10 MIN READ

With more than one billion monthly active users, Instagram has become one of the most powerful tools for selling products and services. About 83% of Instagram users use this platform to discover new products and services. However, business owners and content creators ask, “How to sell on Instagram for free?”

Worry not – Clepher has got you covered. Businesses or creators can use Instagram Shopping, the platform’s social selling solutions, to turn their profile into a branded shopping experience, expand reach, present products in several appealing formats, and make it easier for people to buy what they sell.

In this blog post, we will list nine effective tips and ways to tell you how to sell products on Instagram. Let’s get started.

What is Instagram Shopping? Everything Explained

Instagram shopping is a set of features that allows people to showcase their products and services via an online store or catalog within your existing Instagram account. It allows people or potential customers to buy your products on Instagram.

After creating a store or catalog on your profile, you can engage and convert native customers and make money through shoppable Instagram posts, such as shoppable videos and images.

Instagram shopping has the following key features, making it work efficiently.

Virtual Shop Front:

Virtual shop front or storefront is your Shop’s tab through which followers can view your shop from your Instagram bio. It is easily customizable, and you can adjust it according to your brand colors and engage followers to purchase through your product catalog, collections, and special offers.

Product Detail Pages:

This feature of Instagram shopping allows you to add product details, specs, and pricing of a specific item in your product catalog.

Collections:

Collections allow you to group your products and services into different categories to help your target audience find what they are looking for. Adding a unique cover image can make your products stand out even more.

Shopping Product Tags:

Using relevant shopping product tags in Reels, Stories, and posts encourages your audience to click on the shoppable posts. They can then view the product by clicking on the shopping bag icon within the post. Thus, drive more sales by adding product tags to feed posts, Stories, Reels, and ad campaigns.

Instagram Checkout:

This is a standout feature for shopping on Instagram. Using this, shoppers can check out and purchase products directly from your Instagram account rather than from your website. This ensures a seamless buying experience for shoppers.

Product Launches:

A professional Instagram business account with Checkout features (US Only) can tell its audience about an upcoming product launch. They can engage the customer to help them preview their products with tools like countdowns and reminders. Businesses can use them as a CTA (Call-to-Action) to remind people to purchase as soon as their product launches.

These are some of the standout features of Instagram shopping that are attracting more and more customers with every passing day.

How to Set Up Instagram Shopping? Step-By-Step Guide

You have to set up your Instagram shop in commerce managers or Instagram for businesses to start selling on the platform for free. To start selling, you will need an Instagram business account and a product catalog, and you will need to activate shopping on it.

Create an Instagram Business Profile

Users can create a new business profile or turn the existing account into a business.

 To create a business account on Instagram:

• Open your newly created or existing account profile.
• Tap the hamburger icon in the top right.
• Click on “Settings and Privacy.” Then select “Account Type and Tools.”
• From the menu, tap “Switch to Professional Account.”

· After that, pick a category that describes your business to ensure your products and business comply with Instagram’s commerce policies.

 However, your professional account must:

• Comply with Instagram Terms & Conditions or Policies
• Represent your business domain
• Be part of the supported market
• Provide relevant, valuable information
• Demonstrate your trustworthiness

Add Your Product Catalog

After switching to an Instagram business account, the next step is to add your product catalog, which you can create manually. You can add a product catalog by creating a Commerce Manager Account directly within the Instagram app or via a supported third-party platform. Thus, upload a product catalog, customize your shop, and name product collections. Follow the steps below to add a product catalog via your Commerce Business Manager account:

• Open your Commerce Business Manager
• Click “Add Catalog” and create the catalog.
• After that, click “Upload Product Info” to add the relevant information for each product. The product information includes adding its image, description, product link to your landing page, price, and SKU number.
• If you already have a product store or catalog, you can connect it to your IG account and activate it to start selling.

Activate Shopping Feature

Once you have created or switched to a professional business account and added products to your catalog, the next step is to enable the Instagram Shopping feature.

