Empower my brand
Empower my brand

5 Ways to Increase Sales on Instagram

In this age of technology, no one is surprised when a relative newcomer overtakes an established brand. I’m talking about Instagram when compared to Facebook. Facebook has over 1.13 billion monthly active users while Instagram has about 500 million. However, Instagram is leading Facebook on both engagement and content sharing. Overall, Instagram has a strong following. As per a recent survey, 83% of Instagrammers discover new products on the platform and 87% of them act on the basis of an Instagram post. This makes it quite obvious that Instagram has become a powerful tool for businesses trying to increase sales. 

Instagram for increasing sales

Now to increase sales on Instagram you would have to encourage your followers to become your customers too. Here are some ideas that can get you started.  

Build a Large Audience

This is the most obvious advice. But it’s easier said than done. To generate sales, you will have to look for leads, anyway. Instagram is a platform that actually makes the lead gen process easier. There are millions of users. So you have access to a large audience, you just have to get their attention. The initial efforts will take time, but you have a few tried and tested methods. Like publishing quality content, collaborating with the right influencers, using paid promotions to help you get traction. Once you start building an engaging follower base, Instagram’s algorithm notices you and pushes your content up on a user’s feed. This is how your follower base increases gradually. 

Use Compelling Images and Hashtags

Who doesn’t have fun seeing aesthetically pleasing pictures? Especially on a platform like Instagram which is an image-based platform. So the second piece of advice for you would be to post high-quality images with genuine content. 

A page with unique, aesthetic and carefully curated content should ideally promote the products it wishes to highlight. It gets better with the use of trending hashtags related to the specific industry. Here’s an example of how the fast-food chain Domino’s Pizza keeps its followers hooked to its feed. 

Dominos

Announce the Launch of New Products

In our previous blogs, we have often spoken about how social listening helps you gather insights and develop your product further. Well, if you have been doing that, surely you have an improved product to launch. And people love the variety and access to new options. One way to capitalize on this is to spark some interest in your followers. Create some buzz and curiosity before you launch the new product. Many fashion brands post snippets from their new collection to create hype. This brings up the engagement rate and pushes its content to drive more organic reach and sales. 

Announce Giveaways and Clearance Sales

Clearance sales are not new. Every brick and mortar shop has one every year. Some even have two. It is no different for e-business. And people love to shop during any sale, whether it be online or offline. Clearance sales and giveaway contests can easily help you drive traffic to your website and increase sales. You could also choose to collaborate with a few influencers and provide them with a few free samples for a giveaway they could organize via their accounts. They end up giving a shout out to your brand and this helps increase awareness and sales. Here’s how brands conduct giveaway contests. 

Giveaways

Leverage User-Generated Content

This is the most genuine way to compliment a user and drive traffic to your page at the same time. Most users are wary of paid promotions because they are in search of authentic reviews. Instagrammers usually depend on user-generated content to help them decide before purchasing a product. So if your customer is taking a photo of your product to share on social media, it is great news. Encourage them to share and tag the post with you. Retweet and share such posts and promote these customers, who are your brand’s own mini ambassadors. This not only helps you build a strong relationship with that customer, but it also makes others realize how much you care. 

Here’s an example of how leading online food delivery company Deliveroo encourages user-generated content. 

Deliveroo
Instagram has been gaining immense popularity over the past few years. It has become a goldmine for brands trying to promote their products and services online. Hence it is only natural that businesses try to increase sales and visibility on Instagram This was our attempt to help your brand get a start. We do hope that our research and these ideas are of some help to you.

Instagram Analytics: What Metrics Matter

Social media is all about social engagement and engagement matters the most on Instagram. In fact, engagement on Instagram is said to be 4-12x more than that on other platforms. So now you have heard Instagram is a great platform for businesses and made a page for your brand. You have been active and also seeing some activity. You now want to know how well you are doing. Are you using the right Instagram analytics tool for that? 

Instagram Analytics

In this article, we try to help you understand which metrics are the most important to measure. 

