How to start dropshipping with Instagram
Instagram’s popularity and its excellent features to promote visual content make this one of the top apps in the world a great platform to push business online. So come closer to find out how to start dropshipping with Instagram.
Dropshipping is a great candidate for benefit from Instagram’s business environment as an emerging commerce model.
Dropshipping is a new kind of e-commerce that makes you the middleman between the manufacturer and the customer. Two distinguishing features make dropshipping different from standard retailers. The first one is that you don’t pay and buy products in advance, and the second one is you don’t have an inventory to keep your products. That is, so long as you can discover reliable dropshipping suppliers.
The coronavirus pandemic has boosted the idea of online shopping and alternative source of income globally. People who lost their jobs or the ones who don’t want to be dependent on one source of income created their online businesses during this process. Dropshipping is the most popular model for those who are not manufacturers and inventory holders.
Creating a website is an option to open an online store and promote your services and products on the internet. However, you can sell without a website. Instagram offers an excellent business environment between sellers and buyers. If you want to learn more about how to sell on Instagram without a website, you can read our detailed article here:
How to dropship without a website
As a dropshipper, you need to be the midpoint between the seller or manufacturer and the buyer. So, after you find products on massive marketplaces like Alibaba or Amazon, you need to advertise them to potential customers on your methods and make them order these products through your business.
Dropshipping without a website is possible by using social media platforms effectively for your business. You can promote your products and services on Reddit, Quora, or Facebook Groups and try to reach your target audience.
You can find great opportunities to advertise your business to the right audience for your niche. Instagram distinguishes itself from other social media platforms by focusing on visual content. If you want to combine dropshipping and Instagram and be successful in your business, you need to know Instagram marketing tips. You can find the best seven marketing tips to boost your dropshipping sales on Instagram in our detailed guide here:
How do I get Instagram for Dropshipping?
You can download the Instagram app for Android and iOS. Also, if you are using a computer, you can open Instagram on your browser and create an account quickly.
Instagram shopping makes it possible for businesses to show their products for direct purchases by consumers. To boost your dropshipping sales, you can use Instagram to reach more and the right audience online.
For a better dropshipping experience on Instagram, every online marketeer should adopt some effective strategies and tips. You’ll see essential guidelines to use Instagram for your dropshipping business in the following sentences. Here are 7 tips for doing dropshipping on Instagram effectively.
#1: Create an Instagram Business account
To access Instagram’s shopping and advertisement features, you need to create an Instagram business account.
After you have an Instagram business account, add calls to action, promotion stories, and use popular and related hashtags to attract more people as potential customers for your products.
You can also convert your personal Instagram account into a business profile without losing any information.
#2: Use high-quality pictures of your products
First of all, don’t use a white background and your products. However, you can design your Instagram pictures for your business to attract customers.
Put the images of them taken from Alibaba or Amazon as they are. Suitable filters, effects, and color adjustments make your dropshipping on Instagram more successful.
Here is a fine example from Kawaii Pen Shop on Instagram:
Designing is an essential part of the Instagram campaign. You can enrich and embellish your product images with the right tools and features. Circleboom Publish’s great add-on extension Canva provides unique templates, filters, effects, backgrounds, and other elements to increase your pictures' quality.
Thanks to the Hashtag generator on Circleboom, you can enrich your Instagram posts with relevant hashtags and grow your reach. This way, more people can see your Instagram posts and engage with them!
You can create, post, and schedule Instagram grid posts with Circleboom. 3x3 and 3x4 grid posts are available with Instagram Grid Maker. Also, you can get amazing panoramic posts with Circleboom.
#3: Batch create, and schedule your Instagram posts
As a business owner, you have various occupations like searching for products, sale transactions, or examining your Instagram ( and other social media platforms) analytics.
Creating an Instagram post for your dropshipping business every day takes time and negatively interrupts other occupations. Therefore, we recommend you batch create and schedule your Instagram business. You can pick up a day and design and organize your all Instagram posts for the whole week or even a month.
When doing business, you are probably using a desktop device. Circleboom Publish’s Instagram scheduler helps you create, design, and schedule your Instagram posts in advance with its unique tools and features.
Here you can discover more about how to batch-schedule your Instagram posts on your desktop:
Here you can watch our hands-on video to learn more:
#4: Use captions and hashtags intelligently
According to a study, 35% of Instagram users always read captions. That doesn’t mean the other 65% don’t read captions. They do but not always. Using every beneficial tactic to attract more customers to your dropshipping store on Instagram would be best.
