Instagram

These days it is hard to believe that Instagram has recently turned 5 years old and it seems as if it has been out there forever. From being a simple photo-sharing app with a bunch of nice filters it evolvedinto a massive social phenomenon with millions of users from all over the world.

In September 2015 Instagram’s global audience had reached an impressive number of 400 million users; adding over a 100 million during this year alone. The rapid growth of this app will continue(according to the modest forecast by Cowen Group) till 2020, where Instagram’s user base will havereached 680 million people worldwide.

Huge and highly engaged audience makes Instagram extremely appealing to businesses because they need this perfect channel to connect with existing and potential customers. No surprise that apart fromits main function of sharing pictures, Instagram becomes a marketing and sales tool with the help ofcountless third party services. However, you don’t even need anything other than your phone and theapp itself to start selling. It might be a surprise for some of you, but while you were reading thisintroduction, thousands of new products were uploaded for sale into Instagram.

The secret behind Instagram’s amazing success with individual users and businesses is the extreme simplicity in using this app and her viral component. Anyone with a smartphone and access to Internetcan cash in on the app’s ever growing audience within a short period and with minimal financialinvestments. You just need to have a good plan in place and that is exactly what this book is all about- helping you get a better understanding of Instagram and its audience in order to work out a perfectbusiness strategy.

Screenshot from mselh.com

Choosing the Products to Sell

Instagram evolved from a photo sharing app where people post selfies and food pictures to a platform for business. Initially, brands started to use Instagram as a marketing tool just like any other media,and bloggers started to monetize their accounts with affiliate links that generate income from sales ofproducts they recommend. Now, the latest trend is to directly sell products on Instagram.

Retailers started to get excited about Instagram when various studies indicated that Instagram has a real power to sell products. Unlike Facebook users who mainly uses this social network to connectwith friends, Instagram users are more likely to follow brands and businesses to get updates on dealsand new products and also to shop for items, they like. This already makes Instagram a great place forsellers. However, there are even more reasons to make Instagram a starting point for online retailbusiness.

According to the latest statistics for 2015, 90% of this app are below the age of 35. A young and dynamic audience with huge potential and high interest in online shopping. There is also a slight skewover women living in urban areas, no wonder apparel brands are the leaders on Instagram.

One thing you should keep in mind is that young audiences are usually extremely image-centric. In an informative age where data can quickly become overwhelming, young people have to pick and chooseamong plenty of content options. Pictures are definitely an easier way to digest information; whencompared to text. Besides, quality visual content dramatically increases engagement with followers.

Here are just a few numbers to prove it:

• 94% more total views on average are attracted by content containing compelling images.

• 67% of consumers consider clear, detailed images to be even more important than the productdescription.

It means that you need to lead your sale with an eye-catching image because naturally a buyer will choose a visually appealing product; which brings us again to apparel with more options, includingjewelry, home decor and art. These are the top products that currently get the most demand onInstagram.

Yet, there are also other product segments that have been doing well with app users; beauty products and trendy gadgets. The only challenge is that there is surplus of all the above-mentioned products onInstagram and the competition is severe. You need to find a narrow niche or choose a product that hasa potential to stand out amongst the similar ones. Be it a better design, a specific theme, or evenunique materials. Otherwise, products will drown inside Instagram’s oversaturated bazaar.

Lastly, comes the price factor. The data for 2014 proves that Instagram is the best social referrer with an average order value of about $65. That is definitely not the limit, but this number gives a clearindication on the price range that works for products sold via Instagram. This trend shows the effect ofmerchandising on buying decisions which are mostly impulse purchases. Purchases that were notplanned, but triggered by attractive picture accidentally found on Instagram.

Studies say that 90% of Americans make impulse purchases amounting to as much as $200 in additional charges each month. Now these two numbers combined already makes the entire pictureclear - a single product in your store should fall in within few dollars and $200 with a sweet spot at~$30-$90. In this case, you can easily count for impulse buyers who form the majority of Instagramshoppers. Even more chances to successfully capture a sale if this is a visually appealing and uniqueproduct targeted for young urban female.

So far, we have only been talking about physical products, but let’s not forget that there are other types of products to choose from. Digital products such as software, design assets, photography, ebooks and videos can easily be sold on Instagram. Besides, if there is no way to produce or source adigital or physical product, you can opt for affiliate sales. Promoting other people products anddriving traffic to their e-commerce websites, thus earning a sales commission. This is a very popularsource of income for owners of popular Instagram accounts. The problem here is mainly in the lack ofclickable links on Instagram, accept the one in the bio and in the upcoming chapters we will suggestsome tools to overcome this issue.

