The Expanded Approach to Sales on Instagram

What is your Instagram sales strategy?

Many people snap some product photos, give “buy-now” messages, direct people to the shop feature or sales page, and call it a day. This seems like the most direct, common sense approach.

Some others take extra time branding their offer with logos, color schemes, and polishing up their professional image with a highly curated feed layout.

And still others take it a step further and plan out launches, content calendars, and campaigns.

Very few, however, combine “buy-now” calls to actions, branding, and marketing into an expanded sales approach. Still fewer adapt or know how to apply these timeless strategies to Instagram and the modern market to maximize their profits.

Why?

Mainly, people are skeptical about using or continuing to use Instagram as a platform for their business. They fear or debate Instagram’s relevance. Organic reach and engagement are decreasing. It’s harder to grow a following. They wish they started earlier and now think it’s too late and only “pay to play” works.

Well, in this article, I first show how instagram is still a very profitable platform for business, then detail exactly how you can apply a winning sales strategy to Instagram.

So if this sounds like something you’d be interested in, let’s begin.

Instagram provides a great place to make sales

While engagement, following, and reach on Instagram are nowhere near what they used to be, what’s also true is that Instagram is still relevant for your business and provides you a great opportunity to make sales you otherwise wouldn’t.

According to Hootsuite, people are visiting, following, and purchasing from businesses in the millions every day.

• 200 million Instagram users visit at least 1 business account per day. [1] Entertainment and sharing photos and videos with friends and family isn’t all that takes up people’s time on Instagram. People also actively seek out solutions that brands provide.
• 90% of Instagram users follow a business account. [1] These people don’t just visit because they accidentally tapped while scrolling through their feed. Almost all of the 1 billion people on Instagram react to branded posts enough to follow them.
• 130 million Instagram users click on shopping posts every month. [1] But following isn’t the only way people interact with brands. It’s convenient for people to buy, too, with all the e-commerce features allowing brands to sell directly through their feeds.

So, it’s not too late to take advantage of Instagram and have your business attract some part of these millions of daily potential customers!

Increase buyers through your Instagram Marketing Content

But how exactly to take advantage? The first thing to note is that the direct “buy now” call to actions strategy alone won’t suffice.

Most people want to see if a product or service is right for them before buying. They “justify with logic.”

After seeing a product or service on Instagram, 79% of users searched for more information, 37% visited the retail store, and 46% made a purchase. [2] Users also enjoy convenience, so they look at your other content to see if you provide information they need to make a decision. 97% of marketers research more than an hour for big purchasing decisions, and only 13% say product demos are part of their research. [3] And most people conduct their research directly on Instagram. 80% of Instagram users use the platform to decide to buy. [1]

What these stats means is that while almost half of people buy after seeing something, they most likely don’t buy after the first encounter. They do research before deciding, and they spend more time researching for higher ticket offers.

The more you do the research for your potential customers on your own account, the easier you make their decisions.

In other words, the less salesy and pushy you make your content, and the more you focus on quality, beneficial, and informative content giving people logical reasons to buy, and overcoming objections, the better.

If your content doesn’t provide information people are researching for, potential customers search elsewhere, which significantly decreases the chances that they’ll return to your offer.

Just think about how you decide to buy.

This type of content is a great way to start an Instagram sales strategy. Combining this information with “buy now’ calls to action fits perfectly into marketing campaigns and helps boost your chances for sales.

But to truly maximize profits, you primarily need branded content that builds awareness and showcases values.

The Power of Brands on Instagram

It’s also true that people also “buy on emotion and justify with logic.”

And coming off as the pushy marketer alone is not the kind of emotion that gets people to buy.

You need a brand perception that goes beyond the nameless, faceless logo, manipulating people to buy things they don’t need.

And data indicates many brands understand this already. They create an experience that younger Instagram users more likely trust, relate to, and embrace.