Can Instagram Analytics Help you?

If you look for them, there are tools aplenty that can help you with Instagram Analytics. You can choose according to your specific need or go for a robust platform that can handle multiple platforms, manage a posting schedule and offer various other features. 

In this case, Instagram has its own in-built analytics to offer. If you have a business profile, you have access to Instagram’s app which gives you in-built analytics. This will assist you to know about your audience demographics, the times at which they are most active, their engagement rate (as in what they’re liking or commenting upon).

The data is collated by Instagram so it comes directly from the horse’s mouth. However, you can view the app-based data only if you have a business account. If you do not have a business profile, you can view it after you convert yours into one. However, the data cannot be viewed on a desktop or exported for further analysis.

How can Social Listening Tools Help?

Luckily you don’t have to depend fully on Instagram for the data you need. There are several Instagram analytics tools to help brands understand their audience and optimize their marketing decisions.

Auris

Auris is such a social listening tool that can be turned into a sound Instagram analytics tool. It lets you filter mentions from Instagram alone and run diagnostics. Auris’ platform makes measuring performance easy. It charts out the data and provides a dashboard with components to help you segment by sentiment, emotion, geography et cetera.

Social listening tools help your team visualize the data and be better able to find insights. Moreover, these tools allow you to access customizable reports. Besides Instagram, you can integrate dozens of other social media platforms and do a comparison all in one place. 

Important Metrics to Track

Now that you know how to get started with the tracking process, you might start wondering how to set things up? In simpler words, what metrics should I measure diligently and what matters? Here are some important metrics you can set up on your dashboard right away.

Engagement Rate

Mostly your dashboard will display an average engagement rate for your page/posts and indicate any dip or rise. However, if you wish to know in detail average engagement across all posts is given by [post interactions ÷ total impressions x 100]. 

Almost all social media listening tools measure this because experts believe the total number of impressions is a better metric than the total number of followers.

Top Hashtags / Trending Keywords

One of the best features of Instagram is that its search feature runs on hashtags. This makes it easier for you to organically attract attention. But since hashtags are popular on Instagram, everybody is using them. You have to zero in on the right ones for your posts in order to avoid the noise. Social listening tools help you find niche hashtags that work best for your brand. 

Influence Score

If your aim is to start a successful influencer marketing campaign you would need to track influencers on Instagram. If you are trying to find influencers for a niche market or on a tight budget, social listening tools can help. For instance, Auris assigns an influence score to individuals speaking about a specific keyword. This is based on their network size, engagement rate et cetera. So instead of getting muddled up with a thousand accounts and metrics, you have the precise data in your hands. 

Demographics

Do you wish to know more about the people who engage with your posts? Because if you do, you’ll be able to judge the kind of content they appreciate and hence develop a long term bond. Understanding audience demographics does not stop at knowing their age and location. You need to know the best times to post during the day, the overall sentiment and the topics your audience is most fond of. 

Trying to manage social media and online business in itself is an intense job. It gets more complex when you have different platforms for different purposes. Social media analytics is a remarkable way for you to start saving your energy and time. Start your social media marketing journey and let some of these smart tools help you through the process. 

Top 5 Ways to Increase Reach on Instagram

It’s the dream of every brand, every influencer to have their business profile on Instagram go viral, and be visible to millions of people. Visibility brings new followers, building a relationship with your audience. This could eventually lead to them purchasing from you. Now, the key to increase visibility lies in increasing reach on Instagram. 

Reach on Instagram

Engagement and visibility on Instagram prove a little more complex than it is on Facebook or Twitter. On Facebook or Twitter, comments and interactions are publicly listed. So when a user comments on a post, their friends can see the post and then comment on their feed. On Instagram, the comment won’t be visible to a friend unless the user tags them. This alone makes Instagram a difficult place for increased organic reach. 

Keep your worries aside. This post will tell you about 5 ways to boost your Instagram reach. 

Increase Reach On Instagram

Let’s get started.

