Instagram has grown to become one of the most popular social media platforms today.
In the past few years, businesses have been on a quest to find a way to crack the code and make the most of its potential.
When used correctly, Instagram is now one of the most powerful tools for ecommerce stores to sell products and engage with followers.
It's a place where you can showcase your products and communicate the story behind your brand. In other words, it's an excellent way to show your customers what life is like with your products!
If you’ve been thinking about incorporating Instagram into your marketing strategy, it’s definitely time to take the leap.
Not quite convinced yet?
Then let me give you nine reasons why you need Instagram for your ecommerce store:
1. Unlock a new marketing method: Instagram influencers
The first reason why you need Instagram for your ecommerce store is that you can use it to advertise your product.
Within Instagram, there are multiple ways of advertising your product.
One of those ways is using Instagram influencers, which I will discuss now. But don't worry, I will tell you more about the other ways later on.
As the name implies, Instagram influencers are users on Instagram that have the unique ability to influence others. They often have thousands of followers and established credibility.
Ecommerce stores can use an influencer's reach to promote their product. In that case, an influencer will post a “shoutout” for an ecommerce store to try and bring awareness to their product.
Furthermore, Instagram influencers can increase your brand's trust level:
Here's how an Instagram influencer shoutout looks:
If you are interested in more of these, then check out this article to find nine other awesome shoutout examples!
Tip: Let the influencer tag you in their shoutout. That way, you can repost the content to your own account and possibly get a few more sales when your own followers see it!
You can find Instagram influencers through Instagram itself, a tool like Heepsy, or one of the other methods described here.
When searching for the right influencer, it's important to pay special attention to things like engagement and fake followers. Picking the right influencer for the shoutout determines if your campaign results in a profit or a loss.
You can find out if an influencer is worth your money by following the steps described here.
One of the biggest advantages of using Instagram influencers is that you don't need tons of followers yourself to reach a big audience. Instead, you will use the influencer's reach to get your product in front of an audience.
All in all, I think you should already get Instagram for your ecommerce store for this reason alone!
If you're interested in more pros (and cons!) of Instagram influencer marketing compared to other marketing methods, then check out this article here.
2. Become more credible as a business
Trust is the foundation of any successful ecommerce business, as Jack Ma will agree:
For ecommerce, the most important thing is trust.
Jack Ma, Co-founder of Alibaba
If you're present on social media, people are more likely to trust you.
Let's go back to the previous reason. Suppose an influencer has just posted a shoutout for your store.
In that case, it's important to have an active Instagram page.
You don’t need an account filled with tons of followers or a feed filled with pictures, but if an influencer posts a shoutout about you, then people might look up your Instagram account first to check if you’re legit or not.
If your Instagram does look legit, then those people will have two great impressions from you. First, someone who they're following tells them something great about you, and after that, they find out that your Instagram profile looks amazing as well!
Here's an example of a well-designed ecommerce store's Instagram page:
Looks amazing, right?
Tip: Check out these amazing Instagram account examples if you want some more inspiration on ways in which you can “design” your own Instagram page!
3. Get organic traffic to your store
Instagram account is a great way to get free & organic traffic to your store.
It's relatively easy to set up, and once you're there, you can easily promote your products!
The content you post will not only get seen by your followers but by other users on Instagram as well.
For example, your post might end up on the explore page if it gains some traction.
In that case, other people who don't follow you will also see your content.
It can also happen that someone will share your post with their friends, which can also be a great source of extra traffic!
4. Sell directly on Instagram using the built-in shop
Nowadays, this is another essential reason for businesses to create an Instagram account, especially for ecommerce stores!
Using Instagram Shops, people can browse through your store's products and explore your collections from within the Instagram app. Furthermore, they will be able to make a purchase without leaving the app from shops that offer checkout.
That's right; people can check out and purchase your products directly from the Instagram app!
Note: The in-app checkout option is currently only available for businesses in the US.
As you probably know, it's important to make it as easy as possible for people to buy something from you. If it takes too long or someone can't figure it out, they will often just abandon their checkouts!
With Instagram Shops, Instagram users can make purchases without going off the platform and stay on the app they love; Instagram.
Plus, you can even use it to create an ecommerce store without a website.
5. Create ads linked to your Instagram page
If you're doing Facebook Ads, then you will likely be aware that Facebook actually owns Instagram.
That's why you will have to create Instagram ads within Facebook's Ads Manager.
To get the most out of the Facebook Ads platform, it's important to target the part of your audience that is active on Instagram as well.
This will give you a bigger audience to target, which in its turn prevents ad fatigue. Furthermore, it will give you another audience to test. Maybe the results will turn out even better than the Facebook audiences that you have been using so far!
But, there's one catch:
You've probably guessed it already; you will need an Instagram account to represent your business and your ads!
So, it's important to create it and put some content on it, because just like for the shoutouts, some people may check your profile to see if you're legit.
