How should a retailer market themselves on Instagram?

As a retailer, it is becoming increasingly common and important to use social media to promote the products and services you sell. Why, you might ask? Well, that's because social media is getting bigger and bigger and is becoming more and more important in today's society. Most companies nowadays publish more and more advertising on social media instead of advertising in for example TV and newspapers, which also applies to retailers. Retailers of companies' products are increasingly advertising via social media, thus trying to reach out to more potential customers and thus also increase their sales.

In the past, it was very common to have viewings at other people's homes where you gathered with your friends and acquaintances to test and hear more about different products that retailers sold. However, this concept has more or less almost ceased completely and instead more advertising is done in social media and retailers contact potential customers directly via social media. In the following discussion, an extract will be presented from my master thesis research on how I used Instagram as a tool to market my products, with a focus on what you need to think about when marketing via Instagram and the results of the research.

How should you market your products as a retailer via social media and which social media platform should you choose?

Of course, which platform to use depends entirely on the type of products or services you sell and the platform your target audience uses. I use Instagram as a marketing tool because most people (regardless of age) use Instagram and because Instagram is a very popular and useful platform. I have also done a study on how it pays to market your products on Instagram as a retailer, how retailers should network, find new potential customers and what you as a retailer need to think about when marketing on Instagram.

The most important thing when sharing content on Instagram, and in social media in general, is that you share genuine, inspiring and personal content and not just share content where you promote the products or services you sell. An important rule that is very good to keep in mind is the 80/20 rule, which means that 80% of the content you share should be inspiring, personal and content that your followers benefit from and find entertaining, while 20% of the content you share can be selling content where you market your products or services. People today are very tired of all types of advertising, so if you only publish content, where you market what you sell, no one will buy what you sell either, but if you give something back to your followers that they benefit from or are inspired by, they are more receptive to sales content as well.

But in addition to collaborating with your followers, by sharing content that is inspiring and entertaining, you also need to be social and interact with other Instagram users. In fact, businesses that are successful, interact and engage with their followers on Instagram. This means that if you don't have the time or interest to interact with your followers and publish content on Instagram that interests them, Instagram is not the right channel to use. This applies to virtually all social channels and is also a reason why you should not use this type of platform if you do not have the opportunity to put in the time required.

In the study that was done regarding marketing on Instagram, different types of content were shared, over a certain period of time, and compared with each other to see what type of content the followers of my Instagram account prefer. During this Instagram survey, content was shared daily, at different times of the day, in different formats (stories, posts and reels) and in different categories such as tips and ideas, information about different products, promotions, business-related content and more. The goal was to publish 3 – 5 stories per day, preferably as spread out as possible and not all 5 stories at the same time, and to publish at least 2 posts per week and one reel per week. Instagram would of course prefer that you publish a post every day, but the recommendation is that you publish at least 2 posts per week and that you share a few stories daily.

The results from this survey on Instagram show that all types of statistics increased as the number of content increased very much in comparison to the number of content shared before the survey began. The format that was the most popular and gave the most reach was reels as video content is very popular and trending on Instagram at the moment. The table below shows the number of content shared both before and during the Instagram survey as well as what the statistics looked like before and after the survey. In addition, the reach, number of impressions, interacting accounts, and number of profile visits have been related to the number of content shared to get a clearer overview of performance.

Summary of the results of the Instagram survey.

What was interesting, however, was that during this survey, the number of followers on the Instagram account did not increase, even though content was shared daily and the reach was large. Therefore, a slightly shorter survey was also made in 2 weeks where the goal was to interact with other Instagram users on a daily basis, that is, to like and comment on other Instagram users' content on a daily basis. During this 2 week survey, only 3 stories were shared and the number of accounts reached was 86, but since I interacted daily with other Instagram users, both current followers and non-followers, the account has aroused the interest of others and the number of followers has increased by 8 followers during this time period.

In conclusion, after the Instagram survey, it can be concluded that in order to get a greater reach and increased engagement, it pays to share content regularly, and especially entertaining reels, you should invest in sharing regularly. But you should also not forget to interact and be social with other Instagram users because it is also a very important part of marketing yourself and what you sell through Instagram.

For further reading:

• Rindfleisch, A., & Malter, A. J. (2019). Marketing in a Digital World. Bingley: Emerald Publishing.
• McGruer, D. (2020). Dynamic Digital Marketing. Great Britain.
• Dolbec, P.-Y. (2021). Digital Marketing Strategy. Concordia University.

Short biography of Author:

Jannike is the main writer and has worked as a private advisor in the banking sector since 2019. In addition, she is a retailer of Nu Skins, Skin Care Products and Supplements and has been working with Nu Skin alongside her full-time job since 2019. In her spare time, Jannike enjoys nature, outdoor life, gardening and the summerhouse.