E-commerce has truly become a big part of the retail industry. Gone were the days when shopping is limited to malls and shopping centers.
Sellers and buyers alike have gone online for a 21st century way of shopping. It has become so easy to become a seller that the competition has become so tough.
As a seller, you cannot simply relax, else you will lose out to the countless other sellers out there. To stand out, you will have to level up your efforts.
One of the ways that e-commerce businesses do marketing is through social media channels. They capitalize on the huge number of users of social networking sites, and how easy it is to reach them.
It also makes so much sense as online shoppers are bound to be online in their social media accounts too.
Instagram is one of the best, if not the best, social media platforms for reaching out to potential customers. Instagram in undeniably popular, having 500 million active users as of the first half of the year.
The effectiveness of Instagram as an advertising channel is very much felt that the number of advertisers on Instagram has grown to over 1 million.
We want you to also benefit from advertising via Instagram. To make your marketing efforts even more fruitful, we’ll also share some tips on how you should craft your Instagram Marketing plan.
At the end of it all, we are hoping we can do our part in helping you boost your sales, and ultimately, your earnings. Here are our tips on how you can boost your online sales on Instagram:
Your customers can’t be everyone
Everyone is a potential customer. But if you’ll take the population as a whole market, not all of them are your ideal customers.
This is huge because everyone has his or her own needs and wants. Even for food; while everyone needs to eat, any type of food is not for absolutely everybody.
With all these said, we would like to highlight the great importance of identifying your target market – a subset of the population or market that would most likely buy your product, as it is most appealing or most appropriate for them.
You are bound to have a lot of products for sale, and they appeal to a specific target market. Now when you do target marketing, you push your ads and promotions to a select group that is most likely to react positively.
Instagram allows your ads to be seen by users whose interests are related to your products. Just be sure, to identify your target market.
Define your ideal customers
Once you have your target market, you have you would further need to understand them.
You would want to understand how they think, what they need, how they can be reached, how they’ll use your products, what other products they could possibly need – and other sets of questions that basically define who they are as customers.
Doing this gives you an idea on how you’ll craft your ads, and how you can design them to reach your target market.
You’ll also need these distinctions as you will need your Instagram ads to be shown to users who are similar to your definition of your ideal customers.
Instagram marketing: know your buyer personalities
There are many different types of buyers and knowing them would also help you craft marketing initiatives better. Your target market consists of buyers with varying personalities.
There are four general types of buyer personalities that we will consider: the expert shopper, the lister, the browser, and the novice.
They have significant differences that you need to understand and consider in order for you to make your first sale.
The Expert Shopper
The first buyer personality is the expert shopper. Expert shoppers typically already know what they want and do not need much push for marketing.
What you just need to do is to have ads that will direct them to the product they want.
Regularly come up with Instagram posts ideas and ads of individual products, especially the popular ones so those who come across it can readily be directed to the product page.
The Lister
Listers know what the product needs to have, but are still uncertain as to what exact product to buy.
They have a list of features that they need to reconcile against potential products you have for sale. To tap them, come up with posts that highlight product features every now and then.
The Browser
The browsers don’t really know what they want yet. They need to search through your product gallery to find the product that is best for them.
So also make sure to come up with ads for product categories and highlight best-selling products.
The Novice
Finally, there is the novice. The novice is someone who doesn’t do much online shopping and don’t exactly know what products he or she would like at all.
They appreciate content that gives them advice to help them decide on products they need or may want.
How to find the right customers
You have identified your target market, defined your ideal customers, and understood the different buyer personalities. But how do you reach them? Craft your ads for them!
We have mentioned different kinds of customers and you should know what kind of ads work the best. There are also some special campaigns that you can launch on Instagram to appeal to other types of buyers.
Should you wish to tap into competitive shoppers? Hold an Instagram contest. You can also tap into Instagram influencers to attract those who need a nudge from known personalities.
You can also target those who want the best value for their money. So come up with flash sale ads.
There are many different ways to reach many different kinds of buyers. You just have to think like them and do your best to come up with ads that are perfect for them.
Post eye-catching photos
Instagram is of course primarily known as a haven for photos.
Use Instagram not only for paid ads but also for its original purpose. Post photos, but only high-quality ones. Be creative in coming up with photos that you post.
Hashtag everything
Hashtags should be present in all your Instagram posts. Hashtags also help to boost your engagement with your potential customers, as they can use them on their own posts.
The challenge is coming up with catchy hashtags. There isn’t exactly an easy way to come up with the perfect hashtag. Play with words, be creative, and experiment.
Just some reminders:
- Aim to be unique
- Make it easy to remember
- Don’t veer too far from the subject
- Make it fun
Conclusion
Instagram should be in your marketing arsenal as it really is an effective advertising channel that should not be taken for granted.
But just doing Instagram marketing for the sake of it won’t cut it – you will have to craft your Instagram campaign well and target the right audience to really feel its worth as one of the best social media platforms for online marketing.
If you are able to strategize your Instagram marketing well and push your ads to the right people, then you are bound to reap the benefits of your hard work.
Level up your Instagram marketing now and prepare to enjoy boosted online sales. 🙂
Are you still wondering how to boost your online sales on Instagram, or do you think you now have enough information to finally get going?
Feel free to add more in the comment box below if you think that we missed anything.