To enable shopping on Instagram:

• Open Instagram profile settings.
• Tap “Business” and then “Shopping.”
• Click to connect your product catalog.

Now, you can promote your shop, also tag products in your posts, and create Instagram Shopping ads to reach more customers in a short time.

9 Effective Tips to Learn How to Sell on Instagram for Free and Grow Your Business

With your Instagram shop set up, follow these 9 effective tips to start selling on Instagram for free.

Create and Optimize Your Instagram Business Profile

Your eligibility requirements include creating a business Instagram account to start selling your products on this platform. After creating your profile, optimize it accurately to rank it higher because more and more people are using Instagram to search for brands, sales, recommendations, and product reviews.

For example, more than 145K Instagram posts use the hashtag #flashsales. If your business profile is optimized, it will feature in the relevant searches.

You can optimize your IG profile by:

• Use a branded Instagram profile picture to strengthen your brand presence.
• Select a simple, easy-to-find, and recognizable username for your profile.
• Add a concise description of your business explaining who you are, what products you are offering, and what makes you different from others.
• Integrate a strong call-to-action like “Shop Now” to guide customers through the sales funnel.
• Optimize your call-to-action link for a better user experience.
• Use Instagram Highlights, Stories, and Reels to showcase your products and offers.

Creating and optimizing your Instagram business profile offers a bunch of extra features and tools that you can use to grow and expand your business reach. Its features, like Instagram Shopping, IG Ads, IG Guides, Instagram Reels Shopping, and Instagram Insights, help you achieve your objectives easily.

Run Instagram Ads

After posting and scrolling, searching for products on Instagram is the third most popular activity that people perform on Instagram. That’s why it has become a mainstream shopping destination.

You can take advantage of this potential by investing some money in Instagram ads to dramatically improve your performance on the platforms. Running shoppable Instagram ads featuring your product tags are created in the ad manager to get your profile in front of customers who are more likely to convert. US business owners can also run ads with Instagram checkout, allowing them to make direct purchases from the Instagram app.

Instagram shoppable ads run in feeds or on the Explore page featuring single images, carousels, or a video of an item from your product catalog. When more and more people see ads, you are more likely to find new potential customers.

Leverage Instagram Stories

Instagram stories are an interactive way to connect with your followers on a personal level. They can help you reach your audience, showcase your products, build trust, and increase engagement rates to drive purchases. With standout features like product tags, swipe-up links (You can add a swipe-up option after reaching 10k followers), and shoppable stickers, Instagram stories engage the customers to shop right from the content.

Mention’s 2020 studies reveal that 58% of IG users watch stories multiple times a day, and 67% of users swipe up the links of Branded Stories. This shows the potential of leveraging IG stories to promote your products. As stories last for only 24 hours, this time-sensitive nature is perfect for promoting limited-time offers, flash sales, or “last chance” notifications.

Leverage the potential of Shopping stickers, including a shopping bag icon, a sticker with the product name in the rainbow or grey, and translucent text, to tag physical products in your stories.

Sell Via Instagram Reels

Instagram Reels are short, interactive videos that last 60 seconds to create fun and engaging video content on Instagram. You can use text overlays, AR filters, and popular background music to create an engaging brand story. Reels also appear on the Explore Page, where anyone scrolling through the content can see them.

Businesses and brands leverage IG Reels to share their stories, new product teasers, and product tutorials to promote products, announce sales, and more. If you have an online store or shop on Instagram, creating Reels is the best way to reach more potential customers. Thus, tag products in your Reels to help customers easily access your products or collections.

Leverage User-Generated Content (UGC)

Leverage user-generated content (UGC) and take advantage of the Instagram Shopping feature. Filling your Instagram Feed with quality content is the best way to start selling on Instagram.

Many brands have acknowledged the power of social media marketing by using it to connect authentically with their target audience. With UGC, businesses and brands give users the opportunity to tell something real that cannot be achieved with traditional content.

For example, a tattoo company, Inkbox, curates UGC and reposts mentions and recommendations to its followers. Similarly, the direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand Vuori also leverages the UGC strategy to connect to its followers. These brands have reported huge success after leveraging this approach.