Here's an example of how an ecommerce store's Instagram ad can look:
6. Engage with your fans
It's no secret that sharing photographs is the cornerstone of Instagram marketing. When it comes to managing your ecommerce store's Instagram page, this is your main job.
But, there are other jobs on Instagram that are very important as well.
One of them is communicating with your fans and customers.
So, don't just post images or videos of your products and leave it like that. Build relationships with your followers and have meaningful conversations.
By engaging with your customers, they will get the feeling as if they know you, like you, and have a relationship with you. This is true engagement!
The most successful ecommerce stores are very engaged with their community:
Another way to engage with your followers is to showcase your products through Instagram stories or livestream events.
One way to create interaction in your stories is by using polls. But, livestream events can be even more engaging.
For example, if you're an online jewelry store, you could organize a weekly live-stream that features new products that you will be selling.
It's also crucial to not only engage with your followers but to listen to them as well.
By doing that, you will be able to better understand their needs and problems. Furthermore, they can give you feedback on how to further improve your ecommerce store.
Check out this example:
As you can see, you will already notice one problem that someone is having; it's not clear whether or not this company sells a boy's version.
On the other hand, you will be available to identify lots of needs:
- Cuteness
- Coziness
- Softness
Do you now see how valuable it is to have engagement with your fans?
7. Word-of-mouth marketing
The next reason why you should get an Instagram account for your ecommerce store is word-of-mouth marketing.
In my opinion, word-of-mouth marketing is one of, if not the best types of marketing out there.
It happens when someone is so excited about your product that they tell it to someone else.
If you have an Instagram profile and an excellent product, this will happen to you as well. Instagram users can take pictures of your product, share them on their account, and tag you.
Word-of-mouth marketing on Instagram is even better than its “classical” form. When someone tells about your store in person, it only gets heard by a single person.
But, when someone posts a picture with your product on Instagram, then it can be seen by all of their followers! In some cases, it will even get seen by thousands of people. So, essentially, it's like a free Instagram influencer shoutout!
And, did you know that 87% of people say that influencers have inspired them to make a purchase?
You can make this “word of mouth” marketing effect even stronger by creating an own hashtag for your brand.
For example, let's take a look at the #Gymshark:
As you can see, it has a total of 9.8M posts, which means that there is a lot of free marketing happening for them here.
Creating your brand's own hashtag can build a community for your fans to post content of your products together.
All in all, it causes an organic increase in your brand awareness!
8. Link directly to your products with shoppable posts
By connecting your Instagram account to your Facebook catalog, you gain access to Instagram's shoppable posts.
This allows your customers to click through to your website directly from your posts.
If you want to see how that looks, check out this example from Allbirds here:
These shoppable posts make it extra clear that the product you're showing is indeed for sale and decrease the barriers to purchase.
In the end, the revenue that is generated by these click-throughs may be the difference between earning and losing money, so go ahead and set it up!
Related article: Always wanted to create an amazing link in bio link? Check out these 12 Linkpop landing page examples here!
9. Increase brand awareness with giveaways
Instagram is a great platform to host a giveaway for your ecommerce store.
Think about it. Let's say that you just started an ecommerce store in the pet niche. How will you stand out from the pack?
Well, this is where giveaways on Instagram come in.
You can run a giveaway on Instagram for a certain amount of time and offer a free cat toy to the winner.
In exchange, you could ask everyone to follow you and tag at least two friends.
Here's an example of a giveaway post:
The reason why these kinds of posts often blow up is the following:
First of all, let's say that one person enters the giveaway and tags two friends. Then, those two join the giveaway, and both tag two friends themselves. These two become four, four become eight, eight become sixteen.
In this process, you already gained 31 extra followers from that single person you started with.
Not only this, but some people are specifically looking for these types of posts in the #giveaway section of Instagram. So, you probably won't have a lot of trouble finding starting participants! That is, of course, only if you don't forget that hashtag, haha!
Reasons to Use Instagram for Ecommerce: An Overview
If that was a lot to take in, then don't worry!
We have created an amazing infographic for you that you can save for later:
Conclusion
In the end, I think that we can conclude that there are plenty of reasons to get an Instagram account for your ecommerce store.
Instagram is an excellent marketing tool for ecommerce stores in any niche. From pet stores to jewelry stores, it's a great way to reach new customers!
If you're not already on Instagram, you're missing out on a huge opportunity to connect with potential customers and increase your brand awareness.
Even if you're just starting out with your ecommerce store, you should be able to start an Instagram account. Since everyone has a smartphone these days, it’s very easy to take photos of your products and then post them to Instagram.
So, are you convinced now that you need an Instagram account for your ecommerce store?
If you are, then this article will definitely help you further. It contains:
- How to create your Instagram account
- How to make your Instagram account look great
- How many times you should upload new posts
- How to grow your Instagram account
- And more!
Plus, you can check out these 13 Instagram account examples from other ecommerce stores for inspiration.
I hope you have a great rest of your day!
