As a dropshipper you don’t need to take care of holding and handling inventory, fulfilling and shipping orders so you can concentrate on creating a stellar marketing plan. Due to the fierce competition in the eCommerce market, you have to put a lot of emphasis on reviewing and analysing the 5 C’s of marketing and adjusting your marketing strategy accordingly to stay in the competition. To be able to be one step ahead of your competition it is important that you utilise the new and trending platforms and techniques that they’re likely not using yet. This will help you set your brand and store apart from those of your competitors. In this article, we’ll explain how you can promote your dropshipping store on Instagram in order to drive more sales and achieve your goals as a dropshipping store owner.
Important facts about Instagram
Instagram is a widely known social media platform that is used to share visual content such as images and videos with your audience. The company was started in 2010 as a separate business, but Facebook bought it in a little more than two years. This was a big addition to Facebook’s business, and in 2020, Instagram made up 36.9% of Facebook’s total revenue. Instagram is getting more and more popular, and in the second half of 2021, it had more than 1.4 billion users. According to statistics, 62.8% of Instagram’s audience belongs to the 18-34 age bracket, so if you’re targeting this demographic with the products that you are dropshipping, Instagram is a prime advertising platform for you.
Different kinds of Instagram posts
If you’re thinking about making an Instagram account for your business, you should first learn what kinds of content you can share and how they can help you. Read on to learn about the different kinds of posts you can include in your content mix.
Organic content
Organic content is any kind of content that you make yourself and doesn’t appear in paid ads on your social media sites. Users can find this kind of content by searching for keywords or hashtags. If you make high-quality, evergreen, organic content that is relevant to your audience, you have a good chance of being seen. On Instagram, we mostly tell the difference between three kinds of organic content:
Content on your feed: This content can be anything from a photo to a video post or a gallery. These will show up in the feeds of your followers or when someone searches for a hashtag you’ve added in the “Explore” section.
Stories: Instagram stories for dropshipping are a great type of content if you want to increase interest in your products and your store. 50% of people said they went to a website to buy something after seeing it in a “story,” and 58% said they were more interested in a product after seeing it in a “story.”
Reels: One of the newest features you can use when dropshipping on Instagram is the reel. With this feature, you can make, record, and edit 15-second videos that you can share on your feed and also put in the “Explore” section. Most of the time, these videos are a mix of pre-recorded videos that you can put together and edit to make a short, interesting video for your audience.
Content and ads that cost money
Paid content is everything on Instagram that is made by a company as sponsored content or in a paid partnership with an influencer or brand advocate who shares content for that company. Most of the time, these come in two forms:
Sponsored content from influencers or brand advocates: These kinds of posts are usually shared on the influencer’s page, the brand’s page, or both. The goal is to use the influencer’s audience to get people to notice your store.
General paid advertising: You can put an organic post into a paid advertising campaign if you want to get more people to see it or interact with it. When making a paid ad, you can choose the target audience by setting up multiple parameters based on who you want to see the post. In this case, you should always make sure that the people you are targeting are the same people you want to send to your store.
How to use Instagram for marketing
Now that you know how important Instagram is and the main types of content you can share on it, we’ll show you some tools you can use to boost sales in your dropshipping eCommerce store.
Optimize your page’s bio
When you make an Instagram page for your business, the first thing you need to do is set up your bio. This bit of text is where you can tell people about yourself and your brand and give them hints about what to expect if they follow your account. In your bio, you should talk about what makes you different from your competitors. Instagram, on the other hand, isn’t as link-friendly as other social media sites, and you can only put a link in your bio. Because of this, you must take advantage of this chance and put a link to your store’s website here. Always make sure that you’re pasting a link that has UTM tracking parameters so you can see how much traffic is flowing into your website, specifically from your Instagram bio. You can change the link in your bio whenever you want, so it’s best to include links that are relevant to the advertising campaigns you’re running at any given time.
If you want organic growth and interest from your followers, you have to use hashtags in your business Instagram captions or comments. It can not only make people more interested, but it can also help you stand out. If you post high-quality content and use the right hashtags, your posts are more likely to show up in your target audience’s “Discover” section and get them to check out your store’s account. Make sure to include this part of your competitor analysis when you look at their marketing efforts to figure out the right hashtags and how to mix them.
