Imagine the sales you could make if even half of the Instagram users with a purchase intention reached your website. We\u2019ll leave it up to you to do the math.<\/p>\n
Why Should You Sell on Instagram?<\/h2>\n
First things first, why shouldn\u2019t you? After all, the more places your store can show up, the merrier. As a small or budding business owner, setting up your store on as many platforms as possible is vital to creating brand awareness.<\/p>\n
1. That’s where your target audience is<\/h3>\n
Instagram is the 4th<\/a> most used social media network worldwide. And that\u2019s the biggest reason you should have an Instagram store: To showcase your products to its active user base of over 1 billion.<\/p>\n In terms of exposure, it is a figure that a physical store owner can\u2019t even dream of.<\/p>\n Even if this volume does not come with the intent of purchasing, getting people familiar with your brand is more than great.<\/p>\n Have you ever wondered why your feed is filled with products similar to those you searched for or bought?<\/p>\n That\u2019s because it pushes similar content to the one you interact with. This means that if someone likes a reel about scrunchies, they’ll receive ten more recommendations like it.<\/p>\n Every business owner knows these are great odds for your store\u2019s discovery.<\/p>\n Nothing in the world beats the feeling of getting something for \u201cfree\u201d. And that\u2019s how much it costs to create a store on Instagram.<\/p>\n To run your business on Instagram, you do not need to invest additional money (apart from what you might want to spend to promote it). Plus, you also get the benefits of Instagram shopping, shoppable posts and much more.<\/p>\n Thus, entrepreneurs create a storefront for their business on Instagram as an addition to their own eCommerce store. More on that front later.<\/p>\n Selling on Instagram is not child\u2019s play. You need to deploy strategies and tactics to lure customers to your page. This article breaks down the steps you need to take, alongside tried-and-tested tips to help you sell on Instagram successfully.<\/p>\n Source<\/a><\/p>\n Simply put, a niche is a set of people interested in buying only a specific product or service. For example, instead of skincare, you can specifically focus on the \u201ccruelty-free\u201d or \u201corganic\u201d niche. This will allow you to double down and work exclusively to attract people interested in a similar niche.<\/p>\n The more you narrow down your niche, the easier it becomes to find your core audience and sell to them. Think about it this way: Would you rather sell to a hundred people utterly unfamiliar with your product or ten people interested in buying it?<\/p>\n You’ll also have a better chance of standing out to your ideal customer when you narrow your niche. Well, this one is a no-brainer.<\/p>\n Instagram revolutionised how people sell products on the platform when it launched \u201cbusiness profiles\u201d in 2016. This change came with a bunch of extra features that made doing business on Instagram a cakewalk.<\/p>\n Selling on Instagram with a business account compared to a personal account gives you the following perks:<\/strong><\/p>\n Consider your business account on Instagram as your virtual business card. It gives your account a branded and professional look and helps establish a personal connection with your customers.<\/p>\n Running a business on Instagram without switching to a business account is like bringing a knife to a gunfight. In an already highly competitive platform, you will already be miles behind if you do not have a business Instagram account.<\/p>\n After identifying your niche and setting up your business account, comes the fun part of creating engaging and interactive content for your feed.<\/p>\n The question is how do you make people stop their scrolling and interact with your post? How do you stand out among hundreds of businesses competing for the attention of people scrolling mindlessly?<\/p>\n The answer is quite simple: consistency and quality.<\/p>\n The content you post forms the basis of your brand\u2019s identity. Put your best foot forward visually by making your feed’s aesthetics stand out.<\/p>\n Constantly churning high-quality content helps lure people to your profile and turn them into loyal clients.<\/p>\n Here are a few handy tips for building an aesthetic feed:<\/strong><\/p>\n Take a look at Jack Morris’ impressive Instagram feed<\/a>, where he has also linked his store in the bio.<\/p>\n If you are running a business on Instagram, you simply can\u2019t copy a quote from Pinterest in your caption and call it a day. Captions for businesses serve a very specific purpose.<\/p>\n Creating a great caption involves two key elements: a powerful hook<\/strong> and a viable call to action<\/strong>. Both these components go hand in hand. A powerful hook will motivate your audience to click \u201cread more\u201d, while the CTA will encourage them to take the desired action. (send a DM, leave a comment, like a post etc.)<\/p>\n It\u2019s no secret that Instagram promotes your page more if your audience interacts with your post. Bringing your a-game to the table when crafting captions for your Instagram business page is vital. Great captions bring in engagement, so don\u2019t settle for anything less than the best.<\/p>\n Make it a habit to keep your captions short, crisp and to the point. Tempting as it may be, don\u2019t give into the urge to become a modern-day Shakespeare. Everyone on Instagram is in a hurry; always present the most important information right at the beginning to the people as concisely as you can.<\/p>\n Here are our best tips for writing amazing captions:<\/strong><\/p>\n The Gem Goddess’ IG profile<\/a> is a perfect example of how to write eye-catching and concise bio.