The previously discussed rules still apply to selling products of all types; choosing the right products for specific Instagram audience, setting the right price and posting quality imagery. However, thisrequires some research and analysis, but if done right, selling on Instagram can be easy and fun.

Creating an Instagram Account that Can Sell

Wise people say that “Fine dress helps to impress”, so start creating your Instagram account with the right profile picture. Choose a nice and appealing one that says something about either yourself or theproducts you sell. The two most popular options are:

1. Your own portrait picture: According to numerous tests, people are more likely to interact withInstagram accounts with real people behind them.

2. Business logo: It makes perfect sense to hire a designer and create a one of a kind custom logo thattells the story of your brand. However, there is also an alternative - free online logo design makerssuch as DesignMantic or Designimo. A free logo might have a more generic style, but it doesn’t meanyou can’t find the one that resonates with you.

A profile picture is highly important, but so is the profile description. Your Instagram bio should include a few words about what you sell (e.g. handmade gemstone jewelry, gently pre-loved vintagecloths ...) and a few words about shop policies; highlighting policies such as no goods returns,international shipping available and so on. As already mentioned earlier, people tend to engage morewith Instagram accounts that are more personal, so should consider writing few words about yourselfand @mention your private Instagram account.

Photo Credit: Prykhoclov \ Dretamstme.com

Creating Quality Product Pictures

Basic Guidelines

Product picture quality is clearly one of the most important factors for making a successful sale. You might have a great product, well-balanced price, reasonable shipping rate, but if the photo is dark,blurry and with many distractions, it is not going to sell. Surveys prove that amateur-looking productshots are the #1 reason for losing online sales.

For Instagram store owners’ quality of photos is a huge challenge because usually they use a smartphone camera instead of professional camera. Yet there is no problem without a solution and theproblem of product picture quality can be easily solved by applying several techniques as well asusing appropriate tools.

1. Lighting

Natural or carefully positioned artificial light is crucial to make a high quality product photo. Make sure to either shoot your item in front of a large window at the time of the day when light is soft andbright. Or, if that isn’t possible, blind the window and use 2-3 lamps with same type of bulb set atalternative angles.

2. Background

Another crucial aspect. There are various options to choose from:

A. White background with no distractions.

Good choice if you want a crispy and clear picture where the only focus is on your product. The easiest way to a perfect shot is to use a lightbox or aspecial folding backdrop. A cheaper alternative is a piece of thick whitepaper/carton.

B. Alternative background to emphasize certain features of your product.

This could be wood, tile, glass or fabric. In many cases, alternative background is a better option because it makes your product pictures visuallyrich and inspiring.

Regardless of what background you opt for, you also need to choose one style and stick to it. Ensure that each image is taken, cropped and edited the sameway to achieve a consistent look for the store. Inconsistency will confuseyour customers, make your account look less professional and lower the credibility.

Instagram Toolkit

Even if you follow all the guidelines specified above, you won’t get your images looking perfect on the camera. Many things need to be adjusted afterwards using the photo editing tools. The choice ishuge, but there are few selected photo editors that always do a perfect job.

• Camera+ (for iOS): Powerful photo editing app for iOS devices. Free to use.

• VSCO Cam (for iOS and Android) :One of the most popular photo editing apps with greatfunctionality and user-friendly interface. Free to use.

• Pixlr (for desktop): It lives within your browser and has many of the same functions asPhotoshop. Free to use.

• Foto Fuze: Unique product photography enhancement engine that puts your product on a crispwhite background. Free to use.

• Clipping Magic: Another tool to remove image background online. Payment plans from $3.99per month.

Posting Pictures

The importance of choosing the right time to post pictures on Instagram cannot be underestimated, as you surely don’t want to be posting new sales offers while all your followers are out having fun orvery busy at work.

According to statistics, the best time for posting on Instagram is 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. for weekdays and 8:00 p.m. on Mondays. There is also another sweet spot for posting; late at night, when very fewInstagram users are updating their accounts and therefore your picture will remain on top in the searchfor a much longer time than during the hot hours. This is called the Infomercial Effect and it definitelyshouldn’t be ignored.

Smart Tagging

Instagram Tagging “Do’s andDon’ts”

Hashtags are crucial for any business looking to get more visibility on Instagram. Carefully selected tags will ensure good outreach and promote your account inside the social network.

All Instagram hashtags can be roughly divided into 3 major groups:

1. The so-called “selling” tags (eg. #forsale, #4sale, #igshop, #shopmycloset). These are used to markpictures with items for sale.

