Are you sitting down?
Ok then. Probably, these weeks’ best piece of news is definitely about Instagram, at least in the rapidly evolving e-commerce arena. The rising social media platform has launched a new and appealing official brand account called @shop.
But this profile is much more than just another social media verified account that you can simply follow and add to your collection of profiles (which you totally should).
There’s much more than that. Because the new Instagram @shop behaves like a kind of influencer so you can shop better than before.
But how come?
The aim of this innovative initiative is to provide more and more possibilities for direct and immediate online purchases to emerging brands that Instagram will highlight with great care.
Through stunning and carefully selected pictures of goods (and authentic people using them), they will definitely call your attention, needless to say!
And how does it work exactly?
Long story short, a team of awesome content curators from Instagram will select specific products that interesting companies are exclusively selling online. After that, they will show their goods (with super cute shoppable tags) to users who are seeking to do some online shopping.
In other words, the idea is that the faithful Instagram followers can see those emerging companies more easily and the accounts don’t get lost in the platform before their captivating products might even reach the feed.
The reason?
The Instagram algorithm of your feed is intentionally designed in such a way that it can show very similar content to the publications you’ve already liked in the past. So, this way, the algorithm may be preventing the users from knowing the existence of diverse (yet still relevant) brand new brands that may call their attention too.
And did you know that this specific Instagram phenomenon is called “the filter bubble”?
Well, that’s the interesting gap that the recent @shop account has come to fill now on the Instagram realm. Or, better said, the problem that the new account has come to solve in a super clever way.
Because the account Instagram @shop was created to help brands to gain more visibility while, at the same time, users can connect quickly to shop faster in a nontraditional fashion. And they’re able to discover more relevant companies for them with an easier and faster lane.
At the present moment, the new Instagram @shop account is featuring almost 59,000 followers with only 19 posts. And it was released less than a month ago! Really impressive, right?
(Yes, these guys know what they’re doing.)
Image Credit: Business of Fashion
Top Categories of Instagram @shop
This Instagram account is special for delighting yourself visually with the following niches and themes:
- Home decoration: Delicate golden leaves to revamp the look of your apartment
- Fashion: Knitted purses, handmade footwear to relax, bags, and have I mentioned purses? (Of course, there is a dog in a bag)
- Beauty: Disruptive hairstyles, delicious makeup, and most importantly, real people with real bodies—enough with perfection stereotypes…
I have to say that the number of posts is few but very powerful.
So, if you happen to be working or buying to one of the niches above, run. To follow @shop, for sure. And if you happen to be into architecture and design too, run to @design.
I personally have run to both accounts, even though nails or furniture are not at all my industries. But the pictures are so jaw-dropping that´s impossible not to follow.
And an important element of the @shop posts is the stories behind the pictures. They are simply amazing because they show the true mindset of these companies´CEOs.
For example, this is the story that piggybacks a picture featuring the beauty brand @glossierplay
“I believe in a ‘no wrong answers’ approach to beauty,” says @glossier founder and CEO Emily Weiss. When she was dreaming up @glossierplay, Emily says she wanted to give her OG Glossier fans more tools for self-expression, but this time with a focus on color. The resulting line—a Skittles-like assortment of eye pencils, shiny lip shades, shimmery glitter gels and more—offers just that.
(No, you can’t pay to be featured neither on @shop nor on @design. You have to earn it with your originality and innovation.)
Happy Stats
And you may be wondering, who are all the online shoppers behind the new Instagram @shop account? Well, millennials are the biggest group of users shopping online and embracing e-stores with no problems.
Z gens are starting to buy online too. And the numbers keep on surprising us.
Online shopping through social media is huge and on the rise.
For example, you have to know that 67% percent of millennials are choosing online stores over traditional shops.
But, at the same time, they are super demanding when it comes to the shopping experience. It has to be perfect or they’ll walk away.
If they have a bad experience with purchasing once, they’ll never buy you again.
Let me ask you a question.
Do you want one of the secret ingredients to build an audience on social media and sell them your products with confidence?
Content. And more content. And yes, more content.
But, content is not publishing nice words or pictures every now and then. You will need properly curated content, consistency, interesting blog posts running frequently, good SEO, sound audience research, demographics, buying personas, and the list goes on and on and on.
Is social media too overwhelming for you? Are you in a bad mood when you think about posting?
Have you lost your social media priorities?
Give yourself a break. Enjoy viral videos while having some beer. Give likes to puppies photos on the sofa.
We’ll take good care of your social media presence so you can shine online without digital headaches. And for a super reasonable and affordable price especially thought for small businesses and budgets.
Cause you can’t win the marketing race alone in 2019. It’s impossible. No matter what that famous sports brand said once…
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