People are highly visual consumers. When the product images are poor, the customers see it at once even if a good product is offered to them. A superb copy doesn’t save the situation either. People tend to judge the product’s quality and its value by looking at its photos so if you want to persuade them of the quality, excellent product photography is necessary. You should showcase your products in the most favorable light to boost your Instagram account and increase sales. A well-organized process increases conversion considerably. Moreover, great product photographs contribute to your brand image. So, this is also a great way to drive sales in the long run.
How to use Instagram for the promotion of your products
The study that was conducted recently confirmed the big role of social media in the creation of brand awareness for small businesses. When marketing experts were asked about the best possibility to increase the brand’s recognition, most of them mentioned social media. They also think that it is the best place to gain new customers. 73% of respondents reported their intentions to increase spending on SMM (social media marketing) that works most effectively for promotion.
This data is especially important for small-sized companies that need to stretch their budgets and get the most from advertising to survive on the market. Instagram is a brilliant tool, therefore small-sized and middle-sized companies actively use the service to promote their products. Business owners noticed that their target audience made a move over to Instagram, so they followed them there.
Do you have good coverage on Instagram? If not, you lose much. Just look at several figures below:
- 90% of users follow at least one business account on Instagram;
- Instagram ads affect buying decisions for 50% of Instagram users who are more willing to buy the product that was previously advertised on Instagram;
- 83% of Instagram visitors find new products on the pages of this social media;
- 59% of influencers are sure of the efficacy of their services as they get the best engagement.
It is also worth mentioning that over a billion active users communicate on Instagram regularly, so this resource has huge potential! No wonder, it is often preferred over other social media channels for the promotion of products.
Take advantage of its popularity to make your product stand out and expand your online presence. The arsenal of Instagram instruments is quite extensive. You can reach a larger audience with the right use of online product photography. 75% of potential customers rely on product photos before making buying decisions. As you understand, high-quality images tend to increase conversion considerably.
How many likes are enough for success? What is the engagement rate?
We should understand the algorithm of the Instagram engine to make it work for your better conversion. With the right approach, the advertised products can become highly demanded. Such a parameter as engagement matters much on Instagram. The marketing specialists recommend using excellent product images to improve it.
The audience is picky now and doesn’t put up with low-quality photos. Even if the quality of product shots is above average, it is still advised to apply for professional assistance in this question. It can help you to increase Instagram engagement rate, which can be calculated with special tools. People usually pay attention to insignificant figures when they focus on several likes. However, this is the engagement rate that matters for the Instagram engine as it is a more correct metric that reflects the activity of your followers. You can easily calculate the engagement rate if you divide the number of interactions that your posts get by the number of followers multiplied by 100%. According to this formula, it is great to get 100 likes from an account with 1000 followers. This scheme urges users to prioritize quality instead of quantity.
Companies that sell their product rely on these figures as they use Instagram marketing techniques to increase the volume of sales. The engine measures engagements by considering such factors as profile clicks, comments, likes, the ratio of views vs likes, saves, and shares. If viewers take a long look at the product images you post, it also affects the engagement rate. Even such a factor as zooming matters. When members of the community zoom on your photo, it reveals their interest in your graphic content, consequently, the engagement rate increases.
If your engagement rate reached 10%, this is excellent. Many marketing specialists consider that a good engagement rate varies from 1 to 5%. Though much depends on the niche of the account holder.
5 steps to make your Instagram account successful
There are different ways to become popular on Instagram. Different businesses resort to different methods to promote their products. Based on the results, the most effective combination of promotion methods is chosen.
Surely, the enhancement of visual content is important for the popularity of your account. This is the best strategy to follow as stunning product shots or some other content brings organic views, likes, and followers. However, there are other methods you can use to improve the engagement rate. This metric can be ‘optimized’ if you resort to a range of methods we want to share with you.
1. Create the captivating content
Create captivating content that helps to promote your account organically thus driving more sales. Just imagine how oversaturated the online world is! So many creative personalities and brands try their best to stand out and captivate your attention. And you have to join this race and get your share in it!
It is worth remembering that this is a visual platform, consequently, you should try to create great visual content. This is also a great retention method that improves your customers’ loyalty.
2. Buy Instagram ads
The purchase of Instagram ads is a very effective promotion method as Instagram employs a comprehensive and powerful Facebook advertising system. Companies can target people based on their interests, age, location, and behaviors. There are special instruments enabling brands to target those who made a purchase before or at least interacted with you.
