Instagram Marketing: 7 Ways You Can Use IG for Your Dropshipping Business

Dropshipping is becoming a popular option among those who want to start a business. That’s because it does not require you to house the products that you sell.

Nonetheless, you need a reliable supplier who can also handle product shipping. That’s they will be the one responsible for your order fulfillment.

Another thing you will need is an online storefront where people can buy your products. The caveat, though, is that you cannot drive customers to your website if they do not know that your business exists.

This is where Instagram could come in handy.

How can Instagram Marketing Help Your Dropshipping Business?

With over 500 million active users, using this platform allows you to gain a broader audience, as long as you create and implement a great strategy.

Broad user base: There are millions of active users on Instagram, and millions of photos and videos being shared on the platform daily. Therefore, it will be an advantage on your part to use Instagram Marketing for your dropshipping business.

Easy to use: You can easily set-up an Instagram account and then craft posts with your products in it.

Highly visual platform: People can easily remember content if it’s highly visual.

Less-costly: Yes, you can do paid ads on Instagram. It won’t be much of an issue if you don’t want to spend money on ads, as it is just optional.

Stay ahead of your competitors: From a marketing perspective, many brands and businesses mostly rely on Facebook and Twitter. With approximately 2-3% of companies using Instagram, this presents you with an excellent advantage.

Put your products in the best light possible: A well-curated Instagram profile will look more attractive and professional in the eyes of your audience.

Ways to Use Your Instagram to Promote Your Dropshipping Business

Sure, knowing how dropshipping works is pretty straightforward. Nonetheless, you can leverage Instagram to promote your business. Here are seven ways to do it:

1. Create a Business Profile

When creating an account on Instagram, make sure that you’re creating a business account. Don’t use your name or personal email address.

Ideally, you should enter all the information that’s related to your e-commerce business only. Choosing the right name for your Instagram handle is also important.

Although in some cases, that particular user name you chose is already taken by somebody else. That’s alright. You might want to consider placing an underscore mark that makes your name different from the user name that’s already taken.

You can also try on other options and choose the best one that catches your attention.

2. Use Filters

A lot of users love Instagram because, as we mentioned, it’s a highly visual platform.

Now, to stand out from a sea of content, you need to put in the work of editing your material.

Make the posts in your feed as visually appealing as possible by applying all the necessary filters. Using filters might accentuate colors, even more, making your photos pop.

Just make sure that you use almost the same filters for all of your posts. That way, you can build a theme around your Instagram profile and make it more compelling when users check out your page.

When it comes to creating stunning images, consistency and color are critical.

3. Use Hashtags

By being consistent in adding hashtags to your posts or in the comments section, you can potentially boost your engagement levels.

When others click on a particular hashtag, they’ll check feeds of various posts, including that hashtag. As your posts become discoverable, more and more people will interact with your posts or account.

To know which particular hashtags that you might want to use, you can check your competitors or social media influencers in your niche.

You can try out a couple of options and pick the most compelling ones.

4. Post Content Regularly

If you want to start seeing results, you have to post content and publish it during peak hours of the day, where most of your followers are mostly online.

When we talk about Instagram marketing, making regular updates is a must. Don’t think that posting at least three times a week or just once a week is enough. You need to post a regular stream of content to keep them engaged.

Let them know about new items and promotions. Then, don’t forget to add highly informative yet relevant content.

If you find it hard to post regularly, there are social media automation tools that can help you post content regularly. All you need to do is plan these posts ahead of time, get them ready to be published, and then schedule them to be posted on a particular date or time.

Alternatively, you may also opt into blogging and try to incorporate it into your Instagram account.

5. Upload Videos

We couldn’t say this enough. Instagram is a perfect social media platform, aside from Youtube, to upload videos.

The Cisco Annual Internet Report predicts that the total internet traffic coming from videos (i.e., Internet-enabled HD TV) will tantamount to 82% of all consumer traffic worldwide by 2021.

This is how popular video content is these days. The best thing about it is that you can experiment with different video styles and types.

For instance, you can use user-generated content in your videos. All you need to do is ask your customers for a quick video that shares all about their experience. And then, with their permission, post it on your Instagram profile.

You can also come up with an About Us video or tell your audience the backstory of how you’ve built your dropshipping business. Doing so not only humanizes you in your customers’ eyes, but you’ll also look more trustworthy as a brand.

6. Interact with Your Followers

Engaging with customers is also a great way to build your reputation online. It also establishes a deeper connection and relationship with your customers.

This provides a friendlier approach and allows them to become more comfortable in buying from you.

Here are some great ways to engage with users:

• Like the comments
• Respond to their posts
• Repost their content if ever they’ve mentioned you in your one of their Stories or posts
• Provide a solution to their problems
• Send them over a DM if they encounter any issues in purchasing and resolving the issue quickly.

Overall, Instagram gives you a great platform to connect with your customers and resolve any issues and problems that they may have.

Moreover, 93% of users check reviews online before making a purchase. Therefore, this is an excellent opportunity to enhance your sales.

7. Partner with Micro-influencers

So, maybe you’re just a small business, and you couldn’t afford to hire celebrities to endorse your brand.

The good news is that you can partner with micro-influencers on Instagram and ask them to advertise your products.

When we talk about influencers, we’re talking about someone in your niche which has considerable reach.

You can reach out to them, send over some free products for them to try in exchange for a photo or mention of your brand along with your products.

The tips listed above gives you an idea of how you can use Instagram to promote your dropshipping business. But keep in mind that success does not happen overnight. You need to be patient and give yourself enough time to use the platform to drive in revenues and sales.