• Instagram is a place of belonging. 56% of Instagrammers in a Facebook study said that the platform makes them feel more connected and 52% said that it gave them a sense of community [4]
• Belonging is created through friendly, useful posts that capture immediacy and spark creativity. 42% of young adults describe instagram as current, 40% as friendly, 39% trendy, 37% creative, 32% useful, and 31% exciting. [4]
• But belonging isn’t only created through friends and family. 68% of young adults on Instagram interact regularly with brands regularly, through looking at photos, liking content, following, and visiting a Brand’s website[4]
• Another study confirms that 78% of Instagram users see brands as popular, 77% as entertaining, and 72% as committed to building community. [2]

This data shows that not only do brands today have an overall positive perception, but that they can be as meaningful to people’s lives as their friends or family.

If you want the privilege of building a true community and being a brand that others look up to, and more importantly, are more open to hearing your marketing and sales pitches when you do run campaigns, you’ll have to consistently present data in fun and creative ways, do behind-the-scenes storytelling, and/or giving practical hacks.

How to Build a Great Instagram Brand

So, how exactly do you build this type of Instagram Brand?

In addition to having the standard branding logos, color schemes, and a sleek Instagram feed layout, providing more accessible, friendly, and relatable content helps you build a modern and trendy brand that people are much more likely to do business with.

And data suggests the following as the best content pieces to focus on:

• Stories. 62% of Instagrammers say they become more interested in a brand after seeing a Story about it. 50% of users have visited a website product or service page after seeing an offer in Stories. [5]
• Videos. How-to tutorials, behind-the-scenes posts, interviews, and news coverage are the most popular Instagram video content. [1] Think about what entertaining, creative, or informative ways your business can make such videos to increase the chances of having huge reach and engagement.
• Captions. A Shopify Facebook post states “A strong visual on Instagram can make users ‘slow their scroll’ and stay locked on your post, but a carefully thought out caption can do a lot more heavy lifting in terms of marketing and sales.” [6]
• And the longer the caption, the better. Over 30% of Instagram posts contain 300 or more characters in the captions. [5] In fact, “the ‘micro-blogging’ caption trend is a great way to connect on a deeper level with your followers, which in turn can boost brand loyalty. [7]

Conclusion

At this point, you’ve learned that Instagram is still a viable way to make money with your business Instagram account.

You’re now more equipped with how to adapt your branding, marketing, and sales to your Instagram content strategy to maximize profits with your business Instagram account.

Not sure specifically what to include in your posts or Stories to properly showcase your brand, market, and sale? We can take all these things off your plate. Click here to see how.

References

[1] “44 Instagram Statistics That Matter to Marketers in 2021.” Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard, February 3, 2021. https://blog.hootsuite.com/instagram-statistics/. Accessed February 26, 2021.

[2] “120+ Instagram Stats and Facts of 2021.” The Marketing Helpline, February 8, 2021. https://themarketinghelpline.com/instagram-stats-facts/. Accessed February 26, 2021.

[3] Brenner, Michael. “Is Your Marketing What Consumers Really Want?” Marketing Insider Group, August 23, 2019. https://marketinginsidergroup.com/content-marketing/is-your-marketing-what-consumers-really-want/. Accessed February 26, 2021.

[4] “Coming of Age on Screens” by Crowd DNA (study commissioned by Facebook). Survey of 11,000 people ages 13–24 online across 13 markets, (this piece includes data for AU, BR, CA, DE, FR, UK, US), Apr–May 2014.

[5] Bradley, Rhonda, By, and Rhonda Bradley. “The Ultimate List of 85 Instagram Statistics for Marketers in 2019.” Sharelov Blog, July 3, 2019. https://blog.sharelov.com/ultimate-list-instagram-statistics-for-marketers/. Accessed February 26, 2021.

[6]“ContentInspires.com.” A strong visual on Instagram can make… — ContentInspires.com. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=101577161543898&story_fbid=13087225528105. Accessed February 28, 2021.

[7] “How to Write Instagram Captions That Unlock More Likes, Comments, and Reach.” Shopify, February 13, 2020. https://www.shopify.com/blog/instagram-captions. Accessed February 28, 2021.