Social Selling – Part 4: Instagram Marketing In 2021
Instagram marketing changed a lot in 2020. In Part 4 of our series on social selling, we show you how to use Instagram to promote SHECO products.
In 2020, when Instagram started hiding likes, it resulted in people becoming more personal and authentic on the platform. The Instagram algorithm is always changing and it’s often hard to keep up with it without some expert help.
In this article, you’ll learn how to create an Instagram marketing plan, as well as the best strategies for Instagram growth in 2021, so you can turn your Instagram account into a selling machine for SHECO products.
1. Choose a niche and become known for it
Instagram influencer marketing is a very popular way to sell on Instagram and most people want to learn how to become an Instagram influencer, but don’t know HOW or WHY.
Before you create an Instagram marketing strategy, you must understand that you cannot talk to everyone and anyone and persuade them to buy your products.
You cannot start making random posts on Instagram and expect people to follow you or buy from you. People are more likely to connect with you for something specific, rather than for everything under the sun.
So the first step is to know WHY you want to be on Instagram and WHO your audience is. When creating an Instagram sales strategy, you must know who your Instagram target market is and figure out what sort of products they are looking for.
That’s why it’s important to select a niche and create your own unique way of communicating with your Instagram followers using the same terms and language they use.
Remember, you can always expand your niche or even change it later. There’s no need to be perfect. Experiment and see what works for you.
2. Learn from successful influencers
It helps to focus on the things you are best at, start building a personal brand and become known for something. Make sure you choose a niche that you’re really comfortable with and that you love creating content for, as you’ll be doing it for a long time.
Beauty and fashion are hugely popular on social media, so if you’re into this niche you could post beauty and make-up tutorials or honest fashion reviews to build your audience. If you love yoga, you could share information about spirituality, fitness, or holistic health.
Follow the Instagram channels of successful influencers in your niche. Observe what works best for them and tailor their strategies to your own promotions.
You don’t have to copy everything they do, but if you want to become a fashion influencer, it’s good to know how to create a successful Instagram strategy for fashion brands. Be very clear about your goals when using Instagram.
Your goal is not to accumulate millions of followers, but to attract the right followers who are interested in your products, and to create the desire for your products in the minds of your followers.
There are many Instagram influencers who have millions of followers but can’t even sell a T-shirt. So, be very clear on your goals from Day 1 and make it clear that you are on Instagram to sell, not to show off.
Also watch:
- Instagram Tips In Hindi - Instagram Par 100,000 Followers Kaise Badhaye
- How To Grow 100,000 Instagram Followers on Instagram Organically
3. Create content your audience WANTS to see
The key to building a loyal following on Instagram is to know who your audience is and what sort of content they want to see, so you can add value to their lives with super-useful content.
Create eye-popping and visually-striking content using bold colours or dramatic landscapes, and use professional product photos to give your feed a professional look.
Create an Instagram content strategy and maintain a posting schedule or an Instagram content calendar, so you can post consistently and strategically.
The most important factors that play a role in your feed rankings are comments, likes, reshares, saves, and views for videos. Create useful, engaging and shareable content that people will willingly share on their stories.
All this data is available in your Instagram Insights and it will help you understand what content works with your audience and what doesn’t.
To access Instagram Insights, login to your Instagram account and change it to an Instagram Business account.
4. Optimize your Instagram Bio
Create an Instagram bio that states your purpose. For instance, if you want to be a beauty and fashion influencer, you could write a bio with statements like:
“Join me in making the world a more beautiful place.”
Or you could add some humour and say,
“Beauty starts from within, but that doesn’t mean you can’t look good on the outside too.”
You don’t have to create content only in English. You can create it in any language you’re comfortable with. In fact, creating vernacular content could give you an edge over other Instagram influencers as you can reach followers that they cannot.
While you should share useful and entertaining content, you must also make your audience aware of the fact that you’re on Instagram to sell!
Instagram only allows one clickable link in a bio profile. If you want people to connect to you directly from your Instagram bio, there are many ways to do that.
Here are some options for your Instagram Bio link:
- Link to your SHEROES Community
If you only want women to connect with you, create an invite-only community on SHEROES and link to it from your Instagram bio. You can offer unique content in your community that you don’t share anywhere else.
- Add a WhatsApp link
WhatsApp allows users to generate a link to their WhatsApp contact number so that your Instagram followers can click on the link and send you a direct message on WhatsApp.
The default WhatsApp URL is - https://wa.me/[yournumber] - where you need to replace [yournumber] with your WhatsApp number.
As an example, your link might look https://wa.me/8612345678901. Just don’t add the “+” sign at the beginning of the country code or the link will not work.
- Use your own domain or landing page
If you want your Instagram audience to access your own website, blog and other social media platforms from your Instagram bio link, you can use your own domain as your Instagram bio link.
This will make it easier for your followers to see all of your information in one place and you can easily connect with your followers and convert site visitors to buyers.
