Instagram is one of the most used social media platforms in the world today. Its visual nature and endless scroll functionality make it a great platform for businesses to capitalise on their social following using high-impact image ads. What are the best Instagram features for e-Commerce?
Why Instagram is Great for E-Commerce
The Instagram platform has a realm of tools available for businesses to help grow e-commerce and facilitate sales. And with almost a billion monthly active users you should be utilising these tools.
Instagram is a great platform for E-Commerce businesses as it is a visual platform. You remember the old saying: “A picture is worth a thousand words”. This applies especially to businesses on Instagram.
With over 90% of Instagram users following at least one business account, Instagram for business presents a huge opportunity. Even more so because in today’s age of social media, people expect to find trusted brands and businesses on social media.
What is Instagram for Business?
Instagram has a Business Account option. This gives businesses a range of options that differ from what you can do on a personal account.
Some of these additional features include:
- The ability to run ads,
- Create shopping posts
- Create an online store for your business where your customers can shop in the app without having to divert to another website.
- Add product tags to your posts and influencer posts
The Best Instagram Features for E-commerce Selling
Shopping on Instagram
Setting up Shopping on Instagram is a useful way to integrate your product catalogue and social media. It does require some work though.
Shopping on Instagram is a fabulous tool for e-commerce businesses as it gives users a sense of trustworthiness.
However it is important to ensure that:
- Your business complies with the Instagram (and Meta) guidelines and standards
- You are located is in an area that you can set up shopping
- You sell physical items
Additionally, you need to note that because Instagram falls under the Meta umbrella, it needs to be linked to a Facebook business account too. For this reason it is generally better to run a multi-platform sales campaign across the two.
Instagram Ads & Sponsored Posts
Using Instagram ads and sponsored posts is a great way to help your e-commerce business reach the right audiences. By using paid advertising formats such as Ads and Sponsored Posts, you are able to very clearly define a target audience and the goals you would like to achieve.
Instagram Ads are an in-feed means of advertising your products or services. Sponsored posts are organic content that you can boost to reach more people.
Both these options have a huge impact on Instagram Shopping Sales. This is particularly powerful as you can incorporate Instagram shopping by tagging your products on these ads and sponsored posts.
Influencer Marketing
This is one of the more popular Instagram features for E-commerce that brands and businesses use to reach their target audience. It is also a great way to reach further than your targeted audience as influencers often have a far reaching presence.
What is an Influencer? An Influencer is a person on social media who has a level of authority and trust. They use this authority and trust to ‘influence’ the purchasing decisions of their followers.
Because Influencers have spent a large amount of time building their audience within their niche, and building their authority, they have gained the trust of their followers. This is great for brands. If you can work with the right influencers for your brand, it can hugely impact sales.
Additionally, you again can tag products and make influencer posts shopable which is a useful way to help with Instagram Shopping.
Conclusion
Instagram is a great platform for e-commerce businesses to grow their presence and their sales. By incorporating tools from the business account as well as adding Instagram shopping to your arsenal you can maximise your business’s social media presence. Even better, you can start making sales easily.
If you enjoyed this article or found it helpful, check out more e-commerce marketing content on the inSyte blog or listen to the inSyte Podcast.
This article was brought to you by Syte.
We’re a specialist e-commerce and lead generation digital marketing agency dedicated to driving up your bottom line.
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