We’ve talked about getting more followers on Pinterest on Women on Business, but what about Instagram? How can you get more followers to your business Instagram profile and convert those followers into paying customers? In other words, how do you close sales on Instagram?
You might not think of Instagram as a sales channel, but more and more businesses are using it to generate sales every day. With over 300 million active daily users sharing 70 million photos each day, Instagram is a force to be reckoned with. It’s not surprising that businesses want to turn those people into customers!
But that’s not all! Instagram users are open to interacting with brands. According to data in an infographic created by Buffer (shown at the end of this article), 70% of Instagram users have already looked up a brand on the site, and nearly one out of three users (32%) already follow more than five brands on the site (37% of users already follow one to five brands).
To turn Instagram into a sales channel, Buffer suggests following three steps: increase followers, use the marketing path, and make sales easy. In other words, create a “trail to sales” that starts with a detailed image, leads to a direct link to a product landing page, and ends with a buy now button.
Before you start publishing images with buy buttons on Instagram, identify your goals and create a strategy to reach them. Sprout Social offers a great Instagram marketing strategy guide and Social Media Examiner provides excellent Instagram marketing tips from experts to get you started.
Check out the infographic from Buffer below for more Instagram statistics and tips.
Do you use Instagram for marketing and sales? Share your tips in the comments below.
Susan Gunelius
Susan Gunelius is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Women on Business. She is a 30-year veteran of the marketing field and has authored a dozen books about marketing, branding, and social media, including the highly popular Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing, 30-Minute Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing for Dummies, Blogging All-in-One for Dummies and Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps. Susan’s marketing-related content can be found on Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, and more. Susan is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She has worked in corporate marketing roles and through client relationships with AT&T, HSBC, Citibank, Intuit, The New York Times, Cox Communications, and many more large and small companies around the world. Susan also speaks about marketing, branding and social media at events around the world and is frequently interviewed by television, online, radio, and print media organizations about these topics. She holds an MBA in Management and Strategy and a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and is a Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC).
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