Instagram is one hell of a powerhouse when it comes to social selling. Studies show that visual appeal is important in 93%of the cases when people go to make a purchase. With 500 million daily active users, the opportunity to sell via your Instagram page is huge. So why aren’t you converting visitors, likes, and comment to sales. Let’s take a look at what you may be doing wrong.
7 Instagram Selling Mistakes
1. Your account is not set up as a business user.
This is a simple change and can make a huge difference. Business users have access to special features that personal pages don’t have access to. One big benefit of having a business page is that you have access to insights and analytics. This allows you to measure and monitor specific posts so that you can create more of the good ones and less of the bad ones. You also get access to a contact button on your Instagram profile where users can reach you directly and you have the ability to create ads. All of these things are crucial for a business. So if you haven’t transferred over, go for it!
2. Your content sucks.
This is a simple one. Without great content you will never have a great audience who loves you, loves to follow you and loves to talk and share your content for you. This should be addressed before anything else. In order to sell, you MUST create content that is sellable. This means it needs to be authentic and designed specifically with Instagram in mind. Beautiful, lifestyle and real content works best.
3. You don’t have your product/store set up correctly.
You have the ability to tag your products so that people can buy directly with a touch of a button. Only some platforms have the integration with Instagram shopping. Sites like Shopify & BigCommerce both have this seamless integration. Make sure you have your shop set up correctly so that you are able to tag products. While the verdict is out on whether this affects your reach, it is still worth it to tag your products here and there for the option to allow your followers to buy directly on Instagram.
4. You aren’t taking advantage of Instagram Stories.
I love Instagram stories because it gives you the ability to showcase in real time. Plus the engagement is great. I have noticed that more people respond when asked a question or given a poll on an Instagram story than on a post. If you have 10,000 followers you can take advantage of swipe up to link to your website. This is huge as it allows someone one to take immediate action. Of course you have to have the following to do this, but with great content and an engaged profile you can get there. Keep working at it.
5. You aren’t using your Instagram account to grow your email list.
Yes, you can 100 percent use Instagram to sell directly via Instagram, but unfortunately this is not as common as you may think. Yes, it can be done, but it isn’t as likely as selling through email. I love to use Instagram to grow a list. This way you own the email address and you can get in front of them in their inbox. This is so valuable and shouldn’t be overlooked.
6. You don’t have an active following or used a bot.
A lot of accounts you see out there have used a bot or software to grow their following. That is why you see accounts with 10K+ followers but NO one is commenting or engaging. If this is you, it is ok. But it is time to fix it. A real engaged audience is better than a fake one. Now is the time to take control of your account and get it moving in the right direction. Engage yourself and you will see that your following with change. With time you will be able to sell.
7. You don’t have your customers or Influencers helping out.
Customers and Influencers are the biggest driver of sales. Why do you think word of mouth is so important. People trust others. Get your customers involved. Ask them to share their stories, their images and if you have a product they love you better believe that they will. Show them some love!
Which of these are you guilty of? Here’s to you selling a lot of your products on Instagram. Good luck! 🙂