<\/p>\n Even with top-notch content, your posts won\u2019t be seen by many eyeballs if they aren\u2019t supported by the appropriate hashtags. Look at it this way, hashtags are the connecting dots between your content and the audience searching for it.<\/p>\n Hashtags are a great discoverable tool and act as the bridge between your business and brand awareness.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how you can step up your hashtag game:<\/strong><\/p>\n We would strongly advise you to use hashtags with your shoppable posts. It would make your content discoverable and convey that the products are available for purchase.<\/p>\n If this sounds overwhelming, fret not, for there are generators like Tag Blender<\/a>, All Hashtags<\/a> etc. that lend a helping hand in finding the trending tags in your niche.<\/p>\n There\u2019s only one spot in your Instagram profile where you can add an external clickable link, and it\u2019d be such a waste of a golden opportunity if you keep it blank. Yes, we are talking about the URL section of an Instagram profile.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a great way to introduce your business to people checking out your Instagram profile for the first time.<\/p>\n Most big brands and growing businesses only use Instagram as a secondary storefront since it does not have the advanced eCommerce functionalities needed to scale a business and convert it into a brand. Having the link to your products or services in your IG bio is a great way to diverge traffic to your store. This can do wonders for your conversion rate as it eliminates the hassle of searching for the store or the service\/product.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how you can leverage the space to the maximum:<\/strong><\/p>\n Take a look at how well David Maison<\/a> has used this space by linking it to his Dukaan-powered store.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t have to sit around and wait for your target audience to find your products; instead, you can draw their attention to them by converting regular posts to shoppable ones.<\/p>\n Shoppable posts are exactly the same as tagging people on Instagram, except here, you add a link to your products in the post.<\/p>\n It is the perfect tool to showcase your products to potential clients and followers alike. Statistically speaking, 46%<\/a> of people report buying a product after seeing it on Instagram.<\/p>\n Shoppable posts can be normal feed post, video or reel that contains product tags. These tags fulfill multiple purposes: show the product\u2019s name, its price and lets the users add them to their cart or go to the company\u2019s profile to buy.<\/p>\n All shoppable posts are marked with a tiny shopping bag icon on the lower left corner and a \u201cvisit shop\u201d banner on the bottom, prompting customers to tap on it.<\/p>\n A word of caution here. Even though the whole and sole purpose of creating shoppable posts are to increase sales, it shouldn\u2019t come across as too \u201csales pitchy\u201d. At its core, shoppable posts give people the power to shop at their fingertips, make sure you make this journey fun for your customers.<\/p>\n Follow the golden \u201c80\/20\u201d rule here. Utilize 80% of your posts to create shoppable content while keeping the other 20% as regular posts.<\/p>\n Before delving deeper into using stories and reels to increase your business\u2019 brand awareness, here are some figures to put things into perspective.<\/p>\n Statistics reveal that 500 million accounts<\/a> view Instagram stories daily. 58% of IG users<\/a> say they bought products after seeing them in the brand\u2019s story. Might we say anything more to emphasize the importance of uploading stories on your business\u2019 Instagram profile?<\/p>\n Here are the cool things you can use Instagram stories for:<\/strong><\/p>\n Reels can make your brand\u2019s popularity spread on Instagram like wildfire. You get to express your brand and what it stands for in 90 seconds. Plus, the publicity it gets is unmatched compared to other formats available on the platform.<\/p>\n Truth be told, you can’t obtain the same reach with images and videos that reels and stories can pull.<\/p>\n You can use Instagram reels for the following:<\/strong><\/p>\n What\u2019s a sure-shot way of skyrocketing your brand\u2019s popularity? Influencer marketing. Yes, you read that right.<\/p>\n Influencers are people who\u2019ve built credibility and reputation (and not to forget, a substantial following) around a niche on a platform. Depending on what products you sell or services you provide, you can partner with an influencer in the same niche for exposure, free products or money.<\/p>\n Think of influencer marketing as ambassadors to endorse your products to their loyal audience. The higher the influencer\u2019s authority and followers in their domain, the bigger the scope for discovery. Big brands go for hotshot influencer (and even celebrities) to post sponsored content on their feed promoting their brand’s products.<\/p>\n But this does not mean only collaborating with big influencers is fruitful. Especially as a new business or a small business owner, you might not be able to pay the fees that influencers charge.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t be disheartened by it. Consider this possibility: A micro-influencer with under 10k followers might be more connected with her audience than someone with 100k followers. And even if you partner with someone with under 1000 followers, it’ll be 1000 new people discovering your brand for the first time and with someone they look up to vouching for it.