Instagram may look like a picture-sharing platform but it’s more than that. It’s an extremely powerful brand-building tool. People use Instagram's visuals to perform product research, discover new trends, and make buying decisions.

What’s interesting is that when Instagrammers see product information, 87% of them take action. They either follow the brand, make an online purchase, or visit the shop. No E-commerce store would want to miss out on these perks, right Wondering how Instagram can help with lead generation Here’s everything you need to know.

1: Optimize Your Profile
The very first thing to do is optimize your profile starting from bio, display picture, captions to posts, which brands to follow, your CTA, content ideas, and more. When someone’s about to follow a brand, they check the bio first. It also gives a brief yet precise description of you or your brand.

Consider it a 30-second pitch to introduce your brand and don’t forget to include a CTA with your site’s link. Apart from your site’s link, you can also add a CTA button or an email button.

2: Make the Most Out of Instagram Stories
If you have an Instagram presence for your online store but you aren’t using stories, you are missing out on the opportunity to engage with your audience. In fact, even if you are selling services (it could be one of the sales recruitment agencies, a beauty salon, or even a vet’s clinic), this tip works for all types of businesses.

• Instagram stories have the potential to reach your target audience when the right message is used. Here are some examples of using stories effectively:
• Promote your latest products or blog posts with a catchy headline and CTA
• Share live videos or content your audience wants to see
• Give a sneak peek of BTS content
• Host a giveaway or competition

3: Harness the Power of UGC
UGC (User Generated Content) includes text, videos, reviews, or images created by people instead of the brand. When a customer shares a positive review or experience about your brand, share it on your Instagram immediately. This works best for lead generation. Encourage your followers to share their experience with your products. Don’t forget to make them use hashtags related to your brand.

4: Use Lead Generation Ads
To use lead generation ads, you will also need to create a Facebook page for your brand. Only then can use the ads manager to build an ad. To get started, choose “lead generation” as your marketing objective. The process is really simple:

• Define the audience
• Set the bid for the ad
• Choose the format
• Create a lead form

Don’t just create the ad, track the performance of your campaign too by measuring:

• Number of visitors to your landing
• Total conversion
• The lifetime value of customers
• Cost of acquiring customers

5: Recruit Influencers
Influencer marketing is all the rage these days. Even small businesses are selling via influencers. If they can’t reach out to the popular influencers, they settle on micro-influencers - any type of work. Influencers leverage their fan following to increase engagement from just shout-outs.

If you have got the budget, you can also do a flash mob and collaborate with hundreds of bloggers, influencers, as well as editors from big magazines like Elle or Vogue. This will accelerate your sales, increase your brand’s reach, and make it known.

6: Make the Process of Buying Easier
All E-commerce stores are recommended to gauge the journey of the user from Instagram to the checkout process. If you can reduce the number of steps before the conversion, do it. Sometimes, a cumbersome process is the root cause of limited leads.

When you are selling one product only, that makes it easier. Simply add the link of the product in the bio. To make it look pretty, create a custom URL. This way, the URL becomes short and crisp.

Be careful with how you use product images to entice a visitor to check out your website. Follow the example of Nike. The brand is known for creating content that increases positive association with its brand. Use third-party tools to connect your product photos to actual product pages on your site. This makes finding the product and adding the product to the cart so much easier.

7: Schedule the Entire Month’s Content
To keep reaching out to more customers, work on your content. The only problem is creating content every day takes a huge chunk of your time. The best solution is to create the entire month’s content and schedule it.

Your audience will stay hooked with quality content each day. Along with posting content, also engage with your followers by replying to their comments.

Conclusion
Instagram doesn’t need a huge budget and it drives results for all types of E-commerce businesses. You just need to create a marketing strategy to bring leads just like firms’ craft talent acquisition strategies to find the top candidates.

Scott

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