How to use Instagram to sell products

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Small business owners might not think of Instagram as a retail mecca, but storeowner Amanda Wilson certainly does. Wilson, a self-proclaimed Instagram junkie, uses the social media site to sell products from Hinge, her vintage furniture shop in Cincinnati.

Instagram doesn’t have a shopping cart function for businesses, but that doesn’t stop Wilson from cashing in. The former pharmaceutical researcher posts pictures of small, shippable products on the company Instagram site and not only uruguay whatsapp number database makes sales, but also increases traffic to her store.

“I don’t think many business owners think of Instagram as a way to boost sales,” she says. “Trust me, I was totally stunned when I sold my first item on Instagram, but it works.”

Want to know her secrets? Here are a few tips from the furniture restoration guru who has turned Instagram into a retail hot spot.

Take several quality photos
Pictures are eye candy on Instagram, so you’ll need some high quality pictures of your products, Wilson says. You’ll want to take three or four photos of one product because you may want to update the picture later on. You can take a photo of one product, or group several items together, like Wilson did with these coffee table pictures. Take several pictures with different backgrounds and various placements of your products.

“Try to get creative, but don’t sacrifice clarity for creativity,” Wilson says. “People scroll through a lot of pictures on Instagram so you want your items to standout.”

Post pictures with hashtags
Once you’ve got some pictures of your products, go ahead and post them to your company’s Instagram site, but don’t forget to use hashtags, Wilson says.

“People use Instagram like a search engine, so you want your items to show up in their search results, which is where hashtags come in,” she explains.

For example, when Wilson posted this picture of two vases for sale, she used these hashtags: #hingestore #vintage #flowers #vases #splashofcolor.

An Instagram user can search for users or hashtags. A shopper looking for vases might search hashtags for vintage vases. Since Wilson included #vintage and #vases with her picture, the vases will show up in the shopper’s search results.