If you cannot buy your own domain, create a free landing page on sites like Medium.com or WordPress.com and list all your social handles and contact information for those who want to order SHECO products from you.
You can even use a free newsletter site like Substack.com to build an email subscriber list and send out regular newsletters to your followers.
How To Grow Your Instagram Followers In 2021
If you’re trying to grow a following on Instagram in 2021 using the best Instagram strategy of 2019, you’re unlikely to succeed. You must keep up with the latest Instagram trends so you can benefit from them.
Here are some recent trends to use in your Instagram marketing:
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Inspire, don’t show off
In 2020, thanks to the “no-edit edit” trend, Instagrammers gave up the need to post perfect images and carefully edited videos. Today, the best Instagram influencers use the channel to inspire people, not to show off their lifestyle and create jealousy.
Sharing images or videos that are honest, natural, and real-time works better, as Instagrammers now prefer authenticity, and influencers are using Instagram to build meaningful relationships with their audience.
To keep your followers engaged with you, stay active on Instagram every day, engage with them and build genuine relationships. Reply to each comment, even if it’s with just a single emoji, and reply to all your messages.
Treat your followers like real customers. Avoid participating in Instagram pods or scammy ways to boost engagement, and never buy Instagram followers.
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Use your creativity and experiment
While the SHECO Partner Program provides many beautiful videos and product images, your promotions will work best when you use your own creativity and make your own unique content with these creatives.
Stories work very well on Instagram and you can find entertaining, engaging and creative Instagram story ideas that add a touch of spice and personality to your feed. A 3 to 10-second video may give you better engagement than a photo.
Keep publishing stories. Staying active on your stories gives your audience a quick way to engage with you and your stories will keep popping up in their feed. Set reminders to upload stories often.
Besides Stories and videos, there are many new content formats you can use in your Instagram product marketing plan. These include Questions, Polls, Reels, GIFs, Boomerangs, Sliders, Live Streaming, and IGTV.
Instagram is one of the best channels to experiment with new and creative trends, so make the best use of these Instagram tools and content formats to learn which ones work better with your followers, keep them engaged with you and make your content more shareable and easy to discover.
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Use Instagram Reels
Instagram Reels will blow up in 2021, so you must learn how to use Instagram reels if you want to use this medium to your advantage.
You can increase watch time for your Reels by adding text to your video content. Don’t forget to add a “Call To Action” asking your followers to “save” or “share” your Instagram reel.
According to Social Media Examiner, 15-second content pieces work better than 30-second content pieces, as the Instagram Reel preview is limited to 15 seconds before people need to click “See More.”
Stick to creating Instagram Reels content that is 15 seconds long, so that the full video plays on Preview mode. You can also use a Green Screen effect in Reels because it gives you the ability to share photos, screenshots, or videos in your reel.
Also watch: How To Grow FAST On Instagram Using Reels
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Learn how to use keywords
Instagram SEO was the latest update for November 2020, and now if you search for a keyword in the search bar, even without the use of hashtags, you should see relevant videos, profiles, and posts.
You can take early advantage of this update by making sure that you include relevant keywords in your Instagram captions and Instagram sales posts to help Instagram clearly identify the topic of your post.
It may also be helpful to consistently post relevant content connected to your niche and avoid posting about unrelated content. Also, follow similar accounts and add relevant keywords in your Instagram name and bio.
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Hashtag that post
The main purpose of Instagram hashtags is to help Instagram organize and categorize content and the hashtag trends are always changing.
But for Instagrammers, hashtags help to increase the reach of your posts and get them in front of new people. An effective Instagram marketing strategy will use a combination of Brand, Product, and Community hashtags.
According to the best Instagram marketers, NINE hashtags is the Magic Number of hashtags you should use in your Instagram posts.
Learning how to do Instagram hashtag research and how to use hashtags for maximum effect in your Instagram posts will help you build followers fast.
Also watch:
- How To Do Instagram Hashtag Research
- How To Use Instagram Hashtags In 2020
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Create an Instagram Shop
One of the best marketing strategies for Instagram is to create an Instagram Shop and take orders directly on Instagram. This Instagram feature lets you integrate your SHECO product catalogue with your Instagram profile.
It allows you to promote your products directly to Instagram users through posts, Stories, in the Explore tab, and in a special Shop tab on your profile, while Instagram’s new checkout feature makes the shopping experience smooth and easy.
You can tag a product in a post, and that post will be included in Instagram’s new Shopping Explore tab. The best part is that these shopping posts are personalized and based on users’ interests and past engagement.
- Be the tortoise, not the hare
A lot of people give up on Instagram too early because they feel like they’re not growing fast enough on the platform.
But even with the best Instagram promotion strategy, results happen over time, not overnight, and consistency is key for a successful Instagram marketing campaign.
Remember, that when it comes to your Instagram content strategy, posting quality content is more important than quantity, so don’t post just for the sake of posting.
Have a consistent Instagram posting strategy and keep learning the best Instagram strategies, tips and hacks from the top Instagram marketers to use in your Instagram growth hacking plan.
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