Benefits of Instagram Marketing

1. Connect with customers across multiple channels:

Using Instagram on your site allows you to connect with customers across multiple channels and increase cross-channel engagement.

For example, let’s say you display photos from your Instagram account on your website. When a customer is browsing on your site, they may not follow you already on Instagram.

But when they see a gallery of Instagram photos, they can click though to see your account, start following you, and re-connect with you later.

Take a look at how Josie Maran Cosmetics uses a dedicated gallery of Instagram photos on their website to lead people to their Instagram.

Or, alternately, a follower browsing on Instagram may have never been to your website before. By setting up a Shoppable Instagram, followers can easily reach the Instagram shop version of your Instagram account, and click through to product pages.

Using Instagram photos allows you the opportunity to connect with customers where they are, while also taking advantage of the far higher Instagram engagement rate.

2. Re-use marketing materials: Work smarter, not harder

We’re all crunched for time, but using Instagram photos in your eCommerce marketing plan allows you to work smarter, not harder.

You already need a social marketing strategy, so why not repurpose those photos across channels and leverage them as marketing images on your site or in ads on Instagram?

This saves you the trouble of needing to create more content.

3. Attract engaged traffic: Build a community that comes back time and time again

Another benefit of using Instagram pictures is that traffic that comes from these photos is super-engaged.

Instagram drives more engaged traffic than any other social channel. Research shows that when comparing time on site from various social channels, Instagram beats out other sites like Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, Reddit, and more.

Instagram content drives more engaged traffic than other visual social content from YouTube or Pinterest.

Additionally, Instagram helps you engage with your audience on the social platform, increasing the chance that you can bring customers back for repeat purchases.

If someone buys from you and then follows you on Instagram, they’re likely to see your brand on a regular basis and purchase from you again.

And return customers are more valuable, accounting for nearly 33.3% of the overall money spent in eCommerce and spending nearly 3x more than regular shoppers.

4. Boost your marketing with UGC: Use photos from customers

If you don’t already have solid user-generated content marketing strategies to increase sales, it’s time to jump on board. It’s the single most effective way to grow relevant traffic and sales.

Instagram has the potential for user-generated content built in.On their homepage, Everlast emphasizes the active lifestyle they want to associate with their brand by showcasing customer photos taken when customers use their products in the gym.

They collect the UGC Instagram photos by asking customers to hashtag photos with their brand name.

This means not only do you get free content, you also feature your customers (which makes them feel like a part of your brand), you also encourage future engagement by having customers submit photos on Instagram to you.

Plus, without tons of additional effort, you build up your brand’s presence on Instagram by attracting attention when customers’ followers see them hashtagging you in their photos.

5. Don’t market blindly: Know how content will perform ahead of time

You never want to invest already tight Instagram resources in content that won’t perform well. Luckily, on Instagram, you already have feedback about how your audience will react to content before you take up valuable real estate on your website or shell out money for Instagram ads.

Before choosing content for your Instagram UGC campaigns, you can measure the results of how it was received on Instagram.

This allows you to choose the photos that customers liked most on Instagram and then display them on your site, rather than guessing which product photos will perform best.

On Instagram, customers are constantly creating and sharing images of their own.

With their permission, you can use their images for your own marketing.

Below is an example of how Everlast uses customers’ Instagram photos in marketing to promote engagement among their community, build up their eCommerce branding on Instagram and off, and improve their visual marketing on site.