Instagram tin be 1 of the most powerful tools for selling products and services—if you know how to stand up out from the crowd. These tips will evidence you how to sell on Instagram successfully.

Did you know that as of this writing, Instagram has over i billion active monthly users? Yes, billion. Instagram at present is a global market, and in the U.S. lone, 37% of adults use Instagram.

Considering Instagram is a visual platform, it is a perfect place for companies who sell products to bear witness off what they accept to offering.

Yes, using Instagram to help your customers recall who you are equally a social media agency and why they love you (and your clients) is a critical function of your Instagram marketing. But if you stop there, y'all are missing a big opportunity to upwardly your sales!

Only if y'all can't make a clickable link in your post, how tin you direct people to buy from you? Yep, you can put a link to your store in your bio, but most people will see a specific production on Instagram and not want to scan your unabridged catalog to find it.

Adept news: You have multiple ways to set up shop and showtime selling on Instagram.

Set Upwards Instagram Shopping Natively

The best place to start is Instagram Shopping if yous qualify.

With an Instagram Shop, y'all become a prominent View Store on your profile and the ability to tag products in a variety of content. For case, @otrio.stationery has a Store where customers can easily browse, salvage, and buy items from the brand'due south e-commerce store.

instagram shop example

To be able to use this feature, y'all demand to:

  • Be in a supported location (not only your office hub but your concrete location equally a social media manager).
  • Sell physical goods. (Sad, services are not supported at this fourth dimension.)
  • Take an Instagram business account (rather than a personal business relationship).
  • Link your Instagram account with your Facebook folio.

If you meet those requirements, you are able to set upwardly an Instagram store.

Open the Instagram app and navigate to your contour. Tap to open the menu in the upper right corner and select Settings. Tap Business and and then tap the Fix Instagram Shopping link at the bottom of the screen.

set up instagram shopping

You volition now need to connect your Instagram business relationship to an existing catalog, or create a new i.

The beginning possible style to do this is with Facebook Catalog Manager.

add catalog in instagram shop

If you accept never used the Catalog Manager, this is a feature inside Business Manager that allows you to take a shop on your Facebook page also.

Though the feature is pretty straightforward, there are a lot of options included.

First, click the blue Add a Catalog button and choose the type of catalog you want to create. For example, y'all probably want to fix upwardly an e-commerce itemize.

catalog type for instagram shop

So choose how to upload your inventory. If you lot have a relatively small itemize, uploading items manually may be the simplest fashion to accomplish this task.

upload catalog for your instagram shop

If you lot add images, they need to be 500×500 pixels.

You will besides need to add together:

  • A description of your product
  • SKU number if y'all are using them internally
  • The link to the direct page on your website where people tin can purchase
  • Product cost

Ready Up Instagram Shopping with Shopify or Big Commerce

Practice you already utilise Shopify or BigCommerce for your online sales experience on your website? Then this whole process will be much easier for you, equally you tin connect your sales platform directly.

When creating a catalog, choose the option to connect a partner platform. Then choose the third-party platform you use for e-commerce. Follow the prompts to complete your itemize setup and upload your inventory.

connect platform for instagram shopping

Whichever method you use (Facebook Commerce Manager, Shopify, or Big Commerce), afterward you get everything connected you will be able to start making shoppable posts.

Use an Alternative Sales Platform

You may accept other reasons for wanting to use something other than shoppable Instagram posts.

  • Are you selling outside an surface area supported past Instagram?
  • Your main product is selling services?
  • Do yous want to try something unlike?
  • Is your client simply getting started and doesn't want the time and effort of setting up a catalog?

Another culling is to apply a paid service like Soldsie or CommentSold. Both of these services work past letting people buy directly from comments on Instagram (as well as Facebook.) Plans range from $49/month on upwards, and you will also need to pay upwardly to a five.9% transaction fee.

If you can't employ Instagram's native options, this pick may piece of work for you.

What to Practise When Selling on Instagram

1. Stay on brand

Because Instagram is a existent-time, visual network, information technology sets it apart from its social media brothers and sisters. And it likewise means that you need to lead your auction with an eye-communicable image.

Take the fourth dimension you demand to get the photo right. Select a photo that is square in shape (unless you are creating stories), easy to identify, and void of distracting lighting problems.

Simply if y'all want to go from good to great, make sure that your Instagram is aligned with your branding.