Use Exclusive Promotional Offers

Got a sale, a deal, or a special offer? Let your followers know!

Leveraging exclusive offers to followers is one of the best Instagram marketing strategies that brands use to reach more customers. To do this, open your Commerce Manager, create an offer, and make it visible in your Instagram shop so customers don’t miss out on this. Some popular examples of offers include amount off, free shipping, and buy-one-get-one free offers!

Benefit From IGTV

IGTV (Instagram TV) is a standalone video-sharing app and feature on Instagram that allows users to upload and share longer vertical and horizontal videos. Their length can range from 10 minutes for most Instagram accounts to 60 minutes for larger accounts.

When created right, IGTV can greatly help businesses build engagement, collaborate with influencers, drive more sales, and reach a wider audience.

Using IGTV, you can:

• Create tutorials for your products.
• Host a question-and-answer (Q&A) session to answer questions about your shipping, payment, and other procedures.
• Share information about how you source ingredients, manufacture products, or how your company operates to build transparency and credibility for your brand.
• Host or stream a sales event.

Engage With Your Audience

Your audience is the ones who are actually going to buy from you. That’s why they are the most important part of your Instagram shopping puzzle or sales funnel.

Engage with your followers by valuing their comments, responding to them, acknowledging their mentions, and creating an environment for two-way communication. You can also host Q&A sessions in stories or drop a poll to catch the interest of new arrivals. Instagram’s stunning features, like polls, question stickers, and quizzes, are perfect for drumming up engagement.

These features also help you get feedback from your customers and learn about their preferences and interests. If you are looking to sell more on Instagram, you can also spotlight user-generated content in your feed and stories. Leveraging UGC shows that you value the loyalty of your customers, thus building social proof. You can also use Instagram Live to engage with your followers.

Enhanced customer engagement leads to more conversions, thus boosting your sales.

Why Sell On Instagram? Key Benefits of Creating a Shop on Instagram and Selling Your Products

About 81% of users use Instagram instead of Google to search for products, brands, and services. That’s why selling on Instagram is important.

The following are the key reasons for or benefits of creating an Instagram shop and selling your products on this platform.

Increase Brand Awareness

With Instagram becoming more like a search engine, it offers a wealth of opportunities to use the Instagram shop to increase reach and attract more new customers. This increased reach results in enhanced brand awareness, as when existing followers buy while they are scrolling the feed, they entice new customers from their explore page. Thus, more customers mean boosted brand awareness.

Improved Visual Shopping Experience

Promoting your products via storytelling, live demos, Reels, and user-generated content are the best features of Instagram that help you improve your shopping experience. The visuals featuring your products create a compelling visual experience for your target customers.

Easy-to-Buy Procedure

Creating shoppable posts using product tags catches the attention of your Instagram followers and stops their scrolling. It makes it super easy for them to buy your products in that very moment of desire because it does not take much effort to buy.

Final Words

So, you have got the answer to the question of how to sell on Instagram for free. Start selling on Instagram by creating a professional Instagram business account. You can create an Instagram shop on it, partner with IG influencers, and run Instagram ads featuring your products.

Also, tag your product in your Instagram Stories Reels and leverage user-generated content to sell your products to more customers. Similarly, offering exclusive offers and using IGTV can also boost your sales on the platforms.

FAQs: How to sell on Instagram for free?

Do you need a business license to sell on Instagram?

Though having a business license helps improve your trustworthiness, it is not compulsory to start selling on Instagram.

Is it legal to sell on Instagram?

Absolutely yes!

If your professional Instagram business account:

• Complies with the IG policies
• Truly represents your business
• Demonstrates trustworthiness
• Provides accurate information

Then, it is legal to sell on Instagram.

Can I sell directly on Instagram?

Yes, it’s easy. Instagram Shopping helps direct selling on the platform by tagging your products in your stories, reels, and posts. If you are a US business, you can also check out directly on Instagram.

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