5 Ways To Convert Instagram Followers Into Your Customers

By Natalie Kwong on Jun 16, 2017 11:23:11 AM

After running a couple of campaigns on your Instagram business page and amassing a decent following, the next step you have to take is to convert those followers into your customers. Instagram followers are just an audience, whether passive or active, and the measurement of marketing success is dependent on whether you drive them to make an actual purchase. Here are some ways you can hasten the conversion process:

1) Providing Monetary Incentives

People follow your business Instagram account because they are interested in your brand. Businesses can make use of Instagram as a channel to deliver monetary incentives, such as discounts and time-based deals, to motivate first-time purchases. But remember to mention the condition and details for receiving the promotional offer and the expiry date so as to urge the followers to make a purchase as quickly as possible.

2) Running Contests

You can organize online contests on the Instagram platform. For example, encourage your followers to post content with a specific hashtag (unique to your brand) so as to win a free trial of your company’s product. After all, one of the most effective ways in converting your followers into customers is to let them to have a free trial.

3) Engaging in Charity Work

According to Horizon Media's Finger on the Pulse study., 81% of millennials expect companies to bear social responsibility and commit publicly to contributing back to the society. Engaging in charity activities can enhance the brand image and thus promote sales. This helps in creating an affinity between your brand and your followers.

Businesses can make use of the Instagram channel to organize different charity activities. For example, Salva’s SNOWSHOW HK promised to donate HK$100 to help children in developing countries every time users uploaded a picture with ‘red nose’, hashtagging ‘slavasnowshowhk’, and tagging three friends in the caption. This kind of strategy helped in increase the brand awareness for this event.

4) Launching Teasers For Your New Product

Instagram is a good channel for businesses to test public response of a new product before they are available on the market. For example Instagram has a gallery feature, which allows users to upload a number of pictures within one post. By using this gallery feature to tease a slew of images for an upcoming product launch, you can build anticipation for the actual release.

5) Launching a Product Live

Users can hold live video stories in the Instagram platform. Businesses can make use of this function to display newly launched products to visitors, especially if the products are limited edition ones. They can then encourage the users to buy the product quickly by clicking on the product link in the bio.