Everyone is online these days and it goes without saying that businesses need to have an online presence as part of their sales strategy. Some businesses, both big and small are purely online and have fully embraced all that the ecommerce world has to offer.

However a business chooses to get into ecommerce be it a Woocommerce or Shopify powered site or on a marketplace such as Etsy, a number of things have to be put in place in order to build, launch and ultimately grow an online store.

One integral part of ecommerce is product images. They are the quickest way for people to get an idea of what you are selling and they play a part in the buyer decision process. That said, it is important to upload good quality images, and more so those in context as they positively influence purchase decisions.

Product photos alongside other relevant imagery can be used for marketing purposes across a range of social media channels. Given the role that visuals play in converting shoppers, it would be worth considering visual marketing on platforms such as Instagram and/or Pinterest.

Instagram Shopping Stats

• online shoppers likely to make a purchase on Instagram – 14%
• Instagrammers who take action after seeing a business post (such as; visit site, search, shop, tell a friend) – 75%
• users who have purchased products discovered on Instagram – 30%

Pinterest Shopping Stats

• online shoppers likely to make a purchase on Pinterest – 18%
• online shoppers who would purchase an item included on their friends Pinterest board – 20%
• users with a household income of 100K+ annually – 40% (increased spending power!)

The statistics above give a small insight into why it makes sense to market products on Instagram and/or Pinterest. And, it makes even more sense with the availability of features such as Shopping on Instagram and Buyable Pins. These features enhance the user experience and make the path for shoppers to buy products a lot easier.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link.

Now that it has been established just how important a channel social media can be in driving sales ecommerce sales, comes questions such as where, what, when, why and how? If you don’t already have the various social profiles set up, the first thing to do would be to get them set up. As far as Instagram and Pinterest go, it would be best to set up business profiles in order to take full advantage of the available features to best benefit your business. A good place to start would be:

• Instagram – https://business.instagram.com/
• Pinterest – https://business.pinterest.com/en

If you already have profiles set up and are looking to up your Instagram and/or Pinterest marketing, the Tailwind Blog → https://blog.tailwindapp.com/ is a good go to.

Visual Marketing on Instagram and Pinterest with Tailwind

If you are new to social media marketing or an old hand at it, it’s easy to get caught up in it and spend countless hours on it. When you are working on growing a business, it pays to create systems and processes that save time and increase productivity.

As far as social media marketing goes, it pays to have systems, processes and the right tools that will see you spending less time on it yet realising optimal results. One such tool that allows you to just that as far as visual marketing is concerned is Tailwind.

Tailwind is an Instagram and Pinterest marketing tool that allows you to schedule updates to the platforms. It also includes features that work to not only save you time but also increase reach and engagement. Besides giving you the ability to schedule posts and upload images in bulk, one nifty feature that Tailwind has is smart scheduling. Smart scheduling takes away the hassle of trying to figure out when best to post. Algorithms go to work for you and figure out when best to post and this is based on when your audience is most engaged.

The Tailwind dashboard also gives you access to various metrics that give you a better understanding of your audience. This information can then also be used to make better-informed decisions for your visual marketing to drive better results.

Mastering Tailwind for Instagram

Tailwind conducted a study through its members and found the following Instagram results:

• 1.8 x more likes generated
• 1.3 x more followers added
• 2 x more post published

Mastering Tailwind for Pinterest

Tailwind conducted a study through its members and found the following Pinterest results:

• 6.9 x more save (repins) generated
• 3.7 x more followers added
• 4.2 x more pins published

Tailwind’s Instagram Hashtag Finder (another nifty feature)

To grow a following, hashtagging photos is important as it makes it easier for users to find your content. Whats more, users can follow hashtags and get a stream of relevant content even if a user isn’t following a poster. This makes hashtagging a good way for businesses to increase their reach.

With some hashtag research, it should be easy enough to come up with a handful that resonate with your audience. But, Instagram allows up to 30. That said, it doesn’t hurt to add a few more to a photo but what do you do when you have run out of ideas? Tailwind has a simple solution that suggests relevant hashtags based on a ‘seed hashtag’ and takes the guesswork out of you having to figure out tags.

Tailwind is a premium solution that comes with a free trial. What sets their trial apart from other tools is that it DOESN'T come with a fixed term trial period. Instead, signing up for a trial allows you to schedule up to 100 pins to Pinterest and 30 posts to Instagram. This means a couple of things, you don't have to rush to create and schedule updates. To add to that, the post allowance on the free plan should be just enough to see if the results are worth upgrading to a Plus account.

If you haven't already done so, give Tailwind a go (Click here to start a FREE trial) and see if it is worth your while.

Sources:
https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/ecommerce-trends/
https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/instagram-shopping/
https://www.shopify.co.nz/blog/instagram-marketing
https://www.shopify.co.nz/blog/6058268-how-pinterest-drives-ecommerce-sales