2. Relevant tags that describe the item itself (eg.#dress, #earrings, #vintage).

3. General popular tags (eg. #fashion, #cute, #girl).

The other way to divide tags is according to their popularity. There are highly popular tags that were used over 500 thousand times and less popular tags with 5-50 thousand results. Hashtag usage can beeasily checked on websites like www.iconosquare.com

To ensure the best outreach, choose several tags from each of the above mentioned major groups and make sure there is a nice mix of highly popular and less popular tags. Using the more popular hashtagswill get you fast results immediately but your posts will soon be lost in the archives of that populartag. Less popular hashtags may not produce quick results but your posts will live longer in searchqueries and produce longer-term results. Maximum number of allowed tags for one photo is 30, butthe optimal number varies from 10 to 20. Using more tags might make your post appear like a spam.

Choosing the right hashtags is only one of the many Instagram tagging strategies that can significantly improve the outreach.

Below you will find the top 5 most effective tactics:

1. Use specific brand hashtags: Include your business name in some of your post tags. Also useunique tags for particular marketing campaigns. For instance, if you are hosting a photo contest onInstagram, make a unique tag just for that campaign. This will promote your contest and give yourfollowers a way to connect with other participants.

2. Use trending hashtags: Trends on Instagram can happen at lightning speed and fade away quicklyas well. So, if you spot a trending tag, make sure to use it quickly.

3. Use industry related hashtags: For example, #artisan, #crafter, #onlineseller, #fashionboutique.Check what your competitors or others in the industry are using and if some tags work well, includethem in your posts.

4. Use location tags: Instagram users search location hashtags frequently to identify with the placethey are in or where they are going soon. Don’t just use the name of your city, use regional hashtagvariations that are popular.

5. Use modified #forsale hashtag: Combine it with location (eg. #forsalenewyork) or with yourproduct (eg. #jewelryforsale).

Popular Instagram Hashtags

To make the hard choices easier, here comes a list of popular tags divided into separate themed categories:

Generally Popular Hashtags

1. #photooftheday

2. #loveit

3. #selfie

4. #instadaily

5. #picoftheday

6. #igers

7. #instacool

Makeup

1. #faceoftheday

2. #makeupmafia

3. #makeupaddict

4. #shimmer

5. #blush

6. #bronzer

7. #makeover

Art

1. #artist

2. #illustration

3. #galleries

4. #interiordesigns

5. #mixedmedia

6. #instaartist

7. #artstudio

Retail

1. #boutiques

2. #mall

3. #style

4. #shoppingaddict

5. #promo

6. #shoppingtime

7. #musthave

Jewelry

1. #wristparty

2. #armcandy

3. #dressedup

4. #accessories

5. #glam

6. #indulge

7. #stylist

NB! Where do your customers wear their jewelry to? For example, #weekendstyle, #vacationstyle or #dressedupforwork.

Fashion

1. #fashionmodel

2. #model

3. #fashiontrends

4. #whatstrending

5. #ontrend

6. #styleblog

7. #fashionmagazine

Crafting

1. #crafts

2. #craftime

3. #diy

4. #etsy

5. #handmade

6. #shopsmall

7. #craftymom

NB! What materials do you work with? For example, #yarn, #beads and #ribbon.

Baby

1. #infant

2. #firsttimemom

3. #momlife

4. #babystyle

5. #newbornbaby

6. #instababygirl

7. #babyboy

NB! Use hashtags specific to your products or services — #babyshoes or #babyfeet.

Skincare

1. #musthave

2. #healthyskin

3. #antiaging

4. #facial

5. #exfoliate

6. #glowingskin

7. #spaday

Smart use of the right hashtags helps put your content in front of people searching for keywords and phrases associated with your business. Just remember to choose tags carefully and don’t overuse them.

Banned Instagram Hashtags

It is also well known that Instagram blocks certain hashtags, making them unsearchable, “when they are consistently being used to share images and videos that violate community guidelines.” The actualmeaning of that word may have nothing to do with why it was banned. The hashtag is blocked becauseit returns inappropriate or pornographic results that exceed a certain threshold. This is the reason whya lot of quiet innocent tags appear in the black list. Here are some of the innocent tags to be aware of:

#bra

#IG

#ilovemyinstagram

#instagirl

#instagram

#iphone

#iphone4s

#iphoneography lingerie

#nude

#panties

#petite

#photography

#popular

#popularpage

#sexy

#thinspiration

#underwear

#undies

#like

#bootie or #booties #instagood

This list is constantly changing, some tags are recovered and others are added, so be sure to doublecheck the tags you use.

Selling Tools

Choosing the right product for the right target audience, creating an appealing Instagram account and working out an efficient tagging strategy. These are three essential steps that will ensure you a steadyflow of potential customers. Now it is time to capture the momentum and offer them an easy andstraight forward way to purchase your products.

