With more than 1 billion monthly active users, Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world. Selling via Instagram is common among modern entrepreneurs, and considering the data, the reason why the choice falls on this platform is no surprise.
According to Statista, more than 200 million Instagrammers visit at least one company profile every day. 60% do that to discover new products and 90% of accounts follow a brand on Instagram. It has clearly become an important factor in the field of e-commerce.
So, if you’ve been wanting to enter the world of Instagram for a while to boost the sales of your dropshipping business, don’t wait any longer.
Read on and find out how to boost your sales with these 10 tips:
- Create or convert your profile into a business account.
- Discover the power of shoppable posts.
- Take care of the quality of the photos and the captions.
- Use the right hashtags.
- Create your editorial project.
- Use your bio well.
- Collaborate with influencers.
- Take advantage of stories and lives.
- Interact with your followers.
- Don’t forget about the reels.
1) Create or convert your profile into a business account.
Whether you are creating an Instagram profile from scratch, or you already have one, remember to choose the “business account” option; this type of profile will allow you to have a real interactive business card. Your customers will have a better shopping experience and it will be easier for them to connect with your business.
Compared to the personal Instagram profile, the Business profile offers you a number of free business features.
You can add valuable information to your profile such as your address, website, contact information, phone number, etc. You also have the opportunity to check Instagram Insights to learn more about your audience, understand your content stats and create promotions.
2) Discover the power of shoppable posts.
Once you have activated Instagram Shopping, customers can browse and purchase your products directly by clicking the Buy button. But you don’t have to wait for your followers to visit your shop on Instagram, in fact when you upload a post to the feed you can directly tag the product and make it easier for your customers to buy.
This feature is one of the most interesting ones for dropshipping shop owners.
Remember to also take care of this section of your instagram profile, so your followers will be able to see more images of your product, the price, the description and the link where to buy the viewed product, more easily.
Do you also know that posts with the “shop” tag are more likely to be included in the “explore” tab? A perfect opportunity to intercept new potential customers.
3) Take care of the quality of the photos and the captions.
The key to getting noticed on Instagram in the midst of so many companies and content is consistency, along with the quality of the content. If every post you share on Instagram follows these two rules, your identity and your professional image will be increasingly improved.
For photos, identify a theme and apply it to all the shots you decide to post; it can be a filter, some formats, some colors, or the style of the shots. There are photo editing apps that can help you in this process. Grainy images, shaky videos and unattractive photos are prohibited.
Consider the possibility of alternating static content with dynamic ones, take advantage of all the possibilities that the platform offers you such as carousels, videos or gifs.
As for the captions, develop captivating texts and stay in touch with your followers, be clear and use the text at your disposal to explain what the image doesn’t say. Identify a tone of voice and keep it alive and coherent in the captions you write and always end with a call to action, or invite your followers to answer your question or take a specific action.
If you sell dropshipping clothing and have new arrivals, you may want to show them on your Instagram profile little by little.
Let’s assume that you are dropshipping designer bags… maybe you could make a carousel where in the first photo you show the bag in its entirety and then the following shots could capture the details.
4) Use the right hashtags.
Hashtags are a very important part of Instagram posts, they are part of the caption and you will have to choose them best to get noticed without being penalized by them.
There are many tools on the web that help you search for hashtags, but you can also use the search function directly from Instagram to find the best ones for your reference niche.
Don’t use generic hashtags, you could attract non-targeted audiences or, even worse, end up being banned because some of these hashtags being very inflated and vague are considered spam by the Instagram algorithm.
Choose them wisely and don’t overdo it. You could even create a customized one for your company and collect all the content of your customers in a single space. Reposting UGC (user-generated content) photos on your profile is a great way to retain your audience.
5) Create your editorial project.
Plan in advance what you are going to publish on your shop’s Instagram profile, it will help you be tidier and have a long-term vision.
