6 Tips to Improve Your Ecommerce Brand's Instagram Strategy

In the past few years, Instagram has grown to over 1 billion monthly active users. Out of all of these active users, 500 million users log onto the platform daily. Instagram is the social media platform that see the most engagement from users, 68% engagement in comparison to Facebook’s 32% engagement. Knowing this, Instagram should then be the top priority of your social media marketing.

What do you really need in order to make the most of this big platform for your ecommerce site? The major keys are automation, high-quality content, engagement with followers, effortless buying for your followers, user generated content and contests and lastly, influencers.

1. Schedule a month of content: Posting at least one time a day helps your remain on the top of your followers’ minds. It’s easier to do when when you prepare your content a month at a time; this will ensure that you do not skip a day. You can also save time from logging in to your account every day and posting by scheduling your posts with automation apps that automatically do it for you, like Hootsuite, Buffer, or Later. When scheduling content, keep in mind that it should be engaging to your followers. Switch up the subject of your content and style of your photos. For example, one day you can schedule a posed/ staged photo, the next day a candid, the next day an “in the field” shot, etc.
   
   
2. High-quality content: It is very important that your content is high-quality for several reasons. Besides the obvious, image quality, you can also optimize your content for Instagram specifically. That means creating content around trending hashtags and ensuring that the 1:1 ratio is kept. Tools like Canva can help you resize your images. High quality content ideas that we have found to be successful include behind the scenes photos of your products, user generated content, and giveaways with exclusive coupons. Captions that are around 138-150 characters in length are most effective because they will not be cut off and followers can read your entire message. Instagram allows the space for 2,200 maximum characters, put users will have to click “more” to read it all.
   
   In addition, it’s helpful to design a grid layout and theme so that your Instagram account looks consistent throughout all posts.. What do you want your business to be portrayed as? Represent that through your social media. Use the same filter on your photos, or plan the filters you will use on the grid layout to be the most visually appealing.
   
   
3. Engagement with followers: Engaging with your followers on Instagram helps you build a loyal following. To maintain a strong relationship with your followers, respond to their comments and answer the questions that they comment or direct message to you. If you see that your Instagram account is getting too much engagement to handle, then consider integrating customer service. You can use Later’s Search & Repost feature to manage comments on your Instagram posts, consolidate your messages by sending them to you Facebook Messenger; or use a software like Freshdesk that will consolidate all of your messages across your social channels.
   
   
4. Effortless buying for your followers: Making sure that your followers get what they want in a timely and effortless manner is the key. Below are a few suggestions to achieve conversions through Instagram.
   • Put a direct link in your profile bio using a clear call to action to a product or a landing page (see below).
   • Create a customized landing page for your website that is responsive on mobile. Remember that 25% of smartphone owners use Instagram and 70% buy via mobile.
   • Don’t sell too much on your Instagram!Instead of using sales-driven content, use user-generated that your own followers tag you in or culture and lifestyle shots that people will relate to.
     
   
   
5. Contests and user generated content: Make your followers feel special by inviting them into your brand. When you are creating contests, you are giving followers the opportunity to share their lives with your brand, and in return they will get something in return, not bad right? Instagram is a great platform to generate new prospects.
   
   
6. Influencers: An influencer is a person who has established a social media audience already and could help you grow yours with the help of their loyal fans. If you have some money to spend, spend it on Instagram influencers. If you want to do this and you don’t have the set budget for it, another option is to offer the influencer a percentage of your sales.

So, what are you waiting for? It is time for you to follow these simple tips and start making money from your Instagram account. It doesn't have to require a lot of your time and budget if you follow these six tips. If you have any more ecommerce-related questions, check out the rest of our blogs and feel free to reach out to us!