There are many third party services that enable Instagram selling in different ways. We have chosen three of them that are most suitable for the three types of products that we have identified in one ofthe previous chapters: affiliate, digital and physical. Less is more!

Selling Affiliate Products on Instagram

Personal Instagram accounts that once thought to be a place to connect with friends are turning into serious businesses now. Popular Instagram users command an army of followers, become celebritiesin their own right and are called influencers for a reason. They really do influence the mind of theirfollowers, tastes, habits and shopping decisions. Thanks to affiliate programs, they also make bank onall the products they recommend.

If a popular Instagram account owner decides to only work with one brand or specific product, then it is easy for him/ her to redirect followers to a designated e-commerce website or landing page via areferral link in the bio. On the other hand, when it comes to recommending items from various brands,sometimes depicted all together in one photo, things get complicated and a special tool is required tohelp followers get to the checkout.

w O w IT wOu k v

LikeToknow.It is the solution for Instagram bloggers who choose to sell fashion, beauty and lifestyle affiliate products. It is a service that allows users to receive shoppable links in their email inbox forthe products they spot in Instagram images. These are, of course, affiliate links that the owner ofInstagram account connects to his/ her Instagram post to earn a commission from the sale.

How it works on the setter’s side?

“LikeToknow.It” is an app powered by RewardStyle - a platform that allows bloggers to include affiliate links to thousands of brands in their blog posts. This means you should first register as apublisher with RewardStyle before getting access to LikeToknow.It. The problem here is that it is aninvitation-only platform, so you will have to get an approval that is only granted to rather establishedpublishers. Early stage Instagram users will most probably get rejected. To see if your account iseligible, check through the list of basic requirements that they look for in applicants:

• Large and growing audiences: since many of their daily sales are coming through socialnetworking sites.

• Consistent posting at least 3x a week — about sellable products.

• Quality imagery and original content that is both creative and aesthetically pleasing to yourreaders.

• Consistent, clean and editorial design that pervades the whole account

Make sure you fit within those requirements, otherwise you will have to wait for months to re-apply again.

Once approved, you can download LikeToKnow.it app and start packing your Instagram posts with affiliate links of over 200 thousand brands across 130 countries available in their database. When oneof your followers clicks through and buys something following your affiliate link, you get acommission ranging from about 6% to 20%. Bloggers don’t pay any membership fees asLikeToKNow.it monetizes on the side of brands.

How it works on the buyer’s side?

Instagram user signs up for LikeToKnow.it on their official website, leave email to receive links and select how often they should be sent. As a member, when he/she “likes” a photo on Instagram that istagged with #liketkit hashtag and a LikeToKnow.it link, he/she receives an email in about 10 minuteswith shoppable links to whichever products were tagged by the uploader.

LikeToKnow.It is a great way to monetize Instagram account and earn on affiliate sales, but only if you have a decent following and can promote fashion, beauty or lifestyle related products. If one ofthese factors is missing, then it makes sense to choose one brand that will work well with youraudience, put their affiliate link in your bio and focus on promoting only their products.

Selling Digital Products on Instagram

Nowadays everyone can be a creator. Technology has democratized the creative process and almost anyone can now sell creative digital products such as music, photography, videos, e-books and artworkonline. The only thing you need to cash in is to put a link leading to shoppable listing of products thatyou sell and automatically redirects Instagram followers. Traditional online shop building solutionsare mainly focused on merchants selling physical goods and rarely offer even a basic toolkit for thoseselling digital products. Luckily, there are specialized services that cater for this type of customers.Like Sellfy a platform that enables you to sell anything digital without a website

Sell Anything Digital. Receive Jnstant Payment

Mow 50.000 writer*:. rfpslgnpfs, musicians and lilmmalw;

tiusT Selty to &eit tfteir digital produc1 ■

How it works on the seller’s side?

Upon registering with Sellfy you are given a Dashboard where you can upload all your digital products. For every product you get a shortened “buy now” URL that can be easily shared in socialnetworks, including Instagram. There is also a link available to your entire storefront with all thedigital products that you have uploaded.

Next, you should setup the payments by simply adding your PayPal account email. Once a sale is complete, you instantly get the payment and buyer can download the file.

There are also few useful extra features available to the sellers. An option to setup an affiliate program for your products so that other people are able to share your work and make a smallcommission from driving your sales. As well as an option to offer a personal discount to those, whotweet or share a link to one of your products. More reach means more potential sales.

Sellfy pricing policy is simple and transparent - 5% cut on every transaction. Additionally, you will be charges a small percentage by PayPal.

How it works on the buyer’s side?