If you can use Instagram captions wisely to descript your products better and draw people's attention, you can capture more people for your store, which is what you need to boost your sales on Instagram.
A good caption makes your products and services descriptions skillfully turn visitors who have seen your images but have not decided to buy yet into a customer.
You can see a good example from Meowingtonsco on Instagram on using captions and hashtags in an effective way.
On the other hand, hashtags are like leaving tracks for other people to follow your steps. If you can use Instagram hashtags effectively, you can channel other people to your dropshipping store on Instagram and make them potential customers. Learn more about Instagram hashtags and effective strategies with our detailed article here:
Instagram hashtag generator helps you find amazing, relevant hashtags for your Instagram posts to increase the range of your reach, and you can sell better on the platform.
Circleboom Publish - Instagram Hashtag Generator
Find relevant hashtags for your Instagram posts and grow your network.
#5: Always add swipe-up links to posts
Thanks to Instagram's swipe-up feature, viewers can access a link by swiping up on a story or touching an arrow at the bottom of their screen without closing the Instagram app or returning to a business's bio.
Swipe-up links on Instagram are fantastic tools to drive your potential customers into your conversion funnel.
You can channel your viewers to shop in your store as shown in the example:
It's also a straightforward way to promote various content and items while also providing thorough analytics to optimize your postings. Find out more about how to add links on Instagram and how to increase your sales by reading this article:
#6: Take advantage of Instagram Stories
Instagram stories will take your dropshipping store on Instagram to the next level. If you add your products to your Stories and make it easier for visitors to purchase them with one click moment, that will help you increase the communication with your customers and your sales at the end.
Indeed, you have to know your limits. If you overdo it, your Stories will look like spam, and people will start to block them. You have to care about your brand reputation on Instagram, and posting too many Stories with promotions will harm your dropshipping experience.
The most effective way to use Stories could be by announcing discounts. You can post Instagram stories promoting your deals for your products will help you communicate with your existing and potential customers.
#7: Collaborate with influencers
Influencer marketing is one of the most fruitful methods to reach wider audiences and promote your products. If you desire to enhance your limits for your dropshipping store on Instagram, you can use an influencer search tool to find influencers with thousands and millions of followers.
You make your products visible to more people and increase your dropshipping sales on Instagram by using influencer advertising.
Here is an example of Emma Chamberlain who is an Instagram influencer with +15M followers promoting a product:
Advertising is an essential part of marketing on any platform. So, you need to allocate a budget for ads on Instagram to be more visible to potential customers. In the coming section, you’ll see helpful guidelines on creating and finding dropshipping ads on Instagram.
Ads on Instagram for dropshipping
On Instagram, 90% of people follow at least one brand and its products. The platform became one of the most famous avenues for people to discover something new.
The important thing is not to give up after one or two unsuccessful marketing campaigns. Continue to adjust and test your creatives until you find the appropriate mix of images and language to interest your target audience.
Is Instagram Ads good for dropshipping?
Do you believe that ads on Instagram effectively channel you to purchase a product? You’d better do. According to a study, 75% of Instagram users who saw an Instagram ad while surfing on the platform take action like visiting the online store or buying the product.
When done correctly, Instagram advertisements can significantly increase sales in your dropshipping store.
In the light of these insights, you can understand how important and fruitful it is to create ads for your dropshipping store on Instagram to find more potential customers for your products.
How to advertise dropshipping on Instagram
You can create ads and advertise dropshipping on Instagram. We assume that you have a business account.
Step 1: You need to connect your Instagram business account with a Facebook Page. You can watch our hands-on video to learn more about linking Instagram and Facebook.
You will use Facebook’s Ads Manager to conduct Instagram ads for your dropshipping store.
Step 2: You need to select your ad format for your Instagram dropshipping campaign. Instagram offers, Photo ads, Shopping ads, Stories ads, Videos ads, Carousel ads, Collection ads, Explore ads, and IGTV ads.
Each format is designed to answer different business goals. For dropshipping on Instagram, photo ads, shopping ads, carousel ads, and stories ads are the most popular and most suitable ads formats.
If you want to learn how to create carousel posts on Instagram, you can take a look at our blog article here:
Step 3: You should define your ad goals. After deciding the best format for your business, you can design your ads and define objectives for your ads campaign on Instagram.