Open up a shop on Instagram.
If you want to do dropshipping on Instagram, you have to have an Instagram Store. This feature was added to the platform in 2022, but by 2023, Instagram had made it even better, so you can now buy things right from your stories. If you want to grow your business and dropship products in niches like fashion, beauty, and wellness, the Instagram store is a very useful tool. When you make a post “shoppable,” a small shopping bag icon will show up in the bottom left corner of the photo to let people know they can buy one or more of the items shown. When they tap on the image, links will appear on the products you have listed in your Instagram store. These links can take them straight to the product pages within the app. If they want to buy something, they can go to your website, look at it, and put it in their shopping cart.
How to use your Instagram store to get people to buy things?
In this section, you can read useful dropshipping tips that can help you make the most of Instagram’s shopping feature. Sure, each point needs to be tweaked more to fit your niche and brand image, but you can use these guidelines to promote this Instagram feature for your dropshipping store.
Put good pictures on your feed.
Posting high-quality images is not only important on your website but on your social media accounts alike. Professional and harmonious pictures are more eye-catching for potential customers and are highly important, especially on platforms like Instagram that are visual-oriented. Therefore, make sure to take advantage of fashion photo editing apps to enhance your visuals in the best way possible. Nevertheless, you have to be sure you are not just posting product images as that is something to do on your website. Instagram gives you the chance to show your products in use and in their natural environment. This helps you create an atmosphere and build your brand’s image. Also, if your shop sells branded products, be careful not to show the brands and logos directly. This could be against the law. To avoid any problems, it’s best to use the images that your dropshipping supplier gives you and write a more general product description that doesn’t mention the brand name.
Once you have enough pictures on your feed, you should look at the analytics Instagram gives you and the click-through rate (CTR) for each picture. This way, you’ll be able to see which images work best and try to figure out why based on how many people click on them and how long they stay on the page. Once you know what your best-performing images have in common, you can use that to shape your future content. However, you should always try out new ideas and keep an eye on how each image is doing. This will let you make real, interesting, and engaging content for your followers, and it will probably also help you sell more.
Write great descriptions of your products.
Again, your Instagram captions and product descriptions are just as important as the ones in your store because most people read these after seeing an interesting post. If a product is appealing in an image, visitors will surely check the product description as the next step before making a purchasing decision. So, if you want to be successful at dropshipping on Instagram, think of your captions and product descriptions as direct investments in your sales efforts and always think them through before posting an image.
How to use Instagram Stories to drop ship?
As we’ve already talked about, stories have a big impact on potential customers. They also give you a chance to talk to people in a less formal way because they don’t stay on your profile forever unless you pin them. Visitors can buy products through both posts and stories, so this tool can be a good way to spread the word about special deals or seasonal sales. But be careful about how many stories you post every day. People’s attention spans are getting shorter as they use social media, so you don’t want to bore your audience with too much information that isn’t important. Make sure that the information you post about your products and brand is useful and informative. You can also use this tool as a call to action to grow your business even more.
How to use influencer marketing on Instagram for dropshipping?
Influencer marketing is one of the most widely used marketing tools for both B2B and B2C businesses alike when it comes to social media advertising. All platforms combined, the global influencer marketing market was worth 13.8 billion USD in 2023. This shows that it is a tool you should use if you want to grow your dropshipping business on Instagram. If you’re past your beginner phase with your store and you have the means to involve influencers in your marketing strategy, it’s highly advised that you do so. As the main selling point of your dropshipping business on Instagram is the way you differentiate yourself and how consumers perceive your brand, you should definitely expand your scoop and use influencer marketing as well, which is available in many forms, including Instagram shoutouts. According to research done by the best social media marketing agencies in Canada, contacting influencers leads to more sales and money made on social networks. If you’re not sure which influencer would be best for your brand, don’t be afraid to contact an influencer agency.
Conclusion
If you’re a business owner, it’s clear that you should try dropshipping on Instagram once your store and business operations are set up. The question is not about if you should be using Instagram to promote your business and expand your customers’ pool but rather how you should do it. If you can make this platform a success, you can get a head start on your competitors and see your sales go up.
