BossQ, do you realize that digital marketing is currently on the rise? Of the many social media platforms, Instagram is one that entrepreneurs often use to improve their business. As a one stop solution for entrepreneurs, Instagram offers changing personal accounts to business accounts.
But actually using Instagram is more for branding or selling, right?
Before going any further, first know the meaning of the brand itself. According to the American Marketing Association, a brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or other characteristic of a product or service so that it is unique from others. Meanwhile, branding itself is the process of creating a brand, both in terms of mission, vision and logo.
Branding can certainly be one of the keys to the success of a business in the industry. There are many benefits you can get from this branding business. First, you can make your brand known to more people; Second, branding also strengthens the brand and positions your business strategically in the industry; Third, brands are also believed to be able to attract new customers more easily; Fourth, brands can support their own marketing.
Of course you are curious about how to determine an effective branding strategy on Instagram? Without further ado, let's look at the following tips!
Effective Strategies for Branding Your Business
Just starting a business, you certainly need to do branding. In the past, branding was mostly done using printed tools and mainstream media to spread it, not now. Most of the branding in this digital era is done via digital channels such as websites or other platforms. One of the most popular, of course Instagram.
So how do you make sure that the branding you do via Instagram is effective?
1. Create a business account that is different from your personal account
When creating Instagram, create a business account to start your branding. Differentiate how it is managed from a personal account, so that other people or potential customers will see your account in a professional manner.
Don't forget to always include the website or WhatsApp link of your business in your Instagram profile. Its function is to invite consumers to go to the marketplace when they want to buy your product.
2. Establish good interactions
Just like in a regular shop, you need to frequently greet and chat with customers who come. Likewise with Instagram, BossQ. The more interactions that come to your shop, the better. Where does this interaction come from? This interaction can come from Instagram users who like your photos or leave positive comments on other accounts. This can certainly lure other people to come to your business account.
Not only does it spread awareness about your shop, you also need to respond to every comment or Direct Message that comes in a polite manner. Of course, this politeness also needs to be maintained when you reply to complaints that come.
To make it more interesting, you can create a special campaign that is held every month. Where each campaign can involve customers to participate.
3. Post Instagram every day
Do you want lots of visitors to your Instagram? A daily Instagram posting routine is key. This can certainly indicate that your Instagram is an active account and always up to date.
In order for Instagram to get high interaction, choose the right schedule when you post your products. Look at the Insight feature on Instagram and choose prime time hours that have lots of visitors or traffic. Generally, these hours are rest hours, such as when you wake up, have lunch and come home from work.
So that your followers don't get bored with your Instagram feed, try occasionally holding a giveaway with prizes for your product. One of the easiest giveaways you can do is a product photo contest. Apart from spreading awareness of your product, this can certainly increase followers who have not been exposed to your brand.
4. Create interesting, creative and unique content
Choosing an Instagram account as a social media platform to market your products means you are ready to play with visuals. In fact, quite a few entrepreneurs spend more capital to use the services of professional photographers and designers to package product photos nicely.
To keep your content looking attractive, try uploading creative content with the help of the application. Choose matching colors for each of your feed posts, attractive fonts, and a language style that suits your business persona.
5. Make searching easy with hashtag
If you talk about websites, of course you know the term Search Engine Optimizer. Like websites, Instagram also has tricks to make posts easy to find. Namely hashtags that can make it easier to find information. Generally hashtags are also used to group content.
The function of a hashtag is not only to make your product easy to find, but also to be seen by many people. To make it look exclusive and easy for many people to find, you should use special hashtags consistently. This special hashtag can have a tagline theme or special product themes that you have.
One of the hashtags that you can use is branded hashtags. With this hashtag, you can symbolize and represent your brand and encourage followers to share photos according to the hashtag.
That's a branding trick using Instagram. Next, you certainly want to know how Instagram can increase your sales. If so, let's look carefully! Who knows, you might be able to rely on one of these methods, BossQ!
