Do you know which is the next follow-up of the most used social media in Malaysia? It’s INSTAGRAM! Instagram has been widely used by Malaysians, especially targeting the demographic at 15 – 35 years old.

If you have just started to use Instagram for your business, we hope you will find this article useful and the tips offered will help you to promote your brand and boost up your sales. Never underestimate the power of social media and explore how to bring your business to another level.

 

1st tip: Make the right first impression 

For every new business profile, you must make the right first impression on your customers.

  1. Choose a well-defined brand/products profile picture for your Instagram account. 
  2. Set up your profile and align with your brand, so your target audience can find you easily
  3. Remember to prepare a summary or introduction to tell your audience what your company does
  4. Provide your company website URL 

 

2nd tip: Take good products photos

We all know how important a visual presentation is when it comes to online marketing. It’s the only way to approach your audience, and for sure, it helps them to justify and make decisions to purchase your product or service. 

Here are some quick suggestions for you when creating an eye-catching image:

  • Play with the lighting, angles, and backgrounds to add some spark to your product photos. 
  • Add text descriptions in your photos. 
  • Create a consistent colour theme and use natural lighting to tone down the photo editing effect. 
  • Create a consistent Instagram theme, so shoppers can recognize your brand immediately. 

 

3rd tip: Fully utilise Instagram #hashtags

There’s another interesting one that can be used in Instagram – #hashtags! Make good use of #hashtags to get discovered by new audiences on Instagram. Those who used and shared the same #hashtags in your post, they will automatically get found by anyone that you might be targeting too.

  1. Effective hashtags can get more engagement on your posts
  2. Strongly recommended using 5 – 10 hashtags only
  3. Use and create the ones that are relevant to your products (potential customers can find you quickly, and increase your web traffic, engagement and sales)
  4. Create branded hashtags that are relevant to your products series (#ZARASPRING; #ZARAJEANS; #ZARAMENS.)
  5. Incorporate popular hashtags to get more visibility, keep an eye on the trending hashtags and use the one relevant to your business
  6. Example: Brand – Skate, #hashtags – #skaters, #streetwear, #skatboards

 

4th tip: Explore Instagram stories 

Other than general posting on your Instagram, you can also make use of the Instagram Stories feature. Engage with your followers frequently to spread your brand.

We want nothing more than real Instagram followers that turns into customers and buy stuff from you. Research has shown that Instagram story’s daily users have hit 500M people, which is pretty amazing considering 1 out of 16 people in the world is using it. 

To increase followers, you can introduce your brand through Instagram stories, it allows you to interact with the audience via poll stickers, Q&A, customer-generated content, live video, and more. 

If you’re not sure how to do it, check out how other big brands do it, for instance – the home improvement company, Lowe’s, made its video relevant to the brand’s core value of DIY. Through the series of Instagram stories, Lowe’s showcases its products and succeeds in making DIY projects feel like a simple undertaking – https://youtu.be/3CmnrptVaUA  

 

5th tip: Add an Instagram GEO tag for your brand

The best thing about Instagram is its global reach. When you share something, it could potentially be seen by people in NY to Berlin, and everywhere in between. However, if you’re a local business owner and wanted to reach nearby customers, get more specific with whom you target. Well, make sure to add geotags into your post, so the audience can locate your position. Then, you’re able to find your customers and local influencers easily to engage with them.

 

So wait no more, and start to utilise the power of social media! You can easily import all your products photos from Instagram into your SHOPLINE’s admin panel to save a vast amount of time and enrich your online store. Check this out to see how it works!