How To Increase Sales On Instagram This Christmas

It’s not long to go, but there are still plenty of shopping days left until Christmas. There are a few keys things to do to make sure your pet business is social media ready. Social media marketing should be an important part of your Christmas sales plan.

Instagram Shop

If you are an eCommerce brand, you are aiming to drive traffic to your websites through your social media content. Using the Instagram shop is a brilliant way to make sales, as users can go straight to a product page through a link on the item in the Instagram shop, or if you have Checkout set up, they don’t have to leave the app.

“According to Instagram shopping statistics, more than 130 million people are using the Instagram app for shopping.” - The Small Business Blog

That’s a lot of potential customers. And according to Meta (2019), Instagram helps 80% of customers make a buying decision.

There are a number of ways to increase your sales through Instagram

Those already using Instagram shop will be familiar with how it works. In simple terms, you create a shop, upload items and create content where you can tag your products for sale. Customers can then click on the shopping bag item to see product information and go straight to the checkout.

In the last few months, we were made aware by Instagram that other people would be able to tag YOUR items in THEIR posts. THIS is very exciting.

Although User Generated Content (UGC) has always been content gold, users can now tag the actual item ( not just your IG account). If their friends see an image of their dog wearing a lovely dog coat and decide they quite fancy that for their dog, then if this item is tagged, they can simply click the tag to be taken straight to the product in your Instagram shop. This is obviously going to be a step up for influencer marketing.

The easier it is for customers to find your product, the more likely they will complete the purchase. Try and encourage users to tag your products. This will be a key way to increase sales on Instagram going forward.

Great Images

Make sure you have a good selection of high-quality images of your products ready to roll out. You can hire a great photographer to do this for you or try it yourself if you have a good camera. If you don’t have this available to you, you can still get some pretty great images from a smartphone ( have a look in the settings to make sure you are taking the best quality photos your phone will allow)

Think of creative ways to showcase your items, not just images against a white background. Beautiful flat lays are still popular and a great visual for a gift guide or collaborative post. But also consider displaying your items in unusual settings or from unique angles.

Remember Instagram is a visual platform, and yes videos are the main format on Instagram, but there will always be a place for beautiful photographs.

Go Live

You could show us your products on a live stream. You can talk through each item, show different colour options, discuss key features and demonstrate size comparisons ( if you have a camera-ready model). Lives are great for product launches too. You can schedule these events, promote them on your feed and allow users to set reminders. Showing up on camera is a powerful way to increase sales on Instagram.

You don't need fancy equipment to go Live on Instagram.

Video

If the thought of going live is just too much, then why not record a video? This allows you to edit the video if you need. You don’t even need to talk to the camera; perhaps you could film a behind the scenes of the product being made or the gift wrapping process. Have a play with Reels templates to make fun videos to grab people attention.

Highlights

Use the Instagram highlights as a gift guide. The highlights selection is often underused by many brands. Users will often click through these to get a feel for your brand. It is important to keep it up-to-date and relevant. Remember to add hyperlinks to product pages on your website to direct people to where to buy.