For a buyer it all runs smoothly; he/she clicks the link you provide, lands on the product page or on your storefront’s page. Then clicks the Buy button, inputs credit card details or PayPal credentials andcompletes the transaction. Once payment is collected, file becomes available to download.

Selling Physical Products on Instagram

As previously mentioned, Instagram is a sweet spot for selling anything fashion, beauty and lifestyle related. For merchants who already operate an e-commerce shop it is just a matter of putting a link tothe shop in bio and then promoting wisely and heavily. However, creating an online shop usingtraditional solutions is time consuming and requires certain level of tech savviness. Uploadingpictures, filling in countless fields, configuring and collecting payments can be overwhelming. It isworth the effort for seasoned entrepreneurs with large inventory, but not really worth it for beginners,amateurs and those, who consider online selling only as a part of their business. In this case, it makessense to use Inselly - a tool that makes your Instagram feed instantly shop-able.

THE EASIEST TOOL FOR ONLINE SELLING

InseUu. i

A3MU5 5*>g HtWttSeil Hth

M0=W MQ CffUMUJuppyr

* ■ ojjtn ^

FASHION JEWELRY & WATCHESKIDS t GASlES

H0ME1LIVINC BEAUTY A COSMETICS

ART A COLLECTIBLES MORE

A E^ifecr SdUIlQn far aspfring oolite Sp'F'* o-'fl-np 5;m C'.vnefS. IfKte dvsi^ners 3nfl cratiro10 Mature Du opo/ytcrvcej provided r.y soc-.h- selling

Starting an e-commerce business becomes as easy as posting onIn stag ram

m.h-5 an *pii aeMum snd southing ro jt o vottjn&rjw av-ay lii-

qetdr-3 ytw cwn.l'etenl 'w shop¹ S ^plv vwp □ p'c'jecl vcar .terns lot sae.Taq Ine-rp. pov 1/j T^rag'&m. conned your orco^i 10 ^:n:e j¹ anc raise o q as; lor ;cx". nqthe world cl fl-COTip^rce

Haye a-iuri hlttDUI Is :*j( UKibJs (IJJltlllLfiKl? Tl.i-s migM txr Um tjijc vwlly yatrr 1c lawarsfln Instsyarfl dsn'l ccnwit into o j-.prs J« inw.ty [emafco yojr

loMag^n [eedinsien^sncppadesfld boost nstagiamgerKratHsales

How to Seti?

Inselly is the First Instagram Marketplace and a free tool for seamless online selling. It syncs with your Instagram account and creates shoppable product pages from your Instagram posts.

How it works on the setter’s side?

First step is to connect Instagram with Inselly by signing in on inselly.com with your Instagram login and password. Take a minute to fill in contact information, add PayPal email for direct payments frombuyers, write a short description of your shop, state shipping and delivery policies.

Next step is to upload sales offers by simply adding #inselly tag to the pictures in your Instagram account. They will get instantly pulled into your Inselly storefront. Now head back to your Insellyshop, click the Edit button next to every picture, add product price and shipping rate. There are alsooptional fields such as discount price, size and quantity. In case you upgrade to Premium version,there will also be an option to customize your storefront, add custom categories, “Pre-Order” and“Bogo” tags.

There you go; shop is up and running and all that is left to do is to add a link in Instagram’s bio to enable followers to buy your products in one click. Once a sale is complete, you get email notificationand the payment goes straight to your PayPal account.

All of the above-mentioned steps can be completed on the phone, laptop or PC as Inselly has both desktop and mobile versions as well as an Android app. As a result, you get a fully functional mobileoptimized online shop that can be used to sell not only on Instagram, but also in other social networksand anywhere across the web.

Inselly is free in Basic version. Premium version is free until the beginning of 2016 with a 5% transaction fee afterwards.

How it works on the buyer's side?

For buyers Inselly powered shops look like traditional e-commerce websites with all the elements that they expect to find. Transaction happens in-store in a pop-up window via PayPal in just one click.

Regardless of whichever Instagram selling tools you choose, be it one of those stated in this chapter or any other, make sure it offers a seamless shopping experience for your potential customers. The lesssteps there are from spotting a nice product in your Instagram feed to checkout, the more sales you getand less people dropout along the way.

Photo Credit: Feng Yu Dreamstime.com

Promoting the Shop on Instagram

Tips and Tricks

So, your Instagram account has a catchy name, appealing profile picture, comprehensive description and is packed with quality product images. Now it is time to create an Instagram marketing strategy toput your products in front of potential customers.

Promoting the shop on Instagram is much more than just posting photos. It is going to take consistent work and willingness to try new tactics, some that might be even out of your comfort zone. Below youwill find a list of the most efficient ways to connect and engage with Instagram users.

