The people who thought that the social media craze would be just another phase have been proven wrong quite a long time ago. Facebook and Instagram have been ruling the social lives, online browsing habits, and purchasing habits since the dawn of social media. When these platforms were still nascent, website developers, digital marketers and digital entrepreneurs started utilizing various unique aspects of the leading networking sites for the promotion of the products and boosting their sales. When we look back at the evolution of these platforms, Instagram stands out as the leader of all social media promotions and digital marketing.
Instagram followers and website visitors can be the same
50% of all leading brands in the USA have Instagram accounts and social media campaigns that involve Instagram as an instrument of promotion. The latest trends in digital marketing include Instagram as more than another social media platform. Most website designers on the leading fronts are drawing their creative mojo from Insta-designs. This might be because of the millions of new users, who sign up due to the UI and the UX of this social media platform. On top of that, Instagram is a fertile source of new followers, potential buyers and repeat buyers. Deriving the design from the world’s favorite photo blogging site brings a basket full of perks and surprises to the website owners and online entrepreneurs. The only secret towards successful integration of Instagram into your business style is the correct inclusion of the design elements and features into your website design.
Design your Insta-LookBook
The first and most effective way to integrate the Insta-feel into your website design is by embedding your social media feed into your site. Several brands already use this concept to power their online stores. Most of them have the product pictures, descriptions and prices on their site. In addition to that, they embed an Instagram link in the photos through which the visitors can check out the product shots, photos from promotions and photos from using customers on their Instagram feed. Since the feed updates almost every hour, they feel no dearth of fresh content either. This is a brilliant two-way process where website visitors can check out the Instagram profile, and the Instagram users can visit the brand website.
Pull fresh content from website from Instagram feed
In case that is not tempting enough, let us give you another piece of great information you cannot resist. Instagram pages are always buzzing with new content and user contributions. Your brand can utilize a single feed to power multiple new pages for your website. Forget creating additional content to brush up your website or revamping the site from time to time. You can simply pull relatable trending content from your feed to power your site. This unifies the social media marketing approach and website maintenance approach of brands. Just like the technique above, this one can promote the lookbook pages on the Instagram profiles and promote the products from the listing on the website. Cutting all the complication, you can integrate your website product link with your photos. When a user clicks on a thumbnail, it can expand to give a clear look at the URL and the shopping information they need to make a buying decision. This has another significant purpose – it gives your Instagram posts a CTA that guides people forward through the sales funnel.
Unifying Instagram followers and website customers
Some followers on Instagram automatically translates to more brand followers. Over 80% of Instagram users follow at least one brand on Instagram. This also includes the celebrities, who act as influencers for certain brands. This will tempt you to buy Instagram followers and likes on, but be very careful about the selling parties. You need real followers to increase your sales. A rapid increase in click-through rate (CTR) without an increase in the conversion rate could indicate rampant bot activity. Several companies that claim to sell likes and followers to brands often deliver bots that drive up the CTR and contribute nothing to sales. You need a team, who can help you streamline your marketing efforts on both fronts. Your Instagram account needs a touch of the latest marketing trends. You need a dash of latest hashtags and filters to attract the attention of the new users. This is much easier if you have an e-commerce website already. The idea is quite simple – to use your Instagram profile as a window to your online shop.
What’s the news on hashtags?
Since we are already at hashtags, let us elaborate a little on that for the moment. You can use them to add user-generated content to your IG profile. You can use trending hashtags to engage the millennial customers, who live and breathe hashtags. Be careful to use the same kind of hashtags uniformly. Use a combination of them judiciously and do not forget to include your brand name or product names in the bunch. If you are already thinking about using your Instagram feed to power your website content, you might find it useful to introduce the brand name, product names and event names in the hashtag collections.
Insta-commerce may still have to wait!
Sadly, IG developers have not made it be an ideal e-commerce platform. It aces in the spheres of digital marketing and social media marketing, but selling products through Instagram is a feat that is only for the creative and the brave! Battling codes, surging ad prices, seller’s fees and a lot more await on the other side of sales if you are thinking about using IG as a selling platform. It is great for promoting new products and marketing new services through photos, videos and a collection of such. The scope to integrate Instagram feeds and designs to your website is an unparalleled opportunity you need to grab before your competitors do.
