Instagram remains a great platform to promote a small business. People love to ‘see’, and Instagram is developing around this tenet. With images, multi-image carousels, videos, stories and reels, you can sell your small business sufficiently. This article explains how to sell your small business on Instagram.
Over 200 million users visit at least one Instagram business page per day. Of these 200 million users, 120 million+ discover new products daily. Also, about 90% of Instagram users follow a business page.
These figures serve to show you how much you are missing out if you don’t know how to promote your business on Instagram. It is never too late to learn how, read this post to the end to learn.
How to Sell Your Business For Free on Instagram
No matter what your brand is about, whether it is products you sell or you offer services. You don’t need to start with paid Instagram promotions. Here are some things you can do for free to drive sales for your business on Instagram.
Use Instagram Reels To Reach More People
When the team at Facebook adds a new feature to Instagram they are looking to see if it retains users on the platform. Therefore, they reward business pages that use new features with more exposure to the posts.
Instagram Reels was Facebook’s clap-back at TikTok, and they are driving it very hard. Therefore, they encourage business pages that use reels with free exposure regular posts don’t give.
Hashtags Also Boost Your Reach
Hashtags are like keywords related to your post. They serve as signals for Instagram to categorize your post. Therefore, they are likely to show your posts to people interested in the ‘categories’ you tag. Use hashtags related to your post and your business as well as hashtags your customers may search for.
How can you find hashtags to use?
- Look for businesses similar to yours and discover the hashtags they use in their posts.
- Get hashtags related to your business from the Hashtag Expert app
Drive Action With Smart Captions
A well-written caption excites the reader and pushes them to do something about their excitement. You are not Kim Kardashian, you can’t just post your image and expect people to decide. See your caption as an opportunity to say more.
People won’t see everything immediately, Instagram truncates your caption on the feed after 125 characters. Make sure those 125 characters tempts the viewer to ‘see more’.
- The endgame of a good caption is to drive action. They probably know what to do, they are sensible, right? Wrong. It is not your business whether or not they know what to do. You have to tell them – ‘DM to order’, ‘Follow Us’, ‘Click the link in Bio’ etc.
Make Your One ‘Link in Bio’ Work
Most people who find your business via post or ads visit your bio. Instagram users with 10K followers and above can use links in their stories – swipe up. In contrast, users with less than 10K followers can only use their link in bio. Therefore, it is crucial to make the best out of this sole link.
Your link-in-bio should lead to an action that helps you convert any interested person into a contact. Here are some examples;
- WhatsApp link to send you a message
- Your website contact page URL for service providers
- Shopping page for eCommerce store owners
- Rewarded newsletter subscription pages – free eBook downloads
If you have a lot to say/sell, you can choose to expand your link in bio with tools like Linktree or Taplink. Remember to point people to your link-in-bio with calls to action like;
- Shop on our website now
- Send us a message
- Get a free guide here
Post Engaging Content Consistently
With millions of posts to see on Instagram daily, why should yours be prioritized? To get more eyes on your posts, you need to post quality content, consistently. Quality content boosts your business’s reputation and helps you build a loyal following. A loyal community results in sales for your business in the long run.
How to increase engagement on Instagram
- Choose a unique design theme; Start with your brand colour – limit your posts to your brand colours. Make sure your feed layout excites people who visit your profile.
- Use high-resolution images and videos; Avoid pixelated pictures or blurry videos. Deliver your content in a visually appealing manner. Make your feed human with high-resolution images (or videos) of people using your product.
- Post tutorials, quizzes, and Question & Answer polls; Get your audience involved with creative gamified content. For Instance, you can ask creative ‘Yes or No’ questions related to your business.
How to Sell With Instagram Ads
Without loads of followers, your post reach is limited. Instagram Ads help you show your business to people most likely interested in your products or services. People are targeted with Instagram Ads based on their demographics (age, gender, location etc.) and their interests. Instagram ads are very subtle, people rarely recognize them as ads.
5 Reasons You Should Use Instagram Ads
- Higher Click-Through Rates (CTRs): Your click-through rate depends on your ad content and target audience. However, this study by Fortune discovered that Instagram ads maintain a CTR 2.5 times greater than other social media networks. Instagram Ads deliver the best CTRs compared to other social media networks.
- Advanced targeting options: With Instagram Ads, you can target age range, gender, location and interests, to achieve a higher return from your ads. The targeting options are so modular that you can target people interested in Barcelona as a club instead of football fans in general.
- High-Quality Leads: Unlike Facebook, Instagram is a visual-first platform. This means that the platform prioritized high-resolution images and videos. With this logic, it is safe to say the platform has weeded out people who are unlikely to convert due to financial constraints. With Facebook, you’ll reach a lot of people, with Instagram, you’ll reach a lot of people capable of buying from you.
- Highest Engagement: Instagram has a higher engagement rate than other networks. A high engagement rate means that a high percentage of registered Instagram users spend time on the Instagram app daily. Therefore, If you can create ads that target the right users, you can get them to click on your ad, follow you, send you a DM, or convert to customers.
- High conversion rates: Besides quality leads, Instagram ads have higher conversion rates than other networks. The official average conversion rate for Instagram ads is 1.08%. In comparison, the average conversion rate for Pinterest ads is 0.54% and 0.77% for Twitter ads. You must develop a great ad campaign to succeed. Do this by creating and optimizing your Ads continuously to get great results from Instagram ads.
Launch Your Instagram Ads
Are you ready to run your first Instagram Ad?
Yes, there are three ways to do this.
Click “Boost Post” On The Instagram app
Provided your Instagram account is a business account, every post you make has a ‘boost post’ button underneath it. You can only boost a post on Instagram if you’re logged into that account. Once boosted, you can see metrics based on your campaign goals. There are three goals you can choose from when you boost a post in-app;
- Get more profile visits
- Lead traffic to your website
- Get direct messages (DM)
Use Your Facebook Ads Account
Yes, you can set up an Instagram Ad from Facebook. Here are the steps;
- Create a Facebook page
- Link your Instagram (business) account to this page
- Visit your Facebook Ad account
- Create a campaign, choose a goal that works best for you
- IMPORTANT: At the ad set level, go to placements, choose the manual option. Untick every placement option box besides the Instagram box.
- At the ad level, choose new images to run your ads with or any one of your Instagram posts.
If you run your Instagram Ads yourself, using a Facebook Ad account is the best option. If you use the ‘boost now’ button inside the Instagram app, you give control to Instagram, you can not edit your ad, and there are limitations to the metrics you can see. With a Facebook Ad account, you can change anything in your ad campaign at any time.
Work With An Instagram Ad Expert
There are a lot of actions involved in running a high-converting Instagram Ad. For example, there is a Facebook Ad app to create ads. However, like most smartphone apps, Facebook Ad App is limited in option compared with the desktop version. This means that if you do not run your ad on a PC, you are running at a disadvantage.
There is also the issue of time, patience and effort. Your Ads are not the only portion of your business needing attention. Whether you are busy or you find the process complex, you can hire an Instagram Ad expert. With an Instagram Ad expert, you are working with someone who has done it several times before. An expert delivers high-converting creatives for your campaign and targets your ads to the best audience for you.
Now You Can Sell Your Small Business On Instagram
Perhaps you are looking to outsource your Instagram campaign setup. Look no further, I am your guy. Get more messages, quality leads with result-oriented Instagram ad campaigns. Let’s talk about it now.
