While an ordinary Instagrammer might be content with watching the number of followers on their page grow into huge numbers, a business owner takes no pride in a massive following that yields no results.
It is all about results for them. Specifically, converting the followers on their page into customers, or at the very least, leads.
However, if we’re going to be candid with ourselves, it is not so easy to get your Instagram followers to patronize your business. Yes, they may enjoy the sights of your picture-perfect product photos, and even go as far as liking them. But that does not guarantee that they will go ahead and make a purchase.
In fact, a recent statistic revealed that the average customer conversion rate of Instagram is still well below 10%, meaning that less than 10 in every 100 users on Instagram make an actual purchase from the brands they follow.
Ideally, you want your business to be one of the few brands that actually get patronized on the platform, but how can you do it?
Here are some tips to help you achieve that.
Make your posts shoppable
Most times it is not the fault of Instagram users that they don’t patronize the brands they follow. The absence of a shoppable e-commerce tool on the platform means that customers can only view but cannot buy directly from the app.
However, you can solve that problem by incorporating a shoppable Instagram tool that allows your followers to proceed with their purchase anytime they see a product they like on your page.
A very good example of an Instagram shoppable e-commerce tool is Yopto. Yopto’s partnership with Instagram allows you to offer a range of solutions, including shoppable Instagram galleries, Instagram ads and easy-to-use rights management dashboards.
Once your followers click through your bio to your Yopto-powered Shoppable Instagram gallery, they’ll see all of your product images in an interface that looks just like Instagram, except that these posts, when clicked, lead to your product pages.
CTAs work wonders
Sometimes, some Instagram users cannot even differentiate between a product ad, an actual product or a product already being sold.
Not their fault, though, that’s the fault of the advertiser — the business owner. I, personally, have seen a shirt I liked on one Instagram page, but when I contacted the seller, I was informed the product wasn’t available (in stock) yet.
But with a good CTA (call-to-action) like, “available soon,” “soon to be in stock” or “check back later,” I would have known the status of the product and what I needed to do.
As a business owner who wants to convert followers into customers, the onus is on you to guide your followers with CTAs at every point across your page. With a solid call to action in your post descriptions, customers would know what steps to take without getting confused or frustrated out of making a purchase.
Your CTA can be anything like, “Love what you see? Click the link in my bio to cop it.”
Offer incentives
Like it or not, not too many people come to Instagram to buy things. It is a picture-sharing app, not an e-commerce store. However, that doesn’t mean you cannot encourage users to open their wallets and patronize you. You just need to be a little bit creative with it.
For starters, you can offer a promo code, discount code, gift card rewards or other free gifts for the first few followers that patronize you.
Combined with the right hashtags, this strategy can drive conversions and even draw more traffic to your page.
Run contests often
Instagrammers love contests — they love them so much that they sometimes scour the app to find any available contest to take part in because they know that with contests come great prizes.
You can make some of your products the rewards or ask that potential entrants follow you first before taking part in the contest.
Contests can be a great way to get the word out about your business and the goodies you sell. To get the best results from contests, you should try to use the right hashtags.
Show off the people who love or use your offerings
Nobody likes to be the first person to patronize a brand they know nothing off. But when they see how people are reacting to your offerings via mentions, comments and likes, most people will want to find out what’s really special about the brand that’s making everyone go crazy about it.
So if you’ve had positive reviews from past clients, post them. If you’ve had messages and praise from other platforms, take a screenshot of them and upload them on your Instagram pages. By and large, try to show off as many people that have interacted with your business as possible.
But if you don’t have many social proofs to upload or lots of followers to like your posts, you can follow this link to learn how to get Instagram likes. With the likes you get from that site, you can convince your followers and the rest of the Instagram community that your products are actually garnering enough buzz and are worth checking out.
