Instagram is one of the most powerful tools available to online boutique businesses today. With over 2 billion monthly active users, it’s pretty safe to say that your customer is on the platform and one of the best place to promote your online boutique on Instagram. So how can Instagram help you grow your online boutique? In this blog post, we’ll go over what you should be doing with your Instagram account to get your boutique in front of the right people, keep them engaged and turn followers and fans into real customers.
Create an Instagram Business Account
The first step to making Instagram work for your business is to have a business account. This will give you access to do the marketing you’ll need to attract customers and learn through the platforms’ insights about how your account is performing. Some important metrics to consider include follower growth, engagement rate and link clicks. We’ll talk about how often you should track those metrics later in this post.
Create a Posting Schedule for Your Instagram Page
You’ll need to post regularly on Instagram if you want to promote your online boutique on Instagram and your posts to reach a wide audience. Try to post at least once a day. And since Instagram isn’t just a photo platform anymore but also has some search engine functions, you can make the most of your posts by using relevant pop culture references too.
In order for you to do social media well, you need to post what’s important and attractive to your target customer, not just want you want to post. And make sure to use relevant hashtags so that people can easily find your posts.
Post high-quality photos of your products
Instagram is a visual platform, so it’s essential to post high-quality photos of your products. Whether you have a professional studio or lifestyle shoot or you’re working with influencers to have a more organic feel to your images, they should show off your products in their best light. Make sure important details are visible and the colors actually look like what a customer will receive in the mail. There’s nothing worse for a shopping experience than having unmet expectations.
That being said, when you promote your online boutique on Instagram your content should be balanced. Showcase customers wearing your stuff, give behind-the-scenes glimpses of your boutique, share customer reviews, or announce new product launches.
You can also experiment with different types of content such as videos, stories or carousels to see what works with your audience. Planning ahead will also help you be consistent and organized. You can even create a content calendar to plan out when you’re going to post, how often, and what type of content you’ll post each day. Then all you need to do is follow your schedule. Or use an auto-scheduling service to make sure that posts actually go out on time.
Collaborate with influencers
Every account starts at zero. So collaborating with influencers can be an effective way to reach a larger audience and boost sales. And you don’t need to work with influencers with millions of followers either. Look for influencers in your niche who post and engage with their followers regularly. Watch their stories, go through their highlights, and read the comments on their posts. That will give you a good idea of whether they’re a fit for your brand. Then you can start to reach out.
You can offer them a discount code or free product in exchange for a post or story about your boutique. Or you can take it to the next level by having a local influencer co-host a popup shopping event or curate their own collection. The possibilities are endless. And that will help your boutique attract more of the right customers too.
Engage with your followers
As your audience grows, it’s important that you engage regularly with your followers. Respond to DMs and comments, help people with their purchasing decisions, answer questions about sizing or styling—whatever it takes the build the relationship. As a new boutique, your job is to make an impact on as many people that come into your world as possible. And every point of contact is an opportunity to create a customer.
Track Your Progress
Remember those metrics? You should be using your insights and checking in on them at least once a week. That will give you an overall picture of how your content is performing, what your audience is responding to best and what you should lean into more to get even better results.
Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms out there and a discovery engine for new businesses. So if you’re on the platform, use the tips above to make it work best and promote your online boutique on Instagram. Focus on growth, track your progress and keep showing up regularly. That’s how you turn followers and fans into lifelong customers.