  • Your branding guidelines should include:
  • Fonts and their usage
  • What specific color numbers you employ for your brand
  • Guidelines about how to use images
  • When you use photos and when yous utilise illustrations
  • Where you lot tin can get your images from if you lot don't take them yourself

When you have a potent brand presence, it shows.

For case, have @writechofficial_. The content is visually consistent and follows a articulate ready of guidelines.

instagram profile example

ii. Plan Instagram feed posts

Once y'all've nailed down the branding for your clients' Instagram feeds, you'll have an easier fourth dimension planning content.

Retrieve: Create content with a purpose and a goal in mind.

Beginning, let's expect at creating sales-focused feed posts.

Do you accept an awesome sale to promote? Peradventure y'all have a new production line to announce. Or perhaps your client just updated their online shop.

Either style, it's best to make big news crystal articulate in the image—not just in the caption.

Instagram is a visual channel, and then be sure to hook prospects with middle-communicable images. Then provide more than detail—like auction dates or product info—in the caption.

Retrieve that not every mail service has to include a hard sell. Instead of promoting products in every mail service, think nigh other ways your client can provide value.

For instance, you might create a how-to postal service that walks followers through using a new product characteristic. Yous can utilize Agorapulse's social media reports to identify what works best for your clients' followers so you tin produce more like it.

agorapulse instagram content report

Whether yous're helping clients launch a new production line or you're creating a helpful how-to guide, carousel posts can also be a great idea. You lot tin can add upwardly to 10 images to a unmarried post, which can add much more depth to your clients' content.

With spots for upwardly to ten images, yous take ample opportunity to get creative. You could detail each step of a tutorial or highlight all the absurd features of a unmarried production.

example of instagram shopping

For example, the @togetherwithkx carousel post above uses a text overlay to make a big announcement well-nigh holiday shopping dates. The additional images in the carousel highlight holiday items available in the jotter make's shop.

Schedule Instagram content with Agorapulse

With Agorapulse, scheduling single images or carousel posts is easy. Apply the composer to create a feed mail, including uploading an image and writing a caption. Then schedule Instagram content at the perfect time for your customer'south audience.

agorapulse composer for instagram selling

If y'all're creating a carousel post with multiple images, you'll get a notification on the Agorapulse mobile app when it's time to publish. Tap the notification and follow the prompts to complete publishing manually.

Design Instagram content via Agorapulse

Do you typically batch design and content creation to save fourth dimension? With Agorapulse'south Canva integration, you can easily create new Instagram designs or alter existing ones without leaving the composer.

canva integration with agorapulse

Organize customer content with Agorapulse

If you lot adopt to collect and organize client content alee of time, Agorapulse'south asset library tin can assistance. Gear up separate customer folders in the Library tab and organize by social channel, theme, or campaign. When you lot become to create a post in Agorapulse, you can pull images correct from the asset library, speeding up your scheduling process.

agorapulse asset library

three. Use hashtags to extend reach

Fifty-fifty if your content is top-tier, you can't expect to achieve maximum reach for clients without hashtags.

On Instagram, hashtags are the key to expanding your accomplish, connecting with more customers, and ultimately selling more products.

Hashtag Help: Your Complete Guide to Instagram Hashtags

What hashtags should you add to your clients' posts? In most cases, a mix of branded, industry, and niche hashtags works best. To find new manufacture, viral, or location hashtags, you can use Instagram search for brainstorming.

But if you want more in-depth insights or popularity metrics for hashtags, use a third-party tool.

Agorapulse is ideal for monitoring which hashtags are working best for your clients' brands. Open the Reports tab to encounter a summary of all the interactions your posts' hashtags have generated.

agorapulse hashtag report

So go to the listing view and sort by Average Interactions to find the meridian performers. As you lot programme more content, reuse the best hashtags where advisable so y'all can continue to maximize exposure for your clients.

Do you desire to streamline adding hashtags to feed posts? Create hashtag groups in the Composer tab, and so yous can reuse high-performing hashtag lists with one click.

four. Tag shoppable posts

After you set Instagram Shopping, customers can scan your clients' products past clicking the Store push button in their profile. But y'all don't have to wait for followers to stumble upon the Shop button. Instead, you lot should make feed posts shoppable, too.

When yous tag products in a feed post, a shopping bag icon automatically appears in the lower left corner and a Visit Shop imprint appears at the lesser of the mail service. Followers can tap individual products to start shopping right away. They tin also tap the shopping handbag icon or the Visit Store banner to meet a selection of products.

