I’m passionate about exploring and writing about innovation, technology, and digital marketing trends.