Keeping up with social media is hard, and none more so than Instagram.
Whilst twitter will let you throw one-liners out and Facebook has more links than a golf course, Instagram’s visual medium requires a different kind of effort. Maybe you started one up in 2017, uploaded every day the first month, then every other day, then just when you had sales. Things fall off the radar, it happens, but with a plethora of new stats from 2020 making the rounds, it would seem that the age of Instagram is still going strong with no end in sight. So it’s not too late to get back online and give your eCommerce Instagram page a little TLC to be 2021 ready.
So, what are your ecommerce instagram measurables?
Every social media site has its own way of tracking and categorising your analytics, for Instagram its called ‘insights’. Through insights you’ll be able to track follower count, your mentions, your reach and your interactions. You’ll also be able to get a broad overview of your audience and some of their defining characteristics (gender etc.) – but getting the numbers isn’t the hard part.
Unlike with other forms of media, sometimes follower count does not always equal engagement. You can’t rely on every person who hits that button putting in much effort getting to know your brand. This means you have to be extremely selective with what you choose to post as well as where you choose to put your effort. Some of Instagram’s most engaging features, like the Stories feature which allows you to create a short video, can be extremely effective in showcasing your brand in an exciting way – it can also be ignored very easily. In the same way that TV ads have had to get more creative now that people can often just fast forward through them, your online presence needs to stand out from the crowd if you don’t want users to simply tap their finger and ignore all your hard work.
One of the most effective ways to engage with your audience is to make sure you’re correctly directing your content. With all those valuable analytics at your fingertips, all it takes is a little bit of research to find out when your audience is online and what they want to see. Last year Instagram users spent an average 30 minutes a day utilising the app.
What about the ‘What’ of ecommerce Instagram?
In terms of the content itself, some of that is going to be down to your ability to distil your brand into something exciting, but why not get some help by making sure you hit all the touchstones of good eCommerce Instagram content.
According to recent statistics, the Stories that perform the best have a few defining traits;
- stories with central text had increased engagement over those without text to the tune of 75%
- Stories that wrapped up with a call to action were almost 90% more likely to be engaged with than those that didn’t
- for the actual content? How-to videos are by-and-large the most popular Stories on the platform so maybe it’s time to show off how to use some of your less intuitive products?
Don’t forget the direct approach!
When it comes to ecommerce instagram that actually gets people to buy, sometimes having things just a tap away can work to your advantage. If you’re not familiar, Shoppable allows users to tag items to tag products in their posts in such a way that the cost is displayed in the image. When a user taps the product, they are taken directly to your page where they can buy said product. It’s quick, it’s efficient and it feels more personal than an ad.
According to recent data, 130 million users will interact with a shopping post every month. Whilst that doesn’t mean they all purchased, it does mean they tapped that button having already seen the price. In terms of quality of engagement statistics, that’s a big deal. Once people are aware of your ecommerce instagram offerings and how much they cost, they’re more likely to consider you in the future.
It might seem daunting to use what appears to be a social site as an ad board, but think about what that engagement means, not to mention the increased engagement on call to action posts. Your audience isn’t turned off that you’re advertising to them, they just want to feel like they can trust you. The strange, dual-world of Instagram as a business tool does just that.
Once you’ve got your audience shopping, we’d love to help with the rest.
If you’d like to chat with a fulfilment expert, we’d love to hear from you. You can always give us a call on +61 2 9828 0111 or +64 9 263 8855 (Auckland) or drop us a note via the form below. Alternatively, you can find a full list of available services here.