Aspiring to Drive Sales to Your Website from Instagram? Follow These Steps

Did you know that more than 42% of consumers purchase products because they saw it on social media platforms?

Modern consumers rely on social media networks when considering a purchase. Instagram is the most popular social media channel worldwide that has the ability to convert passive shoppers into loyal customers.

Now, your preconceptions are pretty understandable. Most of you simply use Instagram for posting pictures, other than the bio. However, the tides are turning. With nearly 800 million monthly active users as of September 2017, Instagram is a goldmine of prospective users. Increasingly, more and more brands are finding ways to interact with Instagrammers to gain brand visibility and brand engagement.

I’m sure, you are already doing your best to promote your brand through this unique photo-sharing platform.

But do you know how to use Instagram to drive more traffic to your website and increase sales?

Are you thinking about how your brand can drive sales simply from videos or images?

It is actually quite easy and effective.

Here are some tips and tricks you can try to drive sales to your website from your Instagram account.

Create a Separate Business Profile

It is one of the most common mistakes that most people make which leaves them unable to generate sales from Instagram. They mix business with their personal life.

No one who is interested in making a purchase from your website will be interested in seeing images of your engagement or family get together.

If you are going to use Instagram to increase your brand’s presence, or promote your products or services, it is highly recommended to separate your business account from your personal one.

You should only share images or videos that truly reflect your brand and industry as that is what is going to help you generate leads and sales.

Create a Comprehensive Bio

Creating a complete profile is extremely critical but sadly many companies don’t bother to add a bio. If you don’t fill out your profile, chances are that people will find your brand illegitimate and never make a purchase from your website.

However, adding a catchy, comprehensive bio that reflects the true value of your brand can work wonders. Don’t forget to add your website, landing page, or any other special offer link to your bio. This will give you the opportunity to direct people from your Instagram page to your website, where they can buy your products. This would undoubtedly lead to more sales.

Show Off Your Brand’s Culture

The platform wasn’t initially created for driving sales, however, if you want your followers to stay riveted to your newsfeed, where they eventually end up buying your products, then you have no choice but to add immense value to your feed.

For this, you are advised to upload your employees’ candid pictures and short videos based on your company culture to show Instagrammers that your brand is real and trustworthy.  Unless your brand resonates with your customers, they won’t feel comfortable handing over their hard earned bucks to you.

Let’s take an example of Sprout Social. The brand consistently posts  behind-the-scenes glimpses of the engagement and joy of their employees to show their followers how cool they are, letting their customers feel a part of the “in-crowd.

Show your followers the unique personality of your brand. Attract more people into your circle by uploading unique lifestyle photos, not by adding some ads sales pitch they are already wary of.

Share Videos and Stories

With Instagram Stories, brands can now take advantage of short videos and grab attention of more followers.

Instagram videos capture even more comments and likes than posts that incorporate images. To make your Instagram videos even more fetching and stimulating, it is advised to shoot videos in great lighting. You can shoot behind-the-scenes glimpses of your work environment, a company event, or simply of your employees working on your products and having the fun of their lives, to make your followers feel special and a part of the brand. You can even portray your brand’s culture or your products in action.

Consider Ben & Jerry’s account as an example. They are always regaling their followers with scrumptious tales of how they make ice cream.

Invest in Instagram Ads

Advertising on Instagram can increase your chances of reaching target markets more efficiently. Indeed, it is a sensible approach especially for budding businesses that want to increase their brand reach and visibility rapidly. It is prudent to plan out your Instagram ads in a way that allows you to only target customers that will actually be interested in your products or services.

Take InflowStyle as an example. The fashion brand started their Instagram advertising campaign by targeting women in USA, aged between 25 and 34. The brand’s ads were based on light toned lifestyle photos with a Shop Now button that redirected Instagrammers to a category or a product page on their website.

As a result of the campaign, the activewear brand experienced a 5x increase in sales and a 6x increase on return on ad spend, while the cost per conversion rate was decreased by 80.

Your brand can also take advantage of Instagram ads and include links to your website in your Instagram posts.

Run Contests

They are one of the best ways of generating more sales and profits from Instagram. Contests can increase your number of followers, and boost brand awareness and engagement.

Here are the most popular contest types that generate the most hype on Instagram:

• Email gated, in which users are asked to submit their email addresses to enter the contest
• Like to win, in which users simply need to like an image or a page
• Hashtag UGC, in which users are required to submit a photo with a hashtag

Let’s take an example of Franworks’ Movember contest. They provided mustache coasters to their patrons and asked them to upload their photos with the coaster, and tag the restaurant in their photos to enter the contest. People found it very exciting and shared it with their followers. Franworks used this amazing trick to engage their fans and promote their restaurant in a more legit way.

Work with Influencers

Believe it or not, influencers are one of the best ways of growing a whopping follower base and generate leads. Influencers already boast a massive and well-established audience base. Their followers blindly follow them when making a purchase decision, so it is highly recommended to befriend influencers to promote your brand.

For instance, Glossier works with beauty influencers to promote their products. Grace Abbot is promoting Glossier products by including a promo link for their products. By clicking on this link, her followers will get 20% off on their first order from Glossie’s. If this isn’t tempting enough, I don’t know what is!

Let’s take another example of Old Spice, where the brand has collaborated with Logan Paul to promote their products and offer awesome prizes. Brands can boost sales generated through influencers, by providing them with a promo link or discount code to throw the line and reel in more customers.

To Sum things up

Instagram is undoubtedly a lucrative place to generate more sales for your business and give your brand awesome results. I hope the above cited tips would get your creative juices flowing on how to drive more leads to your website from Instagram. Use this tool wisely and you will succeed in turning your followers into loyal buyers.