Convert Your Followers into Customers with Instagram Shopping

Are You Ready to Convert Your Followers into Customers?

Instagram shopping is propelling social media marketing to a whole new level. It allows users to browse and buy directly within the platform, attracting customers to their products through various forms of engaging content, image and video posts, stories, influencer collaborations, and advertisements. Content creators, business owners, and consumers can tag products directly in their posts, making it easier to discover new goods.

Consumers love keeping up with their favorite brands across their social media platforms. The addition of shopping features within Instagram will only make it easier for them to buy products right away, from their favorite brands, without even having to leave the app.

Read on to learn more about Instagram shopping, how it can elevate your brand, and tips to get started on the right foot. If you have any questions about incorporating social media into your marketing efforts, the experts at Alpha Tango Media can help.

What is Instagram Shopping?

Instagram shopping is a set of features that allows users to discover, browse, and buy products without leaving the app. It offers your brand an immersive storefront within the platform, allowing your followers to browse and purchase directly through Instagram. It is an excellent way to get your brand or products noticed through organic posts, stories, ad campaigns, or collaborations with influencers on the platform.

Six elements contribute to this seamless purchasing experience:

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Shops: This is where your brand can create an 'online store' where shoppers are able to buy your products. It is essentially a 'homepage' where all your products are listed and kept for consumers to view. All other digital stores are housed within the 'Instagram Shops' tab, so in addition to your individual storefront, other shops are discoverable here too. Think of it as a virtual marketplace.

Shopping Tags: Shopping tags are a genius marketing tool, allowing you to 'tag' or 'highlight' items from your storefront within social media posts and stories. Therefore, when your followers see an image with your product in them, they can click on the item and find a link to the product page within your storefront mentioned above. Because Instagram is a highly visual platform, tags are excellent means of increasing brand awareness. It really is as simple as scrolling through your feed, seeing an item you like, and if it is tagged, you can purchase it directly within the app.

Explore Shopping: Like the 'explore' page on Instagram, this is where you can discover new products outside of your curated feed. Additionally, you can browse shoppable items within other users' posts easily. Explore shopping helps extend a brand's reach, as you are getting your 'storefront' and items in front of an audience that may otherwise never see or engage with your products.

Product Detail Page: If a prospective buyer is not ready to make a purchase just yet, the product detail page allows browsers to discover more information about the product; price, item name, reviews, photos, and a description of the item are unveiled once its 'tag' is tapped. You can save products for later to buy at another time through the product detail page, or simply learn more about an item to help inform buyers prior to a purchasing decision.

Collections: Collections are a set of products that the business page or 'storefront' owner can create to help customers find products they love. This feature enables business owners to organize their products into themes or categorize them with similar items. For example, if a shop sells candles, they can categorize all their "winter scents" into one collection to make the shopping experience more straightforward.

Ads with Tags: You can now advertise unlike ever before with tagged product ads. These paid ads allow storefronts to boost and promote the ads that have their products tagged in them. This helps storefront owners get their product in front of even more consumers, driving conversions, link clicks, and post engagement. Additionally, these ads can drive customers to checkout on your website or Instagram, which is currently only available in the U.S.

Instagram Shopping makes marketing your products easier than ever. The shopping process within the app is like that of a website, just integrated to work seamlessly within the platform.

Why Your Brand Needs an Instagram Shopping Storefront

Instagram is a storytelling platform, allowing consumers to better understand and relate to their favorite brands. Through social media, followers are offered insight into a company's values, mission, and how their products may fit into a consumer's life. If someone is following your business, it is safe to say that they are interested in your brand's culture – so, when you feature your products in such a way as to exhibit how they can be used and the story behind them, it drives consumers to want the items for themselves. The easier it is to buy such products, the more people will.

This is where Instagram shopping becomes your best friend. This powerful tool allows your followers to further understand and envision your products. Your followers are offered all the relevant information about the product, which helps them make an informed decision about purchasing. From there, if they decide that buying the product is what they wish to do, they can do so without having to leave the app.

If your company uses Instagram but is not utilizing shoppable posts, you are not closing as many leads as you could be.

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5 Tips to Get Started with Instagram Shopping

Tip 1: Incentivize Shopping

Because Instagram shopping is a relatively new addition to the platform, some consumers may be wary about following through with an in-app sale. Offering promo codes or discounts will incentivize or further encourage followers to tap through your storefront and potentially make a purchasing decision. In addition to targeting new customers, sales and discounts could also make existing patrons consider re-purchasing or sharing with their friends. Some business accounts will offer fun promotions such as giveaways to stay engaged with customers while boosting brand awareness.

Tip 2: Use High-Quality Professional Visuals

It is no secret that Instagram is all about pictures – making it essential for businesses to obtain high-quality imagery for their storefront. The platform has evolved over the years, providing users with new features such as reels and stories to promote their products. While all these tools are still highly visual, this variety offers marketers even more opportunities to get creative and produce immersive and engaging content for their consumers.

Tip 3: Show Your Product in Action

Demonstrating your product in action, such as through a video, can help answer a lot of questions that consumers may have about the effectiveness of your product. If hesitations are addressed, the buying process is helped along and sped up; consumers now know that to expect from your product, how to assemble or use it, and how it will fit into their everyday life. Including real customer reviews is also extremely helpful in promoting a good, as it shows that your product is as advertised and useful to other buys. User-generated content, which is any form of content that other users have posted within a platform, is a great way to show your product in action. If you find high-quality imagery of your product that has been posted by a consumer (after getting permission, of course), you can share this on your page. This not only gets engaging content of the product in front of their followers, but yours as well.

Tip 4: Collaborate with Other Brands

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Collaborating with other brands that complement your company and the interests of your followers can help extend your reach online. Generally, these collaborations aim to promote your products in front of another company's audience, and vice versa. This helps get your product in front of an audience that may not necessarily have heard of your company yet but could be drawn to your brand because of the similarities in interests. It is a great way to gain followers and exposure across your social media platforms, and further develop your brand's story and personality.

Tip 5: Use Hashtags

You cannot forget about the hashtags! Hashtags help make your storefront and products more discoverable. They can also help extend a brand's reach, and get your product onto the explore pages of consumers who may be interested in your brand by their shopping patterns. Hashtags categorize your goods into themes, making it easier for consumers to find you.

Contact Alpha Tango Media to Get Started with Instagram Shopping Today

Instagram Shopping is a genius tool that lets consumers purchase your products through pictures and videos posted on the platform. It offers your brand an immersive storefront in which buyers can learn more about your brand, discover your products, and engage with your company in a way unlike ever before. In addition to aiding with the sales process, it is an excellent tool to boost brand awareness and reach through collaborations, user-generated content, and the explore page.

If you are interested in getting started with Instagram Shopping, reach out to the media experts at Alpha Tango Media today.