You can also take advantage of the 80-20 rule in your editorial project; that is, 80% of your content will have side topics such as tutorials for using your products, funny memes, an analysis of new fashion trends etc. The remaining 20% of your content will instead be pure sales: you can communicate a fantastic promotion, new arrivals or an exclusive discount code.
Instagram is a visual channel, so make sure you hook potential customers with engaging images. Then provide more details, such as sales dates or product information in the caption.
6) Use your bio well.
There is only one section where you can add a clickable external link: the URL section in your Instagram profile bio. Whenever a new customer finds you on Instagram, they are likely to read your bio and having a link available will also increase traffic to your site.
Remember that your bio must be short and clear, you have few characters to explain who you are and what you sell: help yourself with bullet points and emoticons.
Whenever you have a new post with a product you’d like to promote, make sure the website in the bio matches it. Followers won’t always manually search for the correct link, so it’s a good idea to make sure you always update it.
7) Collaborate with influencers.
Influencer marketing is a great way to promote your shop by diversifying the provenance of potential customers. Relying on an influencer does not only mean presenting your product to many people by spending much less than ads, but also increasing the credibility of your brand.
For example, if you wanted to spend only € 100 on an influencer campaign, you could afford an influencer with around 10,000 followers. That would be 10,000 people who didn’t know your product before and now know about your existence. Plus you’re also paying for credibility as well as reaching customers: this can be a more effective strategy than spending € 100 on an Instagram ad campaign that reaches 10,000 people.
Don’t jump into the fray and choose the right influencers for your niche. If you sell luxury fashion in your dropshipping shop, you will need to identify influencers who have these buying habits.
8) Take advantage of stories and lives.
Start with tutorials, quizzes, surveys and questions. Stories are the primary medium where you can let yourself go and post content that encourages your followers to interact with you. Create gamification with something fun and creative, present the products and ask what their favorite is.
In Stories, you can capture your products in action, promote special offers, introduce new merchandise, and show the behind the scenes.
Furthermore, from 2021 everyone has the possibility to insert external links in their stories, so when you talk about a particular product your customers can click on the link and go directly to your shop to find out more.
You could organize flash sales thanks to a live direct, perhaps for a particular occasion or to celebrate the milestones of your shop. Live sales can help you interface directly with your audience and encourage impulse purchases; moreover, these live videos are often perceived as a fixed appointment to be followed on a regular basis, perhaps to take advantage of super discounts.
9) Interact with your followers.
Make your followers feel important, make the most of this communication channel and create your community. Maybe you could ask them to create content with your products and in exchange offer them an exclusive discount, make them participate in the choice of the next products that you will sell on your online shop, or ask them directly what content they would like to see more on your profile. A follower today could be a customer tomorrow, which is why cultivating a relationship with your community is very important for your business.
10) Don’t forget about the reels.
The reels are a new format that is revolutionizing Instagram, they are videos in vertical format that allow you to reach many users who still don’t follow you, thanks to the ad hoc dashboard where all reels are collected.
Follow the latest trends, see what your competitors are doing and be creative in the creation of these contents, also remember to include reels in your editorial project because it is one of the formats on which Instagram is focusing more and more.
If you follow this short guide, we are sure that Instagram will become your favorite social platform to complement your dropshipping shop in order to maximize your income.
But remember to find a dropshipping supplier that is up to the task! Once your customers have purchased from your shop, they will return only if the quality of the product has met their expectations.
A supplier who can help you resell high-quality fashion products and well-known brands, guaranteeing assistance and a fast shipping service is BDroppy.
Try our services and start your successful dropshipping business today.
The revenue you can have through Instagram is huge! If you’re not using it already, you’re missing out on a huge chance.
But don’t assume leaving it all on Instagram will do the trick. The best way to sell on Instagram is to cross-promote on other social media platforms whenever possible. Let your followers know what’s happening – this will not only increase your sales, it will also strengthen you and make you a reliable and powerful brand.