If your clients offer checkout on Instagram, followers can purchase instantly without leaving the app. If they offer checkout on an due east-commerce site, the app prompts followers to visit your clients' website. Either manner, making posts shoppable is a seamless mode to sell on Instagram.

For example, the @poiandhun mail service above features a shoppable item. Afterward tapping on the shopping link, yous can see boosted photos, read a description, and tap to shop on the stationery brand's website.

What if your clients don't accept Instagram Shopping? Or what if they want to sell from multiple angles? Y'all tin as well add a shopping link in your clients' Instagram bio. Rather than linking to your clients' homepage, create an Instagram-friendly landing page where customers can easily browse and shop.

You can utilize a free third-political party app like Linktree or Lnk to prepare a mobile-friendly landing page in minutes. For a small shop, yous could add together separate links to each private production. For a bigger inventory, yous could link to collections or specials instead.

For example, @stationery_island used Linktree to build a landing folio featuring links to the make's online store and to Amazon stores across the globe.

control social media chaos with agorapulse

six. Repurpose user-generated content

Fifty-fifty if your clients have gorgeous branded content to share on Instagram, it'due south oft a good idea to supplement information technology with user-generated content (UGC). That's considering UGC can build trust and provide social proof, both of which can assistance you sell on Instagram.

Fortunately, you tin tag products to make UGC shoppable—just like branded feed posts. For example, the @washigang post above repurposes UGC and includes a link to the stationery make'south shop.

To source UGC for your clients' brands, utilise the Listening tab in your Agorapulse dashboard. Prepare listening searches for your clients' branded hashtags, and you'll automatically get relevant hashtagged posts in your inbox.

vii. Partner with influencers

Repurposing UGC is a relatively inexpensive and efficient fashion to get accurate content to share. But if you aren't finding enough UGC for your clients, influencer partnerships may brand more sense.

When your clients work with influencers, they can enquire to highlight particular products or found creative guidelines. Although influencer partnerships tend to be much pricier, they typically effect in higher-quality content.

Instagram makes it easy for influencers to use the Paid Partnership tag when publishing content. With this tag, influencer content can automatically post in the creator'southward feed and in the sponsoring brand'south feed.

For example, @themonsterofstationery post above uses the Paid Partnership tag to highlight content sponsored by @writechofficial_. Although the post isn't shoppable, users can easily click through to the make's account and click the link in bio to start shopping.

8. Launch with Instagram Drops

Practice you desire to create buzz for your clients before their next large product launch? In some cases, you can do that with a strategic content plan over the months, weeks, or days leading upwards to the launch.

Simply if you want to aggrandize your clients' achieve and make the most of a limited-edition run, Drops could be a smart solution. This feature lets brands launch limited-edition products with Instagram'south shopping tools. All you need is an Instagram Shop with Instagram Checkout enabled.

Drops appear in a separate tab in Instagram's shopping portal, where the app highlights recent and upcoming launches. Users can tap upcoming Drops to get reminders to shop or they tin tap contempo Drops to shop correct away. Since Drops crave Instagram Checkout, customers can browse and buy seamlessly.

For example, the @origins Drop above features a limited-edition skincare line. Users can see how many other people take prepare reminders, a sort of social proof that can generate even more than interest.

ix. Host Live Shopping events

Are y'all looking for other creative ways to generate buzz and sell on Instagram? Live Shopping events are ideal for driving discovery and making sales while creating authentic content. They're as well great for walking prospects through a product line, showing them how to employ features, or collaborating with a fellow creator.

Similar Drops, Alive Shopping requires you to have an Instagram Shop with Instagram Checkout enabled. You also have to add the products you plan to feature to your shop three days in advance so they have fourth dimension to process.

When y'all're gear up to go alive, tap the plus icon in the upper correct corner of your Instagram profile and select Live. Then tap the shopping bag icon to tag the products y'all want to feature in the Alive Shopping issue.

During the event, viewers can tap to shop and buy instantly.

Similar to Drops, Live Shopping events have their own tab in Instagram's shopping portal—which tin help them reach customers beyond your clients' electric current followers. They also appear in your clients' Instagram filigree and then followers can shop fifty-fifty after the event ends.

For example, @cocokind hosted an Instagram Alive Shopping event to highlight the brand'southward vacation sale. Viewers could click the View Products link at the lesser of the screen to shop the featured packet and other products from the shop.