You are conducting dropshipping, so the first goal should be to boost your Instagram impressions and engagements.
Finding the best method to increase the productivity of your ads can be achievable by testing. We recommend that you experiment with different sorts of product photos. Experiment with lighting, color, text overlays, images, and other elements to determine which ones receive the most response from your audience.
How do influencers use dropshipping on Instagram?
When you start looking into collaborating with any of the Instagram influencers, you'll notice various options. The most common sorts of Instagram partnerships are shown below.
Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories are a type of social media platform that
Instagram Stories may be one of the most valuable features for influencers and partnered companies to get more personal with – and naturally grow – their audiences.
This is an example from Mvmt on using Stories to show their new products:
Much of what is shared on Stories appears to be more credible. It doesn't feel as false or polished; instead, it feels more genuine, which is why Stories are ideal for real-time, 'in-the-moment' material.
In addition, Instagram influencers don't have to conform their Stories to the feed's aesthetic.
Instead of inconveniently telling users to click the link in their bio when looking at ordinary in-feed content, it allows influencers to connect to a company-specific landing page immediately.
Find out more details about using Instagram Stories for your business here:
Sponsored posts
The most popular sort of Instagram influencer relationship is paying influencers or offering them free samples in exchange for sponsored posts.
Influencers can spotlight firms through soft mentions, in-depth evaluations, and alternate applications, utilizing the trust they've already earned to encourage their audience to test the company or its offering for themselves.
You can see PewDiePie's sponsored post for a Gfuel product.
Most firms that use this influencer partnership model compensate influencers in advance for creating sponsored content.
Live promotions on Instagram
Brands may use Instagram Live to invite influencers to interact with their existing audience in real-time. Taking over a brand's account and doing a live broadcast is a great way to add exclusivity to your content while also sharing personal experiences with your audience.
Additionally, Instagram Live takeovers are a fantastic approach for businesses seeking a fun and exciting method to communicate with their fans.
It allows users to interact or ask questions via comments, for example. Influencers can apply filters and invite their friends and followers to participate in the takeover.
Aside from that, once your Instagram Live video is finished, you can download and save it to your camera roll.
After that, you can share it on another social media platform or save it as an Instagram Story to extend the broadcast for another 24 hours.
To be more successful in dropshipping on Instagram, you need to be more careful with some details. For example, writing a suitable, efficient bio in your Instagram business profile will increase your impressions and engagements.
How to write a good business bio on Instagram for your dropshipping store
The 150-character limit for your bio can feel restrictive, especially since this is your chance to explain to new users why and how they should contact or shop with your company.
Whether you have a character limit or not, your bio should do the following:
- Define your value proposition in detail. Your value proposition is all about how distinctive your company's products or services are and how it benefits the individual reading your bio. You're attempting to persuade others to care about your company and follow you.
- Make your brand's voice stand out. Otherwise, there would be an apparent mismatch between your bio and the rest of your brand. Bios are lovely locations to introduce your brand voice to new consumers if you have one.
- Make a solid call to action. Make it clear to users what you want them to accomplish and how they should do it. Although your bio is brief, if it is effective, it will still entice visitors to take action, such as sharing UGC, making a purchase, or enrolling in an event.
Your bio should clearly state your company's performance and why it is better than competitors. You must capture users' attention and persuade them that you are worthy of their attention.
Best dropshipping Instagram account examples
Here are some live examples of the best dropshipping Instagram accounts.
In an Instagram dropshipping store, that design is an essential part. They are using Instagram Highlights effectively to stand their plans out.
Dogpawty is an excellent example of dropshipping with Instagram. They sell dog accessories.
That is a big one. It uses Stories and Highlights efficiently to promote its crafted notebooks.
Conclusion
Covid-19 showed us that we need to learn e-commerce as our essential business or as an alternative source of income. Dropshipping is one of the most effective methods of online trade because you don’t have to be the manufacturer or have an inventory to keep your products.
You can use social media platforms to promote your dropshipping store. As one of the most popular channels, Instagram has advantages because it focuses on visual content. You can conduct an effective dropshipping campaign on Instagram with the right tools and features.
Circleboom Publish’s Instagram scheduler helps you batch your Instagram content and schedule for a later time. You can have Circleboom’s great scheduling and design tools at affordable prices.