Online Marketing and Selling on INSTAGRAM

September 26, 2023

Digital Marketing

Online selling has become such a craze during the pandemic and people are now going to social media to sell. If you sell products, and are looking for a way to expand your business, we recommend Instagram. Starting up an online selling account can be quite complicated, but here we’ll offer you simple steps on how to do online selling and marketing on Instagram.

Is Instagram good for Online Marketing?

As Instagram is one of the largest social media platforms, yes. Instagram is one of the best places to set-up an online business account. As of 2023, there are over 2.35 billion monthly users on the app, so using it is a great way to engage.

Instagram is also mostly used by millennials with a couple of members from Generation Z. If you’re thinking about catering to ages in the millennial group, then Instagram is your best option.

Compared to Facebook, Instagram features mostly a picture and video post mechanic. This means that users must post a photo along with captions in order to engage with an audience. Moreover, Instagram also has a ‘Story’ function where users can post clips and photos on their profile for only 24 hours.

How do I start selling on Instagram?

What do I need to have?

First of all, you must have an Instagram account for your business. You must also plan out all the content you need to post on the business account, and how often you’ll post. This is important so that you don’t lose any engagement from your audience. Posting too little and too much can both make you lose followers. Plan accordingly.

If you have no idea where to start your online business, the steps below will help you.

Set-up your Instagram account

Before we carry onto the selling part, we must first get your account in order. If you already own a Facebook account, then you may log-in with those details and have your information transferred too.

However if you’re just starting off, then click on the Sign up button. It will lead you to a tab asking for basic information, so make sure to input the correct information about your online shop. Remember to use a professional email so you don’t get confused too!

Optimize your profile

The next step is to add flair to your profile. Add a profile picture for yourself and a bit of information about the products you sell.

Instagram is mostly used by millennials, so make sure to take this into account when picking an overall design for your shop. Keep things simple and neat with straightforward colors.

Start content!

Branding

Something you need to do when creating content is to finalize your branding. Each company has its own tone and vibe. You must establish the tone in which you speak to your customers. Some brands use different types of tonalities depending on what age group you are talking to.

Instagram is full of millennials and a little bit of Generation Z, so using a little informal language bordering on formal will be a great choice.

Under branding are also the types of fonts and colors you need to use for your graphics. Consider who you’re talking to and start designing, or you could also hire graphic designers to do it for you!

Instagram Posts

Online selling on Instagram works much differently from other social media platforms as you don’t really get a page for your own business. Here on Instagram, the best way to post about your products is to post pictures of your products as content.

This sometimes requires professional help from videography and marketing teams. Unfortunately, this does give extra expenses, but it doesn’t have to be that way. If you want to learn how to map out your budget for a photo shoot, we recommend checking this out.

Other than just your products, you can also start posting about lifestyle choices that are related to your business. This helps establish personal relationships, and in turn, loyal customers.

Advertisements

You may also want to think about starting advertisements on Instagram. This social media platform is under Meta, so you may want to contact Meta Ads if you want to start doing this. Remember that this will cost a bit of money. 

 

If you’re a business that is just starting out, contacting Meta Ads might be a bad idea since it is not very cost-effective.

Engage with your audience!

Story Posts

There are quite a number of ways to interact with your audience on Instagram, and one of them is through stories. 

One of the things you can do with stories is to create polls and ask questions. These can be anything you want to be. You can ask your customers if they are satisfied with your products, or polls can contain things your customers want you to establish.

An important thing to remember is to not just sell products. Interact with your audience. You can also try to post things on your story about how products are made, what it feels like to be an online seller. These are just a couple of suggestions, so be creative.

Overall, Instagram does have good engagement tools and it is one of the best ways to communicate with your buyers.

Other Instagram selling and marketing tips!

Instagram is one of Facebook’s sister social media platforms. This means that if you already own a Facebook business page, you may connect or link your page on your Instagram bio. You can also use your Instagram shop as an extension of your Facebook shop with Facebook focusing on shop features and Instagram for engagement.

To sum up, mostly millennials are present on Instagram, so make sure to plan your content accordingly. This can range from your picture content, stories, how you talk to your audience, etc.

Although if this seems like too much, you can always have someone else plan the marketing out for you. That’s what a digital marketing agency is for!

Instagram is still great!

At first glance, people might not think Instagram is a great place to start an online business, but we say otherwise. There are countless ways to engage with your audience on this platform ranging from stories to posts. It is also under Meta so if your business can post ads, then this is also great.

Lastly, it is mostly used by millennials. If your products are mostly catered for this age group, then Instagram will be your best shot at becoming huge.

We really hope we helped you set-up your online business page, and as usual, we wish you good luck!