10. Sell with Instagram Reels

Do you desire to sell through dynamic short-form videos rather than creating longer video posts or live streams? Create Instagram Reels and make them shoppable by adding product tags before publishing.

For case, the @papersutekka Reel to a higher place shows the brand packing orders of pop products. Viewers tin tap the View Products link in the lower right to see featured products. And then they can tap to buy private products or click the Go on Shopping banner at the bottom of the screen to visit the make'due south Instagram Shop.

11. Sell with Instagram Stories

Even though Stories disappear after 24 hours, they're still a great option for selling on Instagram. In fact, due to their accurate appeal, Instagram Stories can be an excellent way to connect with customers and sell in a more genuine way.

To schedule Stories, create content or design with Canva. So upload your Story to Agorapulse and toggle the Send to Mobile switch. Schedule information technology for the fourth dimension you lot desire to publish to ensure you get a notification at the right fourth dimension.

When you become the Agorapulse notification on your mobile device, add finishing touches like interactive stickers. So publish your Story, correct on fourth dimension.

Add link stickers to Instagram Stories

If you want to direct customers to your clients' e-commerce shop on an external site, add a link sticker to your Story. Open the sticker tray, tap the link sticker, and input the URL.

instagram link stickers

By default, the domain volition announced on the sticker. Only you tin customize the sticker text past adding a call to action (CTA) similar "Salve 50%!" or "Get gratis shipping!"

For example, the @berootedco Story above includes a link sticker that directs to the stationery brand'south website. The sticker and text overlay prompt followers to shop the make's Blackness Friday sale.

Make Instagram Stories shoppable

Like Reels and Live Shopping, Stories also support shoppable content. To make your Stories shoppable, add shopping stickers from the sticker tray. When followers tap the production sticker in your Story, they tin can become right to your Store to browse.

For example, the @paperluxeshop Story above features a multi-frame bout through the jotter brand'south physical store. Customers can double tap the Tap to View Product popup to browse products in the brand's Instagram Shop.

Save Instagram Story highlights

Technically, you lot don't have to let your Stories disappear from view after 24 hours. Instead, you lot can add together them to highlights albums, which announced on your Instagram profile. To generate more sales from your clients' highlights, organize them strategically.

You might create separate highlights for various product types or collections. For example, @papelitoslindos has highlights albums for the stationery brand's Catrina Gear up and the creation process, among others.

In some cases, you lot may need to nurture customers until they decide to brand a buy. That may mean engaging with comments on clients' Reels and Stories or responding to DMs from feed posts. Either way, you lot can manage date efficiently with assist from Agorapulse.

The Agorapulse inbox automatically collects comments and DMs, and you tin can add extra automation to brand sure y'all don't miss anything important. For example, you may desire to bookmark engagement from people who appear ready to make a purchase. You lot can do that past creating an automated rule with terms customers often employ—similar "buy" or "cost."

Agorapulse also makes information technology like shooting fish in a barrel to track your clients' customers. You tin can add labels for different stages of the client journey—such as cold prospect, warm atomic number 82, and return customer. That way, you'll accept more context when you lot answer to engagement in the Agorapulse dashboard.

13. Advertise

Now that Instagram ads are available for all users, why not make a quick study of the sponsored posts that currently appear in your newsfeed? Afterwards all, scoping out the competition is ane fashion to larn how to sell on Instagram.

Which ones go a decent corporeality of likes and positive comments? What common traits do you see among those posts?

14. Proceed your Instagram sales in context of your larger sales funnel

You don't want your Instagram auction to be a secret, do y'all? Not at all! Cantankerous-promote your Instagram auction whenever possible. If you lot're on Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr, let your followers know.

Give a heads upward to your e-mail list, especially a segment most apt to apply Instagram. Not only will yous increase your chances of getting people to participate in your promotion, but you might also get more than Instagram followers as a upshot!

Also, think most how your shoppable posts are connected to your other marketing efforts. For instance, you lot might suggest that clients offer discount codes to website visitors who arrive from Instagram. Then your clients can sell to interested customers on multiple channels.

In Conclusion

Now that you know how to sell on Instagram, yous have all the tools you need to help clients fix their shops, promote their products, and monitor their results. Connecting the dots like this can help yous not but make one-fourth dimension sales simply also help clients build long term relationships with new customers.

Check out our free trial of Agorapulse to assistance y'all schedule, track, and measure all your social media efforts.

How to Sell on Instagram: Your Step-by-Step Guide