Understanding Instagram’s Algorithm

Before you try any other trick, you need to know about Instagram’s algorithm. With its immense popularity, Instagram had to introduce an algorithm. Now posts with high engagement rates are presented first on a user’s feed. This reduces the chances of visibility (and hence engagement) for brands who are just getting started. The bad news is, this algorithm seems to be permanent. So you’ll need to know how to work around it. 

Instagram ranks posts on the basis of the interest users show in a post. One way to ensure that you attract more followers and make them engage with your posts is by posting the most carefully curated content. Use captivating descriptions and strong call to actions. And be consistent with the kind of content you post from the very beginning so they spend more time on your account. 

Time of Posting

If your post receives a high rate of likes and comments within the first few hours, Instagram pushes your content higher up on the feed. Hence it is critical that you know when most of your users are active. Post consistently during that time and it should do the trick. 

Also, it should be easy for you to know the exact time if you use an Instagram business account. The insights provided by Instagram tell you when most users are active. If you don’t have a business account, there are many social listening tools that can provide you with a detailed analysis. 

Audience Engagement is the Goal 

Remember, with Instagram, audience engagement is the key. The more engagement your content has, the further you increase the reach on Instagram. Keeping this in mind, post content that encourages your followers to engage with you. Asking questions or opinions or conducting a poll are great ‘call-to-actions’. We also see influencers hosting giveaways gain massive engagement on their posts. Some posts simply put rules like “to enter the contest tag three friends and like the post.” This is one way you are not just encouraging engagement but also gaining organic visibility. 

Curate User-Generated Content

This is perhaps the best way to increase your reach on Instagram. When a consumer mentions your brand, make sure you engage with them and share their content. This would not only make them feel that you care. This also encourages them to engage and share your content on their feed or story. While you are building a relationship with your users on Instagram you are also being noticed by Instagram’s algorithm which then ranks you higher. 

Crowdtrap found that user-generated content is 35% more memorable and 50% more trusted than your regular promotional ads. This makes it a great organic way to increase your reach. 

Instagram Hashtags

We have spoken often about the importance of Instagram hashtags on this blog before. Hashtags are all the rage on Instagram and by using the right ones you could gain immense attention. People do follow hashtags on Instagram. If your content keeps featuring constantly on the feed, chances are you will gain the niche audience you have been looking for. Say your company manufactures whey protein. A user follows #WheyProteinShake. If your post includes this hashtag, chances are the user will regularly view your content and you may gain him/her as a follower. 

These are the top 5 ways we thought you can use to start the quest to increase your Instagram reach. There are other ways too. You could invest in paid promotions, collaborate with social influencers et cetera. Try these tricks out before you try the others. 

Is Influencer Marketing better than Facebook Advertising?

For years now brands have used Facebook’s native advertising to promote themselves. And it has helped them. Facebook has over 2 billion monthly active users. It provides the largest set of audiences for your content. As of late, other platforms have taken over. Brands are now experimenting with newer concepts like influencer marketing. This trend of marketing has gained popularity in no time. Is the popularity justified? Does influencer marketing score over Facebook’s native advertising? 

Facebook Advertising vs Influencer Marketing

Native Facebook Advertising vs. Influencer Marketing

Native advertisements on Facebook are ads or paid promotions exclusive to the platform. There’s an option to integrate other contents like photos, images or text directly into the user’s news feed. Such promotional material is also tagged as “sponsored” or “promotional” to help users distinguish them from regular content. 

For influencer marketing, influencers create sponsored content and promote it via their personal accounts. Their content is mainly targeted towards family, friends and other followers. And unlike Facebook’s native ads, influencer marketing content is not tagged as “sponsored”. 

Both these options may seem similar and viable, yet they have their own set of advantages and disadvantages. We tried listing them out to help brands identify a suitable option for their needs. 

Influencer Marketing

Content marketing, social media analytics, social listening for better customer care, and influencer marketing are some of the top marketing trends right now. But that does not mean you will have to try out each category. Just pick a strategy which is most suited to your business model. 