<\/p>\n Curious about the benefits of influencer marketing? Read on:<\/strong><\/p>\n Instagram shopping enables your customers to get a seamless and interactive shopping experience in the comfort of a known platform. It allows you to create an immersive storefront on the app and sell without leaving the app for checkout. (available selectively and only in a few locations at the moment)<\/p>\n With Instagram shopping, your customers can browse products, explore the brand\u2019s curated collections and purchase the products they like. It is set up in a way that encourages the customers to either make a purchase upon discovering the product or browse the collection it is from for similar products.<\/p>\n Wondering what makes Instagram shopping great? Here\u2019s the rundown on what it offers:<\/strong><\/p>\n Setting up Instagram shopping is easy, but it comes with a lot of prerequisites.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a checklist of all the requirements:<\/strong><\/p>\n If you are based out of the US and have Instagram shopping and checkout enabled, you can use Live shopping to sell on Instagram. It is a great way to showcase your products to your audience while giving them a semblance of one-on-one interaction.<\/p>\n Exactly as it sounds, you can sell products from a predefined product catalogue on a live Instagram broadcast.<\/p>\n As the seller, you can tag products from the catalogue. The tagged products appear at the bottom of the screen during the live session. Your prospects can conveniently click on the \u201cadd to bag\u201d button and checkout, all without leaving the platform.<\/p>\n You can either host the live session yourself or have an influencer conduct a live shopping event as a part of the sponsored deal. Either way, Instagram\u2019s algorithm rewards customer engagement, so whatever route you choose, discoverability is guaranteed.<\/p>\n Take a look at all the benefits of hosting live shopping broadcasts here:<\/strong><\/p>\n If your product posts are not getting the visibility they merit, it’s time to run Instagram ads.<\/p>\n Although it is tempting only to do organic advertising on Instagram to save up on those bucks, Instagram advertising has a high return on investment. Meaning if you do it right, you can get your investment back, that too with interest.<\/p>\n Think of creating Instagram ads as posting sponsored posts; they\u2019ll help you reach a larger, more targeted audience.<\/p>\n Instagram ads can be easily set up from within the app. Make sure you narrow down your ad audience, its objective, format, duration and budget before setting up the ad. You can also play around with the CTA or go with the tried-and-tested \u201cShop Now\u201d.<\/p>\n There are two ways of setting up ads on Instagram:<\/strong><\/p>\n You can set up Instagram ads in the following formats:<\/strong><\/p>\n Explore ads are the best way to boost your page\u2019s discovery. And if your business is set up in the US, you can also run shoppable ads with checkout enabled.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s not it. You can also reach out to influencers for sponsored posts in the form of hauls, product how-to videos and reels.<\/p>\n Tale as old as time, this one needs no explanation.<\/p>\n Every business owner should develop the habit of interacting with their clients. It\u2019s no brainer that you need to nurture and indulge your users; after all, \u201ccustomer is king.\u201d Responding to queries, liking comments, and replying to DMs shows your customers you care, which optimizes sales.<\/p>\n Another tactful way of engaging with your followers is by repurposing the content generated by the user<\/strong>. If your customers are enjoying your products\/ services, they\u2019ll surely be posting about it on social media.<\/p>\n For example, if you sell paint brushes, in addition to commenting on your customer\u2019s drawings, you can repost their content on your feed and tag them. All you need to do is re-share it on your feed and tag their profile. This helps in building trust, establishing product authenticity and providing social proof.<\/p>\n Not only is this a great way to populate your business, but it also gives others a glimpse of how your products are improving your customer\u2019s life, which you can\u2019t achieve with traditional marketing posts.<\/p>\n Inkbox\u2019s Instagram feed<\/a> is the perfect example of repurposing user-generated content.<\/p>\n If you want to sell through Instagram, you\u2019ll have to do it manually by accepting orders via direct messages. (DMs)<\/p>\n There\u2019s a method to selling via Instagram DMs. You simply can\u2019t start negotiating the sale with the customers.<\/p>\n Here are a few things you need to take care of when selling through Instagram:<\/strong><\/p>\n Selling on Instagram using DMs is a time-taking and laborious process. You need to inform your customers that they can reach out to you via DM to place their orders. Upon striking a deal, plan out the payment method and how you’ll keep them updated on the order status.<\/p>\n Though it may sound easy, selling via DMs becomes confusing and tedious really fast. You\u2019ll have to sort through all the queries you get in your DMs, track every conversation, respond timely and furnish the same details again and again with all your clients.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a major downside to selling on Instagram<\/strong>. All the hassles of selling via DMs are bound to distract you from spending time strategizing and scaling the other important aspects of your business. And this is exactly why business owners prefer to sell using their own online store, created using eCommerce platforms like Dukaan.<\/p>\n There are a lot of loopholes with selling on Instagram. While we have already covered some aspects so far, let\u2019s list down the major ones that can act as a roadblock:<\/p>\n Instagram business does not give an overview of how your store is performing. Moreover, they are platform-dependent. At the moment, it is only available for mobile users.