There’s a huge load of advice about utilizing Instagram as an effective internet marketing tool, yet it tends to be a challenge to scale your e-commerce brand on Instagram if you are a new brand without numerous followers yet. New accounts regularly have low engagement rates, which can be dampening, yet there are approaches to navigate this period strategically.
We should discuss why Instagram as a marketing tool matters, how it can assist you with developing your business, and take a look at successful strategies to develop your e-commerce brand—even, when you have no followers. In today’s article, I am going to give you some tips on how you can build your e-commerce with very few followers.
Why is Instagram a strong e-commerce tool?
Today, 81% of individuals use Instagram to research products and services to purchase. Hence, utilizing strategies to stand apart from the competitors and attract potential customers to your Instagram e-commerce page can reach a more extensive audience. To do this, you need to understand what makes Instagram an incredible e-commerce tool.
Research shows we recall a greater amount of what we see through photographs and videos than what we read through plain content. This makes visually-oriented platforms like Instagram an excellent tool for marketing. Instagram allows you to upload product photos, share demo videos, launch partnerships with influencers, connect with engaged followers, and boost your ROI. This will help you to grow your e-commerce faster than marketing only through Facebook and Twitter which comparatively have very less engagement rate.
Now let’s see some ways to build your e-commerce with less Instagram followers
Build e-commerce with less Instagram followers
We are now aware of the fact that Instagram offers many opportunities to the marketers, but how do you take advantage of it when you don’t have followers on Instagram?
Here are some ways you can use to build your e-commerce and start growing your Instagram followers.
✅ Collaborate with influencers of your niche
Instagram influencers are people who have a large number of followers and have the ability to influence their follower’s buying decisions.
How they are useful for your Instagram e-commerce business?
Instagram influencers can help you enhance your brand’s reach. These people have thousands and millions of followers interested in hearing what the influencers have to say. So imagine, if they recommend a product on their IG account, that brand will most probably see a uptick in sales.
How can you collaborate with IG influencers to grow your e-commerce?
- Find influencers and large accounts in your niche. For instance, in case you’re a beauty brand, connect with beauty bloggers and ask them for a product post.
- If a customer puts an email address on their profile or says something like “DM for business requests,” it ordinarily means they’re keen on sharing sponsored posts.
- Email or DM these accounts and ask what their standard pricing is for sponsored posts. Attempt to build up a relationship with these users.
- If they’re willing to work with your rival, they might as well work with you.
- Then, make a spreadsheet comparing each account’s followers, cost per post, CPM, average likes per post, and followers divided by the average likes per post.
- Choose the user[s] with the lowest price and biggest payoff.
- In case you are selling an original product, you can ask them to review it instead of creating a product post.
- It is not necessary to go after big influencers. You can find some micro-influencers as well with just a few thousands followers. This will give you better ROI as they have a more targeted audience.
✅ Create a branded hashtag
You can keep track of who is talking about your e-commerce by creating a branded hashtag. You can include business name, existing slogan, or any creative phrase in the hashtag. Then let your followers know what the tag is by mentioning it in your bio and urge followers to use it in their posts. After sometime, you can search for your hashtag to find share user generated content. You must add these tags to your pictures to remind your followers about the tags.
✅ Put out User Generate Content (UGC)
If you are struggling with driving engagement, try posting more user generated content. You can simply ask your users to review your product in exchange for a free sample. You can also host bigger user generated content contests where a large number of users share their experiences related to your product and industry. This can help you reach new users you would not know or found otherwise. User generated content gives you more exposure as well as they give exposure to your users also. They can also gain followers. Hence, it is a win-win situation for all.
Related article: 9 Creative post ideas to try on Instagram
✅ Respond to your audience
If you don’t engage with your followers on a regular basis then no matter how many followers you have on your IG, it’s useless. Engaging with potential customers is the best way to gain and maintain a large number of followers. Just few minutes of engagement has the potential to boost your revenue significantly.
What do you need to do?
- Respond to comments that you get, be it praising or negative. This will increase the engagement with the post.
- Always show gratitude to your followers for taking out their time to review, like, and comment on your posts.
- Always accept and review feedback from your followers and try to improve if the issue is real.
- Never start fights or arguments in the comment section even if you disagree with a user.
✅ Research your competitors
If you are unsure of where to start, just take a look at what your competitors are doing. Your competitors have already done the entire heavy tasking. Now that they have a large following, you can learn and use it to your advantage. All you need to do to attract your own following to go to the Instagram profiles of your competitors and steal their audience.
You should as of now have a very smart idea of who your competitors are. If you don’t, try at utilizing Instagram’s discover tool to discover popular accounts in your industry. You can likewise look for keywords and hashtags that relate to your brand to get started. The top account related to that key word will probably appear.
✅ Customize and optimize your shop
Having an easy to navigate and worth remembering store may increase your sales. Here are some ways you can use to optimize and customize your Instagram e-commerce store to get the maximum visibility.
- Offer promotions directly in the photograph or the first line of the description, so customers don’t scroll past it.
- Add shoppable links to your photographs so customers can purchase your products directly.
- Keep your descriptions straightforward, clean, and easy to understand so new customers can rapidly find out about what your Instagram e-commerce brand represents.
- Include links to your store on different channels, including your Instagram description (or bio), website, other social media pages, and email signature.
Related article: E-commerce metrics to measure to enhance business
✅ Use product tags
Another approach to build customer convenience is to utilize product tags to amplify your Instagram e-commerce sales. Product tags let customers purchase products directly from the application without going through the hoops. This makes it simpler for them to buy, particularly if they are browsing in a hurry (like the majority of us.)
Wrapping it up
These strategies are not the end destination. But they will give you a good start. After applying them, you can look for tools, tips, and tactics to make your first sale. Likewise, your Instagram e-commerce will not become successful overnight. But only with the right strategy, persistence, and patience (I know), it can be achieved.
Want to start Instagram marketing? Hire Digital Marketing Agency in London for professional help.
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