Instagram is the number one platform to generate higher sales for your fashion brand. The confluence of aesthetics meets product placement creates a brand identity platform that heavily engages customers, wholesale buyers, editors and influencers. With an average order value of $65, Instagram surpasses Pinterest ($58 AOV) and Facebook ($55 AOV). If you are one of the 95% of fashion brands who use Instagram then leveraging it to make sales is a priority. Note to reader: this post is not about how to get Instagram followers; this is about how to leverage your followers to convert into sales. 

Here is what you might be missing:

1. Creating a 360* Instagram conversation that relates to your website. Any marketing expert will tell you: your messaging needs to be consistent and reverberate throughout all aspects of the customer experience. 

You should either have Instagram images of your product in the alternate product images on your site, or have a dedicated page for showing Instagram images and the products being sold on them (i.e. “Shop IG”). Side tip: Make sure your popup email acquisition form on your site is sexy so you can capture the leads.

"Make your popup email acquisition form sexy."

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If creating a shop Instagram section on your site isn’t your style, there are a number of platforms that make it easy to sell on Instagram: Soldsie & Curalate are great places to start.

Creating an editorial calendar for product releases, website homepage and Instagram content. Since 78% of consumers make purchases based on a brand’s social media account its important to be consistent in your content production.

2. Get technical. Leveraging data can help you optimize your content to generate more sales. Google custom URLs allow you to track link performance on your Google Analytics. Its super easy to create and will allow you to see if people are coming to your site from specific links. This is different then the URL shortening link where you condense a longer link into something short. Once you create your custom URL run it through the shortener to make it neat and ready for Instagram.

3. Use paid marketing. Neilsen reported that Instagram ads convert 2.8x higher than the norm for online advertising, so if you were thinking about starting a campaign now is the time. Short campaigns that are targeted do the best. Instead of traditional product posts try offering behind the scenes video footage and exclusive content to garner interest. If doing product posts ensure the link goes to the product landing page- not your homepage. Reverberate your ad with strong content on your feed. 

Instagram is a long tail marketing strategy. Kicking up your normal posting and engagement schedule (liking, commenting, influencer posting, running contests etc.) takes time and commitment to see results. The best advice is to make Instagram a priority and create a 6-12 month strategy to test, pivot and improve on your sales. With 300M active users monthly and a growing international audience this is the place to market and sell to. 

Syama Meagher is the CEO of Scaling Retail, a consulting firm for fashion and retail brands. Her Launch My Brand course, 6-weeks to building your business foundation starts 3/31/16. Watch Syama in action on Scaling Retail TV, The Channel to Grow Your Fashion & Retail Business. 

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