<\/p>\n This \u201cpremium\u201d feature that Instagram offers aids in boosting sales is only available to accounts with 10,000+ followers. But it\u2019s obvious that any budding business will take considerable time to reach this status in terms of followers.<\/p>\n Everybody knows that most of the selling on Instagram depends on the product images posted and the product descriptions written. But the platform does not provide any business tools that can help the sellers with product descriptions and images.<\/p>\n One of the biggest reasons people leave their cart abandoned is because they don\u2019t want to switch pages while placing an order. Having this feature available selectively defeats the purpose of selling “conveniently”.<\/p>\n Moreover, you can\u2019t broadcast live shopping if you don\u2019t have checkout enabled.<\/p>\n Instagram shopping can only be enabled with a pre-existing online store\/ landing page. So, even if you don\u2019t want to sell using your own eCommerce platform, you still will have to purchase your own domain name and create an online store or a website for the product catalogue.<\/p>\n You can only tag products in your Instagram posts if your business is located in areas where the feature is available. Needless to say, if your business isn’t located in a suitable market, it directly impacts your sales and overall turnover.<\/p>\n As evident by the pointers mentioned above, Instagram shopping is not without its own set of incompetencies.<\/p>\n We’re making this bold statement for a reason.<\/p>\n The biggest problem with selling on Instagram is that the platform does not help you maintain a client base and track your store’s growth. It\u2019s shopping experience may help you find customers and engage with them, but the platform still lacks the business tools needed to run, manage and grow an eCommerce business.<\/p>\n If you are an entrepreneur with dreams of taking your business to the next level, you need to manage your business using your own store.<\/p>\n Ever since Instagram ceased to be a photo-sharing app, it has become an amazing platform for entrepreneurs to stage and scale their businesses, no matter the size of their operations. It doesn’t matter what niche your products or services fall into, Instagram helps you gain exposure and attract new clients.<\/p>\n While Instagram is a great place to showcase your brand, it can\u2019t be used to run and scale a business. Not to forget, without a website\/ an online storefront, you can\u2019t enable Instagram shopping as well.<\/p>\n In our opinion, the best way to sell using Instagram is to have your own online store as a primary sales channel, with its link in your profile bio. This way, you get to enjoy the advanced features that eCommerce platforms offer, combined with the benefits of selling on Instagram.<\/p>\n2. Its algorithm pushes similar products to customers<\/h3>\n
3. Sell with minimum bearable investment<\/h3>\n
How to Sell on Instagram – Complete Guide<\/h2>\n
1. Pick a profitable niche<\/h3>\n
![\"Select](\"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/niche-store-1.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n
\n2. Set up a business account for your business<\/h3>\n
![\"Set](\"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/IG-business-profile.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
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3. Create engaging content for your business<\/h3>\n
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![\"Create](\"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Jack-Morris-1.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
4. Write strong bio with an impactful call-to-action (CTAs)<\/h3>\n
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![\"Write](\"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/the-gem-goddess-1.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n5. Leverage hashtags efficiently to increase your reach<\/h3>\n
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6. Utilize the URL in the Instagram profile bio<\/h3>\n
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![\"Use](\"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dukaan-store-link-in-bio.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
7. Make your Instagram posts shoppable<\/h3>\n
![\"Create](\"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/SS5-03-1.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n8. Use Instagram stories & reels for brand awareness<\/h3>\n
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9. Partner up with Instagram influencers<\/h3>\n
![\"How](\"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/partner-with-influencers.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
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10. Enable Instagram shopping<\/h3>\n
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![\"How](\"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/SS3-01-2-1.png\" "\\"\\"")
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\n11. Try live shopping<\/h3>\n
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12. Get the most out of Instagram advertising<\/h3>\n
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\n13. Interact with your followers<\/h3>\n
![\"Post](\"https:\/\/mydukaan.io\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Inkbox-tattoos-1-1.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n14. Start selling in the DMs<\/h3>\n
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Problems with Selling on Instagram<\/h2>\n
1. No detailed analytics.<\/h4>\n
2. Accounts with 10,000+ followers gain swipe access.<\/h4>\n
3. Bad product descriptions can ruin your sales.<\/h4>\n
4. \u201cCheckout\u201d only available at specific locations.<\/h4>\n
5. Selling without a store\/website not feasible.<\/h4>\n
6. “Shoppable post” feature not available everywhere.<\/h4>\n
Final Words<\/h2>\n
FAQs<\/h2>\n
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