1. Tell a story

Storytelling is the key to getting people to care about what you do. Instagram accounts filled only with product images doesn’t resonate with customers and tells them nothing about the person behind thestorefront. Product images should be mixed with your personal photos and pictures that speak for yourbrand. For example, if you sell organic cosmetics, then beautiful shots of nature, plants, naturaltextures and materials is what people will expect to find in your feed. The reasonable ration is 40:60:only 40% of product images and 60% of all other pictures. Being too salesy never pays off.

2. Be Pro-active

Take time to comment on pictures of people you follow, get involved in discussions, be active and engaged. In order to receive something, you have to first give something. It also makes sense to screensimilar Instagram shops to find people who might become your potential customers and connect withthem.

3. Benefit from trending hashtags

New tags emerge on Instagram daily and some of them take the social network by storm getting enormous reach. Keep an eye on trending hashtags and use them in your posts, whenever possible.You can also determine hashtags that are highly relevant to your business (e.g. #fashionaddict or#fashionista for fashion shop). Use them in your own posts as well as engage with other people’s postswith these tags to get noticed by potential customers.

4. Repost customer’s photos

Ask your customers to post photos featuring your products on Instagram and tag them with your brand’s hashtag, Find and repost the best ones. It will act as a social proof for your shop andencourage more customers to post photos of their purchases thus getting your shop in front of evenmore eyes.

5. @mention customers

When posting something that seems to be a great match to one of your customers, @mention him/her in the comment to let him/her know about the offer. Don’t get too intrusive, though.

6. Give a clear call-to-action

Let your customers know how they can buy products that you post. Consider giving clear call-to-actions such as “Get them today in store” or “Shop Now”.

NB! Don’t assume that people will somehow highlight a URL in your caption and copy-paste it in a browser. If you really want people to click through to your shop, clearly refer them to the only placewith clickable link i.e the link in your Instagram bio.

7. Participate in #sfs activities

#sfs and #s4s or “shoutout for shoutout” is one of the most popular Instagram marketing techniques. This simple strategy has been proven to grow follower counts at a very fast rate. For many of the bigaccounts that have thousands upon thousands of followers, continuously teaming up with similaraccounts to give each other shoutouts has been the #1 strategy for follower growth.

8. Link Instagram with other social accounts

Instagram has an option of cross-posting pictures to Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. Don’t ignore an opportunity to spread the word about new sales offers in other social networks.

9. Benefit from Instagram Direct

Instagram Direct lets you privately share pictures with up to 15 people. Every chat can be named and saved for future use. This is a great way to engage with your most active followers to share sale alerts,top picks, daily deals and other perks they might enjoy.

10. Run a giveaway (Promotional Offers)

We all love free stuff! Create an eye catching graphic and ask your followers to share it for a chance to win one of your products, or tag one of their friends in the comments or even both. Giveaway is avery traditional way to boost engagement because it rarely fails.

You will never know which of the above mentioned tactics works best for your particular business until you try it. So, be ready to experiment and create your own mix of different tactics for a winningInstagram marketing strategy.

Instagram Marketing Toolkit

Creating, managing and promoting Instagram account is not rocket science, but with a serious approach and ambitious goals in mind, it gets rather time-consuming. The app alone may be enoughfor a start, but using the right tools can really take you to the next level.

The world of Instagram marketing tools is huge and overwhelming. There is one for every problem and challenge you may think of. But is it really necessary to automate every single action? Definitelynot. Still, using a small but wisely chosen set of tools can significantly increase your efficiency andramp up the results.

1. Hashtag research

Finding the best performing and trending tags is usually a challenge and is time consuming. Tagstagram is an app that provides lists of trending tags organized by sets and categories. Simply findthe group of tags best suited to the image, copy, refer back to Instagram and paste in caption orcomment to the post. The “Lite” version is free to use.

2. Statistics

It is easy to track comments and likes at the very beginning, but it gets really complicated when you hit a thousand followers. Iconosquare provides statistics about your account’s performance, growth,history and optimization tips. You can see the latest followers and those, who have recentlyunfollowed. Check which of the pictures where the most liked and commented to use these insights forfuture posts. There is also a comment tracker to view comments on your posts and respond directlyfrom Iconosquare’s dashboard. Most of the features are free to use.

3. Post planning

You need to post regularly in order to reach new Instagram followers and keep current followers engaged. In times that are best for your followers and not always best for you. Latergram is a tool thatallows to upload and schedule Instagram posts from computer and mobile devices. You can carefullyplan, prepare and schedule posts for the entire week and then use the saved time on other things thatmatter for your business. Basic version is free.

