10 Best Instagram Sales Strategies that Convert

Instagram sales strategy is not what most people think about when it comes to Instagram. However, they should. Instagram always proves to be an effective marketing tool for businesses that are looking to make their presence and influence widely known. Many of them are taking advantage of the different features it offers. More than the compelling photos, Instagram can be used to highlight the brand’s mission and goals, showcase products, and capture leads and sales. 

Instagram may be small, but it is a powerful tool to use to convert marketing efforts into sales. Since Instagram is a visual content sharing platform, strategies are focused on fine-tuning the content so it will not only be for the purpose of increasing engagement but as well as the sales. In this article, we have listed 10 best action plans to make your Instagram profile a success where it converts sales.

Increase Visibility and Engagement

A good Instagram rate is important to growing your account, and so, it’s a common goal for many Instagrammers and social media marketers. Unfortunately, Instagram engagement is prone to fluctuate due to its ever-evolving algorithm. It can be difficult, but there are ways to increase your Instagram engagement to help you grow your reach and build a loyal follower base. On Ampfluence, we basically use this action plans to increase the engagement activities of our client accounts:

• Engaging with similar accounts in your niche
• Engaging with their content by doing likes on latest posts
• Watching and reacting to stories
• Providing targeted and brand-based hashtags to use on captions
• Posting relevant comments on followers account

This can be done in several ways and many of it entails learning to utilize the different features of Gram app to your advantage. The more effectively you can leverage the built-in resources Instagram provides, the less you end up spending on marketing strategy, and the more money you make in turn. 

Direct Traffic to External Sites

If you’re into business and want to increase sales, website clicks and conversions metrics are important for you to monitor. The reason why there is a need to increase the visibility of your account is to direct traffic to your external sites. Upon setting up your account, make sure that you have included a Bio link on your profile so that they will be easily directed on where they can buy products or visit your website. If there are more clicks to your website, the more chances of conversion that results in sales. Make sure that you have the right landing page so that you’ll not disappoint potential buyers. Also, ensure that your sales or product page is viewable both on mobile and PC and that they are easy to navigate.

Many business owners complain that Instagram only provides limited space for their external links. Which is true and done intentionally by the app itself, so as to keep user retention high also on their end. This should not cause discouragement, but instead, all the more work on strategizing well your content to maximize the reach of your posts to target audiences.

For example, the commonly used platform Link Tree creates a unique web page that allows users to link to several different places across the internet. The example below comes from the official Tupac Instagram, @2pac.

Turn Customers to Gram Advocates

People are more likely to rely on the recommendations from other people’s experience or to those who are close to them. In fact, 92% of people consider their friends and family more dependable than advertising.  Here are two basic actions to turn your customers into effective advocates:

• Ask loyal followers to share your Instagram account or your most famous Instagram post. This will help in widening your reach to their followers base and even increase chances of traffic to your website. 
• Share a user-generated content (UGC) in your feed and Stories to encourage other users also to create and share posts featuring your brand. This is another way of exposing your products and services to their audience.

An old but classic example of a UGC campaign was put on by Starbucks in 2014. The brand encouraged its consumers to put their own designs on white Starbucks cups after receiving their daily coffee. Upon sharing their creations to social media, Starbucks granted the fan-favorite designs the opportunity to be used company-wide as limited edition coffee cups. This helped the company to see a massive return on its initial concept and in turn massive mainstream exposure. 

Again, the more eyes you can get onto your content, the greater chance you have of landing a sale. Especially when the sale is being celebrated by real trusted followers.

Remove Barriers to Checkout

Instagram is endlessly in the business of creating easier ways for its consumers to browse, purchase and sell. The latest feature that was made is Instagram Shopping, where you can share featured products through your organic posts and Stories, or have people discover your products in Search & Explore. 

It is best to take advantage of this new feature since Instagram makes it easy for the brand to mark the purchase. Then right away, the user is directed to the product in the company’s online shop where they can complete their purchase there. Take advantage of this new feature, aside from that its user-friendly, it significantly shortens customer journey. Two clicks are all it takes to get them directly from Instagram to your company’s online shop. 

Focus on the Funnel

In traditional marketing strategy, there are certain steps that must be followed in order to guide people through the process of buying. Such as creating a lead magnet, generating clicks through email lists and various subscriptions, and overall walking people through the sales funnel. 

In social media marketing, it’s quite different from the traditional. While there are several other methods in order to land a sale, it’s often those who combine both old and new strategies who see the most payoff at the end of the day. If you focus your efforts on guiding your followers through your pre-existing business funnels, the same ones you might use for business outside of Instagram, you can combine the potency of both marketing methods. Don’t automatically ditch your business structure in pursuit of learning how to leverage Instagram, rather focus on integrating both.

Hire an Influencer

Influencers have a large opportunity from businesses since they are effective in marketing products with their large base of loyal followers. Hiring an influencer for your brand will make you reach a wider range of target audience in a way that the advertising is more genuine and authentic. Influencers are effective in marketing because they have a strong and loyal relationship with followers.

Affiliate Products

Affiliate products work on a referral based system. You are given your own specified link or coupon code from a business, which pays you out a percentage based on the amount of traffic you are able to drive for the business you are partnering with. 

There are two ways this can be done in the Instagram app:

• Grab your own affiliate link from a different company
• Disperse affiliate links for your products to leaders in your niche. 

In either case, this is a great avenue to generate sales, either, you’re earning a percentage of a company’s sale or you’re leveraging the exposure from an influencer to general own personal sales.

Sponsored Posts

Sponsored posts are a very viable avenue to generate sales on Instagram. This paid promotion provides the opportunity to target your ideal demographic specifically and create exposure for the brand. Because of the precision sponsored posts to allow, it is one of the top methods for Instagram marketing. Not only that, but the content variety available is large, from standard photo/video media to carousel posts and even Story Ads.

Many marketers use Instagram ads, and in fact, Instagram ad revenue in 2020 is projected to be at $12.32M. This means, learning to utilize this feature is one of the most advantageous strategies you can do as a business owner.

Consider Signing with an Agency

As a business owner, signing with an agency provides you relief from having to seek out influencers or partnerships on your own. The benefit of signing with an agency is that they generally have the added experience and knowledge that they will bring to your business to make your campaign successful.

By letting an agency know your brand and your intentions closely, they can effectively plan opportunities for you to work with other relevant names in the industry, and reap the benefits. The more channels you are actively creating for revenue to come through, the more sales you’re ultimately going to see. 

Delegate and Outsource

Nobody ever said that running an Instagram business has to be demanding all of your time. As a business owner, you can delegate work to various tools, applications, and programs – many of which you can find on the Internet. Taking things off your plate and automating your Instagram process allows more space and time to dedicate to the actual money-making activities. 

Converting sales has never been easier in the digital world than it is now, as there’s an endless stream of possibilities available to support in landing sales. With the right tools, the right strategies, and the right amount of dedication, you can almost guarantee success in the Instagram world.