Using Instagram Shopping Links to Market Your Business

One of the people’s favorite places to shop today is Instagram. If your business sells products online, Instagram has become an invaluable site to attract new customers and make repeat sales. This platform is convenient, reliable, and engaging for shoppers of all types. This is largely why it has an audience of over one billion monthly users. It means that if you’re not using Instagram Shopping when your business qualifies for it, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to increase sales, customer retention, and loyalty. 

In addition to Instagram in general, Instagram Shopping links are also critical for marketing and connecting with target audiences. In fact, over 130 million Instagram users open Instagram Shopping posts on a monthly basis, meaning you can reach a massive audience that you might otherwise miss.

To help you get the most from your Instagram marketing, the following is a comprehensive guide to these campaigns.

How to Effectively Market Your Business on Instagram

Do you want to develop an effective Instagram marketing strategy for your business? The following are some ways to get started.

Make Sure You Have a Business Profile

Before you start marketing your business on Instagram, you should make sure it has an Instagram Business Account. If you have an existing account, but it isn’t a business account, you can easily switch it to one by opening Instagram settings and choosing “Switch to Business Profile.”

You’ll experience numerous benefits by setting up a business account. The first is that followers will be able to click on your profile’s contact button. This enables them to connect with you directly from your profile. You can also access a variety of Instagram analytics tools that detail the kind of engagement your posts get, including reach and impressions. In addition, you won’t need to rely on Facebook advertising tools to develop and publish Instagram ads.

Optimize Your Business’s Instagram Profile

Your profile—specifically your bio—should accurately reflect your business and what it’s about. For example, you should have a profile picture that best represents your company and brand persona, such as a recognizable logo. Additionally, you should write strong descriptions of your company’s products and services. Your bio should also include a link to your website, along with hashtags that people can click on to explore different topics.

Focus on Regularly Developing and Sharing High-Quality Content

People only purchase from companies that they recognize, know, and trust. You can increase the likelihood that people will buy from you if you take the time to create and publish high-quality content on a regular basis.

Keep in mind that Instagram is a primarily visual platform. It is important to use top-quality and engaging images in your posts. These include images of your products, behind-the-scenes footage of your teams at work, and other imagery that resonates with audiences. 

You’ll also want to post content consistently to get the most from it and stay top of mind among audiences. By posting images on a weekly or even daily basis, you’ll have a better chance of growing a loyal following and gaining people’s trust.

Use Appropriate Hashtags, but Don’t Go Overboard

Hashtags are still as critical as they’ve ever been on Instagram. They function as signals that can help people find your content and profile through Instagram’s search engine. The more relevant hashtags you use across your content, the easier it will be for people to find and follow you.

However, at the same time, you need to practice moderation with your hashtags. Instagram allows users to add up to 30 hashtags for every post. However, be selective and only choose the ones that matter most. You can pin down which hashtags are the best to use based on what’s trending in your industry, or look at what competitors are using for similar posts.

Post Instagram Stories and Live Streams

Instagram Live and Stories are both important for businesses to use. Images can be effective in engaging audiences and building your following, but Live and Stories are also crucial. You can use both of these to create videos that bring your brand to life and further connect with target audiences. You can also use this content to push interactive polls and include other types of widgets that encourage people to establish a more direct connection with your business.

Measure Your Campaigns’ Success

Regardless of how often you post or how much people engage with your content, you won’t be sure how well your campaigns are actually performing unless you gain insights into them. Instagram offers free analytics tools that make it easy to gauge campaign performance. By keeping track of impressions, how people discovered your content, and the kind of engagement they’re attracting, you can make more informed decisions around future Instagram marketing efforts.

Also, remember how important it is to set goals to give your campaigns a clear direction. Without specific and achievable goals in place, you won’t be able to figure out whether you’re actually succeeding. Your goals will help you figure out what’s most important to examine in terms of metrics. For example, if your goal is to increase brand awareness with your posts, impressions are a key performance indicator to keep track of in your campaigns. If you want to increase sales, Instagram Shopping purchases are key.

Create Sponsored Instagram Ads

Instagram ads are also vital components of a successful Instagram marketing campaign. These ads are easy to set up and allow you to spend exactly how much you’re willing to spend with a controlled ad budget. You also have the ability to publish one or more ads using Instagram’s carousel feature.

Through sponsored ads, people in your target audiences will be able to see your content in their feed regardless of whether they’re following your account.

Your sponsored ads should include content that’s optimized to speak directly to your target audience while engaging them. You can also repurpose existing images and videos in your ads. This could be ideal if you have posts that are performing well among your audiences.

To get the best results, run multiple ads for various audience segments, which will help maximize both reach and engagement. You can use many types of ad formats to connect with prospects, including photos, videos, Stories, Stories Canvas, and carousel/dynamic ads. 

Social media, social network concept. People using a smartphone at cafe interact with social media.

How to Take Advantage of Instagram Shopping

For eCommerce brands, Instagram Shopping is another great way to sell products and create a rich catalog on this platform. Using Instagram Shopping, users can easily get more information about products and buy them directly on Instagram or purchase them through the company’s eCommerce store.

You can use Instagram Shopping to sell your products in a number of ways. These include:

Instagram Shops

Instagram Shops function as customizable online storefronts for businesses that enable customers to buy directly via Instagram profiles.

Collections

You can use Collections to showcase products within a particular group based on a certain theme. For example, you might use Collections to present a line of similar clothing, electronics, art supplies, and much more. 

Product Detail Pages

On these pages, users can view critical product details, including descriptions and images that help them better understand your products. Users can also view any images tagging these products on Instagram.

Shopping Tags

These tags allow you to tag products from your company’s catalog in either your Instagram posts or Stories. This enables audiences to click on them to learn more about each item or buy it.

Checkout

Through Checkout, customers can buy products on Instagram without ever exiting the app. However, at this time, this feature is only available for certain regions.

How to Know if You Qualify for Instagram Shopping

Not sure whether your brand qualifies for Instagram Shopping? There are several different ways to determine if this element is right for you. They are as follows:

• You sell a physical product that’s eligible for Shopping
• Your business is within a market that Instagram Shopping supports, which you can determine on Instagram’s website
• Your company owns your eCommerce website
• You have an existing Instagram Business Account
• Your business is in compliance with Instagram’s commerce policies and its merchant agreement

Develop Strong Instagram Campaigns to Grow Your Business

Instagram offers many benefits for businesses of all types. Whether you want to stick to more conventional marketing and Instagram ads for your product or service offerings or want to utilize Instagram Shopping, there’s no shortage of ways to reach your audiences and grow your brand. If you’re not active on Instagram and don’t have a business account, now is the time to set one up and get the most from your campaigns.

If you want to grow your business on mobile platforms, including Instagram and many others, App Samurai is here to help. Using App Samurai, you can effectively grow your business and take full advantage of the many tools available to you. Regardless of your business needs, App Samurai’s mobile growth platform can help you acquire new users, boost brand awareness, and monetize your apps to help ensure long-term success.