Did you know you can sell on Instagram and make a lot of money without spending a dime? In case you miss it, here are 10 ways to get that.
You asked Google “how to sell on Instagram for free” and found yourself on this page? Good for you! You’re about to learn 9 ways to make a lot of money on this social platform without spending a dime.
Selling on Instagram has been red-hot since it introduced several ecommerce features like Instagram Live Shopping and Instagram Guides.
Whatever you’re selling, you can make use of Instagram to increase sales for your ecommerce business.
Excited to learn? Let’s waste no time.
First things first, you should create an Instagram business profile and optimize it as much as possible. It matters a lot.
Why? Because more and more customers are turning to Instagram instead of Google to search for brands, sales, product reviews, and recommendations.
These numbers don’t lie.
Another reason is an Instagram business profile offers a bunch of extra features and tools you can use to grow your business, compared with a normal profile. For example, Instagram Shopping, Instagram Ads, Instagram Guides, Instagram Reels Shopping, and Instagram Insights.
Tips for creating an Instagram business profile that sells:
Take a look at Skirt Society’s Instagram business profile:
What Skirt Society does well:
See? Skirt Society’s Instagram bio is all about their customers or what customers will get when shopping with the brand.
Instagram Shopping allows you to create an Instagram shoppable feed and a digital, shareable product catalog right on Instagram.
With Instagram Shopping, people can learn more about your products and purchase your products directly from the app (with Instagram Checkout) or click through to complete the order on your ecommerce store.
Instagram Shopping’s key features:
Here is an excellent example from @camillerosenaturals. Their Instagram profile is filled with many posts with a shopping bag icon tagged in the top right corner. Tap on the product tagged, and you can see additional product details like this:
To set up Instagram Shopping, ensure your business checks a few boxes for eligibility:
Instagram Stories allows you to connect with your followers on a more personal, casual level. It brings you a huge opportunity to build trust and increase engagement in a short time.
Mention’s 2020 Instagram Engagement report reveals many interesting statistics about Instagram Stories. Here are some of them:
That’s awesome, right?
Here are some Instagram Stories’ sales and conversion features you should keep in mind:
Shopping stickers: Use them to tag physical products in your stores. There are four types of stickers, including a shopping bag icon, a sticker with a product name in rainbow or grey, and translucent text.
What makes this feature so great is that no matter how many followers you have, you can drive traffic to your website through your stories.
Swipe up: Once you reach over 10k followers, you can add a “swipe up” to your Instagram Stores — another big opportunity to promote products, blog posts, and sign-up pages.
For example, @covergirl includes the View Product button at the bottom of their story. Viewers can simply tap on the button to access the link.
Note that you must have an Instagram business profile and over 10k followers to access this feature.
According to Morning Consult’s The State of Consumer Trust 2020 report, 69% of consumers say it’s very important brands deliver consistently on what they promise when considering trust. Nielsen’s research also shows that consumers trust personal recommendations above paid ads.
How can brands gain customer trust? One of the best practices is working with Instagram influencers.
Instagram influencers are a reliable source for product reviews, recommendations, opinions, and more. They share content in an authentic way, helping them gain a high level of trust from their followers.
By partnering with Instagram influencers, brands can take advantage of their influence on their audiences to promote products, encourage purchases, and gain a loyal following.
Another great thing about Instagram is that you don’t need to work with mega influencers like Selena Gomez and pay them thousands of dollars for a sponsored post.
Today, ecommerce merchants and small business owners have many choices to establish a partnership with an influencer.
If you have a tight budget, you can find nano-influencers (having 1k-10k followers) or micro-influencers (10k-100k followers) and offer them free products in exchange for sharing branded content on their profiles.
According to Mention, an enthusiastic micro-influencer with a smaller, but keen and dedicated following, provides better value for money.
Also, micro-influencers are experts of their niche and more personally invested in their online presence. They spend a lot of time creating high-quality content, reading comments, and addressing their followers’ inquiries personally.
Want to give your followers a bit of fun while still making a lot of sales? Enter Instagram giveaways.
With a giveaway, you can invite your followers to join a competition in which they have to do a couple of things to have a chance to win a prize.
For example, you can ask them to share a video of themselves using your product, use your branded hashtag, or tag a friend in your post. The rules should be as simple as possible so your followers can follow them without taking much effort.
Here is a great example from Pacifica Beauty (@pacificabeauty):
Some tips for creating a successful Instagram contest:
One of the most common ways brands leverage exclusivity in their Instagram marketing strategy is by giving their followers exclusive access to deals… just for being part of their Instagram community.
Sattwa Skincare (@sattwaskincare) knows how to start off on the right foot. From their post, they state clearly what they’re offering and frame the offer around exclusivity.
What’s more, Sattwa Skincare limits the offer “until Sunday evening,” giving followers a little push to take action before the deal ends. This is an excellent example of creating a sense of urgency with an exclusive deal.
Gaining audiences’ attention is one thing; getting them to stay longer (and forever) with you is another.
When you show people you’re truly interested in them and want to create a meaningful relationship with them, they’ll show their caring back to you.
Follow these tips to build great connections with fans on Instagram:
IGTV is both a standalone video-sharing app and an extension of the existing feature on Instagram. IGTV supports vertical and horizontal videos with a 10-minute length for most Instagram accounts and up to one hour for larger accounts.
Done right, IGTV can bring a great opportunity to build engagement, collaborate with influencers, drive sales, and many other things.
Here are some ideas for your IGTV videos:
Instagram Reels allows you to create interactive videos, add effects, and stitch the video together right within the app. It’s a new way to make fun and engaging video content on Instagram.
With Instagram Reels, you can record and edit together 15 to 30-second video clips set to music and share them to your Stories, Instagram feed, and the Reels tab on your profile.
Brands use Reels to share stories, user-generated content (UGC), new product teasers, and tutorials. They even collaborate with influencers to promote products, announce sales, and more. As an online store, you should start creating Reels right away to reach more potential customers.
Many merchants think they have to make huge investments on Instagram to get a significant level of return. But that’s not true. You can start selling on Instagram for free with these 9 tips:
In case you’re looking for a help desk tool to manage Instagram customer requests, give Gorgias a try. Sign up for an account to get a full-featured 7-day free trial. You’ll be amazed at what Gorgias can do for your customer service experience.
