Selling through Instagram can be both difficult and easy. From the perspective of preparing an online store, the social network will require much less effort than a website – in Instagram, it is enough to fill in a series of text fields and upload colorful posts with hashtags, and the audience will start to gather. A website requires a domain, hosting, suitable design, an engine, and well-thought-out promotion algorithms. Beyond the easy start lies serious competition, problems with finding an audience and customers. However, let’s discuss everything in order.
Popular niches for an Instagram online store
Instagram stores, presented on the network, confirm a long-known fact – you can sell even sand in the desert, the main thing is to find the right buyer. In the realities of social networks, the rule also works: on Instagram pages, it is easy to meet those who sell clothes, cosmetics, technology, or even goods ordered directly from China. If you do not delve into the main topics, when choosing a niche, it is worth focusing on personal knowledge, experience, and skills. If the principle of working with Aliexpress is unknown, is it worth starting a business where it is easier to stumble and lose the budget than to get rich? It is worth choosing a business that you enjoy, and then start searching for the right path.
Why choose Instagram. Benefits of the platform for business
The social network Instagram is suitable for sales and developing individual businesses for many reasons. It allows brands to showcase themselves from all angles with colorful and informative photos, and has a low entry barrier, allowing users to focus on filling out their profile rather than worrying about websites, domains, and hosting. It also makes it easier to study the market, with the help of Stories for conducting surveys, live streams for direct communication with customers, and messages and comments for conveying important thoughts.
Finding a niche for business on Instagram is also much easier, as demand for clothing, cosmetics, accessories, and mobile technology remains unchanged. Only occasionally do experimentalists try to diversify the market by promoting their products through creative processes and handmade items.
Additionally, trends make life easier for businessmen. In the “Recommended” section, new products, services, or offers that are in high demand often appear, providing an opportunity to expand one’s niche and explore new possibilities.
How to set up the sales process
You can’t sell step by step on Instagram and make a profit without going through a step-by-step checklist. If any details are missed, it’s worth going through the list again.
Full analysis of competitors
To start a career as an internet entrepreneur who owns a store on Instagram, it is advisable to begin by monitoring the profiles of others who sell goods and services. This does not refer to accounts with millions of subscribers from abroad, but rather to real competitors located nearby in terms of geographical location (if location is an important part of the business) or in the same niche. The analysis should start from the customer’s perspective – hashtags, search queries.
The pages found should then be filtered by checking their reach and growth on the LiveDune service. If there is a trend towards growth in the profiles, all the information can be confidently recorded in an Excel spreadsheet. The final step is to visit the websites of competitors and leave requests for a call back. It is important to evaluate the entire range of actions, from the design to the responsiveness of managers and the speed of processing requests. During the process, there will be a chance to understand the details and identify mistakes that you would not want to make in the future.
Stylish design of a business account
If you need to “borrow” business tricks from your competitors, then it is recommended to personally create a selling account in accordance with the requirements of the social network and marketing features. It is important to choose a suitable avatar (experts suggest using a photo at the start of your career rather than a logo created in a free editor from available templates), and fill in the “Name” field with information about your profession (for example, “Installation of interior doors”; it is best to forget about real surnames and names – no one is searching for that).
It is also important to share a link to your website, blog, or even a page on Vkontakte for communication.
What to do next depends on the niche, theme, and experience, but one thing to remember is content. It is desirable to add at least 2 posts per day of informational, entertaining, or advertising nature. Moreover, in Instagram, texts always come second – the presentation is conducted through photos.
Advertising mailing
Increasing sales through Direct messages is quite possible, but only if valuable information is being sent, subscribers are well researched and targeted. Otherwise, there is a high chance of receiving negative feedback. Instead of orders and revenue growth, there will be unsubscribes and angry comments under posts.
If everything is prepared and risks are minimized, then to activate the mailing list, it is worth turning to the InstaPlus service. There, developers have provided several automated systems for promoting a profile on social networks, and beginners are offered a step-by-step instruction with tips and recommendations.
Use amplifiers – contests and lotteries
Sales on Instagram often restart immediately after a series of giveaways with serious prizes. We’re not talking about the latest model of the iPhone (although followers are much more eager for such an occasion), but about a free service, discounted product, or a promotional kit that can turn into a valuable and useful gift. If approached correctly, the “amplifier” given as a gift after a contest or lottery will not incur losses, but will help attract new subscribers and those who will try to win next time.
Who is the target audience – engagement
Trading on Instagram is impossible without experiments and constant search for the right path. Some ideas should be borrowed from competitors, while the other half should be taken from bloggers. Then, when followers start to come in, the stage of analyzing new participants begins. It is important to immediately research questions related to where newcomers come from, which posts are more often appreciated (informational or entertaining), and which products attract additional attention.
All ideas and nuances should be combined together and then turned into an inexhaustible source of new audience.
Customer communication
There are no perfect ways to interact with customers that lead to increased sales, even marketing gurus have not come up with them yet. After all, customers often do not like the way the conversation is conducted, and thousands of external details – price, appearance, available sizes. Therefore, it is worth adhering to three words: friendliness, politeness, informativeness.
Convenient order placement
Selling products through Instagram is easier if you have already studied issues related to delivery (CDEK, Russian Post), payment and accepted payment services, and bank cards. Anyone can sell on Instagram, but only after serious preparation and a series of experiments. It is important to research the market, understand the advantages and disadvantages of customers, and, like a mosaic, create the perfect business yourself, based on demand and expanding the list of offers. The main thing is not to give up after just one month. Social networks are capricious and demanding: daily publications, a quality and stylish profile, constant communication with buyers – without these actions, you should not even count on a couple of successful deals.