Are you wondering how to align social media and business goals? Instagram has over 300 million monthly users—that’s 17% of the US adult population. Over half (57%) of these users access the site on a daily basis. Six of the seven social media networks have engagement rates that stand at under 1%. Top brands on Instagram generate a per-follow engagement rate of 4.21%. This breadth of users and high level of engagement makes Instagram an optimal platform to help your brand market and sell on social media.
In order to get you started, here are 6 steps to help you optimize your business’ Instagram account for e-commerce.
- Place a Link in your Bio
Your Instagram bio is the only place that you can place a clickable link. Add your company’s website link to your Instagram bio to drive traffic to that page. While you can insert a link into an Instagram caption on a photo or video, these will only appear as plain text. Your Instagram bio is key for driving traffic from social media to your e-commerce store.
- Optimize your Photos for Mobile
Most Instagram users are accessing the platform on the small screen of their mobile device. Keep this in mind while creating content. Content should be eye-grabbing: include vibrant colors, good lighting, and lots of background space. Figure out what kind of content performs best by measuring differing levels of engagement. Once you’ve determined which visuals perform best, re-use them on other marketing channels.
- Re-gram your Customers
Re-gram photos that your customers have tagged you in through a hashtag or @mention. It’s a great way to celebrate your customers and to show potential customers the fun ways that your products are being used post-purchase. Just be sure to ask for your customers’ explicit permission before featuring them on your marketing channels.
- Schedule Time to Like and Comment
Engage with your followers to build long-lasting relationships with them. Allocate time to ‘Comment’ and ‘Like’ posts, reach out to brand influencers, and monitor the conversation around your brand. By staying active on social, you will help to humanize your brand and to build brand loyalty.
- Post Content Regularly
Active brands create the most engaged and robust communities on Instagram. Post at least once a day and keep your content fresh and up to date to engage your followers. Social media management is a 24/7 job. Use an Instagram scheduler to make it easy to post new content at all hours of the day.
- Measure your Progress
Start with the basics. The data you collect should make it easy to monitor your brand, discover emerging brand influencers, and identify top branded content. Look at both your brand handle’s performance and monitor your followers’ conversations online. You’ll be surprised at how much you can learn about both your customers and your business by analyzing this data on a regular interval.
Instagram is a powerful channel for growing your brand and driving sales. If you follow these five tips you’ll be on the right track to aligning your Instagram metrics with your business goals.
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