Instagram is one of the most popular social networks in the country. For small entrepreneurs, it has become an accessible platform for online sales - the financial threshold for creating and promoting a store on Instagram is minimal, and the opportunities for gaining new sales markets are endless.
The social network is positive about business pages that post original photos, and such online stores get more views. It is not surprising that Instagram has become a real Klondike for handmade manufacturers, who have gained the opportunity to show their products in all their glory.
Tools such as stories and live broadcasts provide entrepreneurs with maximum contact with customers. Another significant advantage is savings. You can sell products on a social network even without having your own website. If you don’t have money for advertising, you can really promote an account on your own, but you will have to spend a lot of time on it. So, you pay for the promotion either with your own money or with time – everything is fair.
Creating a business account
It is worth creating a portrait of the users of the online store. Answer the question: who will be interested in it? It is not necessary that subscribers buy, the main thing is that they show activity on your page. The more users react, the more intensively Instagram promotes your store. Having outlined your audience, you will have an idea of how to name, design and maintain a business account.
When registering on the social network, choose a professional type of account from the "Business" category. After that, come up with a name for it, write a description and upload a profile photo. Take care in advance of the appearance of your feed, the style of templates for posts, stories, video covers, captions on photos. All this should distinguish your page from other online stores and work to ensure that the brand can be easily identified and remembered.
"I recommend taking your own photos. This is your business card, your brand, this will make your account different from those who like to copy standard photos from the supplier’s website or, even worse, from another retail store. A video review will be very useful: this way a person will consider the product in detail. And it’s great if you show the application of the product, for example, clothes on a model, a curling iron – how she curls her hair, cosmetics – how it looks on the face.”
How to properly promote an online store
You can promote your account for free or for a fee, but paid advertising will have a greater effect. Since Instagram belongs to Facebook, it is better to set up advertising settings on this social network, because it is more convenient to set up targeting here.
The cost depends on the audience: different types of subscribers (place of residence, age, gender, etc.) have their own price. The more targeted (purposeful) your advertising audience, the more effective it is.
“Targeted advertising has two promotion options: through the “Advertise” button on Instagram or through the ADS manager account on Facebook. However, everything is not so simple: clicking buttons at random leads to a drain on the budget and zero orders. First, look for information on how to set up advertising, or contact a specialist. One such setting will cost 250–1000 hryvnias, which is the payment for the services of a targeting specialist. The advertising itself costs separately: from a dollar per day to the amount you can afford. It is also important that the offer is interesting, so that among the dozen advertisements that appear in front of the viewer, he is interested in yours.
There is another way: the blogger market. It is now oversaturated, every presenter is fighting for a subscriber, because the larger his audience, the more expensive the advertisement. You can find a mini-blogger who will agree to work on a barter basis, for goods, or for money. The price starts from 200 hryvnias to 1000 dollars. It is clear that when the store is just starting to work, you need to do everything at a minimum.
You can promote for free, but it will take your time. In general, if the budget is small, it is recommended to combine paid and free methods of increasing the audience.
Start with your friends and acquaintances, then add their friends and subscribers. Then choose hashtags similar to your business and invite this audience to join you. It is also a good idea to create your own hashtag, which will lead users to your store through search.
You can find a new audience for free in the following ways:
search for target audiences among subscribers and commenters on other accounts;
draw attention to your profile by interacting with other posts and accounts;
hold promotions, for example, discounts, gifts for those who become new subscribers.
Let's also remember about posts every day, and not only about your product, but also about topics that are interesting to your audience. It's good to organize games, contests, exciting stories with riddles - in a word, entertain your fans so that they react and bring new subscribers to your page. The more likes, comments and various reviews on your profile, the better Instagram reacts to it and the more effectively it promotes your business account.
Communication rules
The presentation of the product on Instagram should not be too intrusive, concise, but at the same time, it should provide maximum information. It is recommended to make a post about the product only after the third-fifth post on other topics not related to sales.
A separate issue is the price. In the CIS countries, online store owners often do not indicate the price of the product, and this is a big mistake. Entrepreneurs believe that they will sell the product faster if they offer it to those who are interested in the price, by communicating in private messages. In reality, the situation is as follows: responses to messages in direct messages are delayed for several hours, or even days, and the potential buyer leaves your account forever.
Most users simply scroll through the pages of online stores if they do not see prices there. The buyer gets the impression that the seller does not fully believe in his own product and price, which is why he hides this information. So, without indicating the price, the owner loses at least two-thirds of potential buyers.
Be as honest as possible with your audience. You should not hide the cost and work, on the contrary, show the work team, share with subscribers the joys and difficulties of the work process. Such photos and videos are a hit with users.
If you have transferred your business online, you are clearly in the clear, especially these days. At first, let your expenses be minimal to understand your niche. Do everything with inspiration and creativity. Such work will pay off in the first month, and will even start to generate income. The main thing is systematicity, regularity and perseverance.
Commentaires