Advantages

  • Authenticity: Users follow influencers willingly. They want to know about the products influencers use. So a product-placement or brand shout-out on their feed is readily believed. Especially as influencers mix this information up with authentic posts about their daily activities, family, friends et cetera. 
  • Lesser Restrictions: Compared to advertising on Facebook, influencer marketing has lesser restrictions. Facebook is also strict in terms of what you can publish in an ad. It restricts the word limit, use of certain pictures, format et cetera. 
  • Content Creation becomes Easier: As a marketer, you already have a lot on your hands. With influencer marketing, you can relax a little. The task of content creation becomes the influencer’s responsibility. Sure, you will have to cast around and find the right influencer for your brand but social listening and databases can help you with that. The more tough tasks of ideation, creation, and implementation are taken care of by the influencer. 
  • Niche Audience: Reaching niche audiences becomes easier with influencer marketing. Approaching micro-influencers instead of celebrity influencers is the way to go for this. Most micro-influencers produce industry-specific content. They are popular with the audience that follows that niche. @thecurvyrebel, for instance, is quite popular for promoting fashion and body positivity tips. If you are a brand in the plus-sized clothing industry, collaborating with her helps you reach the audience you have also been targeting.  

Disadvantages

  • Influencer Management: Most brands worry about the task of finding the right influencer for their product. It is quite a tough task. Brands that do want to work with influencers will have to find the right talent, develop an understanding with them, define goals and expectations et cetera. This can take quite some research and effort on their part. 
  • Accounts with Fake Followers: Social media users look for authentic content, but social media is also a place where it is easy to fake things. Also, the aspiration to become an influencer has grown among the younger generation. Some of these users even employ unethical ways to grow their network. It is crucial for brands to avoid such accounts. They need to thoroughly research the influencers they want to work with. 
  • Measuring ROI: You would want to know if your investment reaped the expected returns. Here’s where there’s a slight glitch. There’s no definitive way to measure the results of influencer marketing. It can be assessed in many different ways – the KPIs you should look for include engagement and conversion rates. 

Facebook’s Native Advertising

Having looked at the pros and cons of influencer marketing, it is time to move on to Facebook’s advertising options. 

Advantages

  • Format: The best part of Facebook’s advertising is that it offers a wide variety of formats for you to display your content. You can choose from a variety of styles of displaying text or photos, videos, and carousels et cetera. 
  • Measure Performance: When you use Facebook’s native advertising options, you also get help to measure the success rate. You get data on how your post is performing. They even let you A/B test different ads and features. 
  • Budget Flexibility: Facebook allows marketers to adjust their spending when they are on a tight budget. Marketers can thus test things out. They can move their dollars around and scale up if only when they find something which works. 

Disadvantages

  • Overt: As I mentioned earlier, Facebook advertisements would be marked “advertised” or “sponsored”. People tend to be wary of such ad banners and would avoid them. This is called “banner blindness”. 
  • Lacks Engagement: People would rarely opt-in voluntarily to view ads. They also tend to skip ads. This only results in lesser engagement rates. People are less likely to like, share and comment on a Facebook ad. 
  • Inorganic Audience: Native advertising runs on the algorithm created by Facebook. So, the audience may be too broad or too narrow or miss the niche you are trying to reach. Capturing the attention of the exact audience is a gamble with native advertising. 

How can Facebook Advertising and Influencer Marketing Work Together?

By now it must be clear that both these formats clearly have their own sets of benefits. And they are not mutually exclusive forms. If you really want to scale up your business, you can have the best of both worlds. Marketers can choose to use the facilities in loop and in a complementary manner. 

Brand scan collaborates with influencers. The content created reaches the followers of a particular influencer. This content can then be repurposed to reach other audience members via Facebook native advertising. This way the ad also acts as a testimonial from a well-known influencer. 

Whichever method you choose to employ, market research and social media monitoring should be a part of your strategy. Use these insights and strategies to inform your campaign and enjoy better results. 