4. Growth hacking

Growing the follower base is the biggest challenge of any business on Instagram. In the previous chapter we have provided a list of simple yet efficient tactics that will help grow your account slowlybut steadily. One of those advices is for you to engage with potential customers that fit the targetaudience for your products. Liking, commenting and following potential customers is a timeconsuming work if done manually. Good news is that it can actually be automated. Instagress is anautomated Instagram engagement tool that can comment, like and follow new accounts for you.Simply select how much activity you want the bot to do, set up specific hashtags, locations and peopleto target. Instagress works, but there are certain risks involved because of Instagram’s anti-spampolicy. The bot runs quiet fast and your account’s behavior can be detected as spam and thereforeblocked. So, when setting up the bot, be careful with choosing the pace option. It can post in slow,normal or fast pace and the last one might be tricky. Pricing plans from $1.99.

5. Graphic creation

Pairing beautiful images with a piece of sharable content, like an inspiring quote or a practical tip is an effective way to engage with followers. Canva is a DYI design tool that offers a wide range ofstriking graphic templates for various social networks, including Instagram. There are also numerousfilters, fonts, texts, styles and the ability to upload your own images. User interface is simple andfriendly, so you will be creating quality custom graphics in no time. Canva is free to use in basicversion, you only pay $1 for each premium design elements.

Instagram Advertising

Now that you have done a lot of work promoting your Instagram storefront with free tools and techniques, it would be wise to invest in accelerating growth. In September 2015 Instagram developersfinally released Instagram sponsored ads to all app users and businesses of all sizes.

There are several reasons to be excited about this new opportunity and jump in early. First, Instagram is using highly coveted Facebook ad-targeting tools, which means that it is easy to reach a veryspecific audience. Besides, Instagram users have not yet been inundated with a large number of ads intheir feeds, so they are likely to be more responsive. Lastly, Instagram is known to be the best socialreferrer among all other social networks, including Facebook. Meaning good chances to get a lot ofhighly targeted visitors to your shop for a smaller sum than anywhere else. If this sounds convincingenough, then let’s get to the step-by-step tutorial on how to set up an ad campaign. (photo creditInselly Help Center)

First, you should be Facebook Business Manager user. It is not obligatory, but without connecting your Instagram account to Business Manager you will not be able to respond to any comments on thead. Also, instead of your Instagram handle, your Facebook page name will be displayed. It will begrayed out and not clickable.

1. How to add your Instagram account on the Business Manager? Go to your Business Manager

Click Settings-> Instagram Ads. Click Add an Account

N0lHC3tK>r>5

Settings

Publishing tools

Insights

Instagrom Ads

■m post Attribution

Instagram ads are gradually rolling out and might rot be available to you right now. Von can connect your instag ram account to your Page to have your setup ready

& Notifications

Connect an histogram Account Tor Advertising

use 3n instaflram account to mpresenl your&umness when you run sm? on finslwam. You can only connect one Innlagram account to your Page l earn more in Ihe Help Conler

People and Other Pages

Add an Account

g instagram Ads

★ Featured

Page Support

Activity Log

2. Proceed to Power Editor. Do you see this banner?

Facebook and Irtstagram Ads — Better Together

Now you can creaie instagrarn aas witn Powei Eouor

New Ways to Reach Your Customers

Conned wrBi people on one of the world's top mobile platforms

Real Results for Your Ads

Get people to interactwilft your ads in ways you care about-■from video viewsto mobile app installs

Simple and Streamlined

create and manage your insiagramads alongside your Facebook ads in FewerEditor.

If yes, then start creating campaign in Power Editor. If not, click Download to Power Editor, select your ad account and click Download.

3. Click Create Campaign, enter the name of the campaign and select the Clicks to Websiteobjective. For Instagram ad you can choose between Clicks to Website, Mobile App Installs andVideo Views.

CHOO SE A CAMPAIGN

Use Existing

* Create New

Enter a Campaign Name

Buying Type

Auction #

Objective

CHOOSE AN AD SET

Use Existing

Create New

CREATE NEW AD

Name Ad

Creating 1 campaign

fc Clicks to Website *

tnter Ne v Ad Se Name

New ad sfcts WiW include tn stag ram selected as a placement

En eran Ad Name

Cancel

4. Now let’s get to campaign settings. Go to the ad set level by clicking on the middle option in the navigation bar on the left. Select the newly created ad set and click Edit.

Campaign settings include:

• Budget

• Schedule

• Audience

• Placement

• Optimization and Delivery

• Advanced Delivery

And exactly here, on the ad set level, you should be able to see the new placement option which says “Instagram”.