You can use Facebook Ads Manager to create and manage your Instagram ads. You should define the audience for your ads by targeting a specific set of Instagram users for better efficacy. Then select the placement for your ads, for instance, Instagram stories or feed. Decide upon the budget and schedule that seem appropriate for you. Using a flexible system, you can tune the advertising campaign to meet the demands of your enterprise.
3. Purchase bloggers’ advertising
This is a common method to promote business on Instagram. If companies want to purchase ads from popular bloggers they have to wait for a couple of months or even more as they schedule their advertising posts ahead. Previously, companies preferred to apply celebrities for advertising. The advertising trends are different now. Bloggers with an audience of 50K to a million followers are more popular at the moment.
4. Add audience-specific hashtags
Making posts with hashtags helps to grow your business. When you use this feature, you can reach more users in your target audience. Though many users doubt it, hashtags remain one of the best instruments for the expansion of your audience and driving engagement. Analyzing the stats, you can see that most people find your account after clicking on Instagram hashtags. Hashtags can catch the attention and provide a way to connect with you directly via social media. Also, hashtags:
- help to cut through the noise and attract new customers;
- build and strengthen the community;
- give the flexibility to promote products or events;
- can engage loyal customers to upload their own content;
- help to group content so that users could easily find topics or products and photographs they are interested in.
In general, this is a great way for efficient communication if you apply the hashtags properly. Hashtags shouldn’t be too long to avoid confusion. It’s also recommended not to use many of them. It’s enough to use two of them for optimal results. If you use more, the user engagement drops by 17%. If you need to find the most relevant hashtags, use free online services such as Websta. This tool delivers a list of popular hashtags based on your keywords.
5. Turn your followers into customers
There are different ways to achieve this goal as well. This is the task of account holders who have established a large audience already but it doesn’t drive sales for some reason. Though you gained loyalty already, the conversion of fans to buyers is a challenge. The problem can be solved with the following methods:
- creation of scarcity
People are afraid of missing a good offer. The volume of sales usually grows if the discount is offered for a limited time.
- posts showcasing new products photos
If you highlight new or exclusive products, it can help to drive more sales.
- highlighting social proof
This is a very powerful means that encourages your users to act and become customers. When the company asks its followers to post a product photo with a specific hashtag, they willingly show their creative nature. As a result, we get a vibrant community with active members who create user-generated content (UGC) that encourages new users to purchase the product.
According to statistics, 63% of users prefer to buy from an online store with some kind of social proof such as reviews, or product ratings. So you use this channel to increase the customer base using the methods described above.
Don’t forget to showcase your products
It’s important to have the account peppered with posts and ads for your products. The audience should see the promoted product images immediately. The social media platform created all conditions for it. The grid structure is perfect for promotion goals. The grid should tell the story of your brand. It should show your achievements and showcase your best products to motivate Instagram users to become your customers.
Beautiful photos of products sell well but it’s not only that. They work to build your brand. Classy product images should be weaved throughout social networks, articles, and other places where your brand is mentioned since the formation of branding is impossible without visual perception. This is a key element that shouldn’t stay on a product’s label only. Visual content won’t work well if the logo is the only graphic element presented everywhere. The pictures of products often reveal what your brand and your activity are about. The photos can tell the story of your brand much better via social media posts. Companies spend huge budgets on brand building for years, while there is a shorter way. They can attain the goal much faster with the product photography does an amazing job as it conveys the brand image!
Hire professionals to get products photographs of supreme quality
Instagram-friendly photos are photos of the highest quality as they capture the attention of the audience. It may seem that there is nothing difficult about it and any person can create product photoshoots. However, the experience shows that professional photographs result in a higher conversion rate in comparison with photos taken by amateur photographers. Experienced photographers use top-notch equipment and the best editing software that helps to get photos of supreme quality.
The choice of a professional photography studio is preferable to get consistency in the quality and style of photos taken over time. It can be challenging to play with the same color, positioning, and lighting without experience of work in a photo studio. Consistency is a must for companies that care about brand image and quality. This is a marketing trick that is barely noticeable but can be estimated. Consistency in quality and brand image leads to consistency in the customers coming to your store.
Gone are the days when Instagram was a simple photo-sharing channel. Though it still serves this purpose, it also evolved into a key sales channel, which you can use to boost your sales. You can attain the goal with great products photography and Instagram promotion methods described in this article. However, you shouldn’t use just one or two promotion methods from the list. The right marketing strategy for eCommerce is a blend of different measures that include a range of serious tasks: learning more about your potential customers, correct targeting, interesting posts, stunning studio photos, and user-generated content. It requires much organizational, technical, and creative work to devise a solid marketing strategy but the result obtained later is worth it.