Tricks to Increase Sales via Instagram
After your branding efforts are complete, now is the time for you to increase sales. Still with the same social media platform, you can maximize marketing. What are the tricks for increasing sales via Instagram? Come on, check out the methods below!
1. Fill in the Bio completely
Gaining trust in an online shop is quite difficult. There must be suspicion. However, there are certainly ways to give the impression of being 'trusted' to buyers.
To start, you can write complete bio data. This bio data can contain commonly used telephone numbers or WhatsApp for Business, website links, and so on. Apart from that, you also need to display an attractive profile photo to attract potential traffic.
2. Heart-tugging caption
After figuring out the hashtag you want to use, choosing a caption is also worth considering. How do you put words into your head? The method is quite easy.
Look for inspiration that touches the hearts of visitors regarding their posts. You can describe photos on Instagram and cross them with the unique selling point of the product you have. To make it eye catching, make sentences that can hook the reader.
3. Take advantage of Instagram stories
Apart from playing with feeds, there's no harm in using Instagram Stories to market your products. Because in fact, an average of 250 million daily Instagram users use Instagram Stories to promote their products.
To make it look interesting and interactive, you can hone your creativity with the features listed on Instagram Stories. For example, you can use polls, “ask me question”, even the Support for Small Business sticker which is proposed by Instagram to increase SME profits during the pandemic. Easy right? Come on, get creative on Instagram and share the uniqueness of your product on Instagram Stories, BossQ!
4. Be clever with the carousel technique
Bored of the usual single product photo technique? You can use the carousel technique on visuals. With the Carousel technique, you can upload visuals by uploading more than one product photo. So that the appearance is optimal, you can also show the variety or series of products in 1 post.
Carousel is an alternative to show the variety or series of new products that you offer.
5. Purchase catalog in Instagram shopping
Have you made an Instagram post using the carousel technique? Next, try using product tags in each of your uploads with Instagram Shopping. This feature allows you to upload posts that contain product tags in them.
The conditions are quite easy. Before you start using Instagram Shopping, first make sure that you have done this: your business sells physical products, your Instagram is a business account, it is connected to a Facebook Page, your Instagram account meets Facebook and Instagram policies, and most importantly, your Instagram account must also be connected to the product catalog on Facebook.
If you have met the requirements above, then you can set to activate your Instagram Stories feature.
How: move to a business account, then select shopping. If this option is not yet available, it is a sign that you cannot get access to this feature. Next, also connect your account to the catalog. After that, that's it! Your Instagram Stories feature can now be used.
Yup, that's how to increase sales on your Instagram. So that your business makes more profit, there is something else you need to maximize, namely how to manage the available product stock. Don't let it happen that, when potential customers have seen and are interested in your product, it turns out the item is out of stock and no longer re-stocked.
So, so that this doesn't happen, just download the Qasir application here, BossQ. With Qasir, you can not only manage available stock, but Qasir can also help you build your own website. The mini website in the Qasir application is a premium subscription feature at a very affordable price for MSMEs. For only IDR 15,000 a month, you can display your product catalog complete with a buy button connected to your WA number or Qasir application, also equipped with a button that links directly to your marketplace page such as Tokopedia, Shopee, GoFood or GrabFood. You can also include a link to your Instagram on the Business Website page.
Exciting, right? Managing the Instagram Shopping catalog just got easier.
Learn about Business Websites here.
Download the Business Website, click here.
If you've downloaded it, let's immediately increase brand recognition and profits from your Instagram!
Conclusion
Finding out how to sell on Instagram will take some practice to determine what method works best for your business. Following the tips above will make the process much easier than just trial and error. Even though learning how to sell on Instagram can seem a little daunting at first, believe me, it's not really that big of a deal. It can even be much easier than it seems. Once you master it, you will be ready to compete, attracting lots of new people who might become your next customers. Happy selling!
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