5. The final and the most important step is to design Instagram ad:

After you created the campaign and finished with the settings, move to the ads level and click Edit next to an ad. First, select your Instagram account as a destination for the ad. Instagram doesn’t allowthe use one of existing posts as an ad, you will have to create a new one.

y>Edit |

Destination

+ Create Ad

Facebook Page

Chouse a Faoebook Page that can be used to run ads on Facebook in ttie fultiTc. Your Instagram account wlff be used when your ad is shown on instagram.

v" Only show Pages connected to inSelty t-^Ej inSelty *

In&lagrarn Account

EMsellycoiTi 4

Connect your Instagram accounts in Business Manager

Enter the text for your ad (max 300 characters), select an image (the recommended size is 1080x1080px) or upload a video of maximum 30s long, and choose one of the call-to-action buttons.

Change Image

142. png - 1188 * 1040 Edit crop: Instagram

0 Square Crop (1:1) is recommended for the Instagram placement. Edit Instagram crop

For questions and more information, see the Facebook Ad Guidelines

Call To Action I

Learn More *

6. Finally, use the preview to see exactly how your ad will appear on Instagram: click the greenUpload Changes button at the top of the page.

OSjwnsoretl

ins^ilycorn

in3eltyccnn Turn your instag ram Foilowersjnto cusiorrrtfs ani get a 1ree online store wnh irsellySelhr^g cn'ine becomes as easy as postrig ... more

In the Power Editor, you will see a link just under the ad preview.

Ad Links

Ad \D

Open In Ads Manager

□pen In Ads Reporting

View Instag ram permatink with comments

Open Power Editor with this ad selected

Click it to see your ad in the web version of Instagram and respond to comments.

NB! Instagram is extremely strict about the quality of ads, so before creating ads on Instagram, make sure you follow the most important rules:

• No use of images that were previously used in other ads

• No heavy use of image filters.

• No text is allowed on ad imagery.

• No gimmicks!

• No logos on the ads (unless a product logo appears in a photo as a natural, non-obvious part ofa scene).

• Images must be “true to your brand” — and not be cheesy or shocking.

• Ads should take their cues from existing creative community hashtags that are popular onInstagram.

• Ads should capture “moments,” not products. Ads must not simply be a product shot, in otherwords.

• Images should be clear, framed, balanced, and in high resolution.

Advertising on Instagram is not a “one size fits all solution” and it might not work well for some businesses or in certain cases. Nevertheless, if you already have a loyal audience on this app, youradvertising budget will surely be maximized.

Photo credit: VisualHimt

Conclusion or The Main Secret of Instagram

We gradually went through all the theory and tools that you might need to sell on Instagram. Whether it will be successful depends on many factors, just like in any other business. The niche you havechosen, the pricing, the quality of your follower base, the country you live in as well as countless othersmaller and bigger nuances.

There are no sure-fire strategies that guarantee immediate results. Only consistent work and experiments can help you find your own unique way to conquer hearts of your target audience.However, summing up all of the tips and tricks stated in this book, there is one crucial factor that iscommon for every Instagram seller, regardless of his/her country of residence or choice of products.

Remember: Instagram is a place for visual interaction with your followers. Don’t turn it into a traditional storefront, that is not what people expect to find on Instagram. There are places that werecreated and targeted for this, like Amazon and similar marketplaces, but Instagram is first andforemost about emotions, not price tags. The majority of sales on Instagram are impulse purchases, sodo your best to give Instagram users those impulses. Inspire them, fascinate them!

What does this mean in real life? Less products on plain white background (especially with prices and aggressive captions right on the image), more faces, more storytelling and background shots. This willsell your products much easier than sales alerts and deals.

If you sell handmade jewelry, ask your friends to model them for you, create inspirational sets with your jewelry pieces; spiced up with sweet and beautiful objects. If you sell clothing, combine severalpieces into fashion outfits to give your followers a hint on how to style them right. Provide them withboth inspirational and product information.

The growing competition and overwhelming amount of sales offers that attack every Instagram user, will leave you no chances if you are selling directly and aggressively. No matter how good yourproducts are, they will get lost if your efforts are not geared wisely. Start building a loyal followingright from day one, emphasize the best qualities of your product, and engage your followers in everypossible way. People are always in search of inspiration, so give them what they need and they willbecome loyal customers.

Instagram was always a perfect place to sell stories and emotions while the demand for “just products” keeps fading. Those, who think that Instagram is just another sales channel that is a biteasier and less time consuming than others, are deeply wrong.

With a bit of creativity and uniqueness while engaging your followers with a compelling story; success is definitely guaranteed!