How to Find Facebook Influencers?

It is true that the term Facebook influencers isn’t used too often. Other platforms like Instagram and YouTube are more popular for Influencer marketing. But Facebook sure is the world’s biggest social media with over 2.38 billion monthly active users. 

With influencer marketing campaigns, you need a good understanding of your target market and a knowledge of where they hang out online. To understand which platform works best for your business, you could take the help of social listening tools. Social listening helps you manage and track mentions from different platforms at one go. Now, let’s say Facebook is where your audience interacts with you the most. Here’s where you need to implement your influencer campaigns. So then, how do you find and convert Facebook influencers to help your cause?

Facebook Influencers

Who are Facebook Influencers?

Even though Facebook is not really known for influencer marketing, it is an immensely popular platform. It is a good platform to launch your early plans. If managed properly, Facebook can function as a PR agent for you. Facebook allows you to convey your message to audiences from around the world and build awareness for future campaigns. 

Wondering if there’s really any difference between an Instagram and a Facebook Influencer? Well, there is and there isn’t. The top influencers for both these platforms are mostly celebrities and some lucky brands. 

most-liked-facebook-page-2019

Now obviously you are looking for micro-influencers with a dedicated community of followers. Each of the social media platforms has its own effect on the kind of posts people share and talk about. Facebook is more content-oriented. So, you’ll find more influential pages that are focused on content rather than a person. Also, Facebook’s format encourages the sharing of content. This is how pages with sensational content, videos, and memes have a lot of influence. Their content is shared and becomes viral, gaining popularity. 

Drawing from these insights, we can say that a typical Facebook influencer:

  • Shares highly engaging content that has the potential to go viral.
  • Has gained the trust of followers on the basis of their expertise in a certain field. 
  • Has a community-driven page (where people share, comment and exchange opinions regarding the content).

If you think such influencers could help you, let’s talk about how to find the right Facebook influencer for your brand. 

How to Find Facebook Influencers?

Hunting for Facebook influencers can get a little difficult because of the platform’s native search options. The options are limited and complex. On other platforms, people use hashtags to tag their content but rarely on Facebook. This makes hashtag search useless on Facebook.

You can use two solutions for this – refer to an influencer database or use a social listening tool. 

Facebook Influencer Databases

Searching influencer databases is a simpler option. You just need to search for your niche and you’ll have the names. However, there are some downsides to influencer databases as compared to using social listening tools. 

Firstly, these databases are limited. As in, you will only find influencers who applied or who were discovered by the people who created the database. 

Secondly, the search filters may be too broad for your requirements. You may want to know about “functional training” and end up scrolling in the fitness section for hours. 

Honestly, buying influencer databases for search isn’t really wise for your marketing budget unless you are a social media agency. You’ll probably not even need to use it enough so as to justify all the money spent on it. 

Social Listening Tools

Using social listening tools eliminates all the problems that come along with databases. With a little effort, you will be able to gain more from a social listening tool. Some social listening tools are useful for a diverse range of marketing activities. So, first of all, try and find a good social listening tool that suits your brand’s requirements. You can use a social listening tool for anything from product development to online reputation management, and even for SEO purposes. 

With the help of social listening tools, you can set up searches for specific keywords. For instance, you can start searching for any post that uses “Fitness” and “functional movements” in them. The tool collates all these comments and posts from across all platforms. Set up the filter such that you view only Facebook mentions. Remember, your job has not finished yet. On Facebook finding influencers isn’t easy because most of these posts are made by regular users. Thanks to the AI features available with most social listening tools, they will help you study the influence scores of the people. All the people who have spoken about fitness and functional movement are assigned a score based on the reach, engagement, and visibility of their content. The higher the score, the better their influence. 

What’s more, you can even collate a list of these influencers and track their activities and the sentiment around their posts. Social media analytics has made this process much easier. If you are still unsure, you may opt for a free trial on a tool while you figure things out.