Are you a new ecommerce brand, hungry to start making sales?
Are you struggling to put together funds to create an awesome website?
Great news — you don’t need a website to make sales. All you need is a free platform you’re probably already using forpersonal purposes: Instagram.
In this post, we’ll talk about how to sell products on Instagram without a website — andhow to leverage all thetypes of content that Instagram users love.
Without further ado, let’s dive right in.
- How to start selling on Instagram
- Create andset up your account
- Craft your bio
- Create first posts foryour feed
- Two ways to create a store on Instagram
- Create your own shopping experience
- Launch an Instagram Shop
- Sell more by nurturing your audience
- Post creative feed content
- Post stories daily
- Have fun with Reels
- Leverage hashtags
- Cultivate your community
Can I sell directly through Instagram?
Yes, it’s possible to sell directly through Instagram, even without a website to house your products.
In fact, Instagram wants users to stay on their platform. This means keeping theentire customer journey on Instagram can have an advantage compared to pushing traffic towards outside links.
That’s why many business owners use Instagram Shopping to create an entire shop directly on theInstagram platform, including checkout andpayment.
Not only can you create a shop directly on Instagram, but you can even tag your shoppable products directly in your posts. This makes it easy forcustomers to go from feed to checkout in a near instant – all without leaving theflow of theapp.
☝️ This is just one way to sell on Instagram, andwe’ll talk about alternatives in a moment.
Why should you sell products on Instagram?
First off, Instagram is a visual platform, which means it’s perfect to share beautiful images of your ecommerce products.
Whether you are a brand-new business owner making products by hand, or you’re selling print-on-demand shirts, your potential customers need to see your product first before buying.
If you’re not yet on Instagram, you’re missing out on an audience of now over 2.35 billion active users.
About 90% of Instagram users follow at least one business account, while 62% of users say they're more interested in a brand after seeing them in an Instagram Story, according to thelatest stats.
Long story short? There are plenty of Instagram users, andthey’re interested in purchasing from businesses on theplatform.
Andwhile it may be true that a huge portion of these businesses already have an ecommerce website, many others don’t — andare still successfully making sales.
This means you can use Instagram to create some traction foryourself until you’re ready to build a full-featured website.
So how do you get started?
How to start selling on Instagram
To start selling products on Instagram without a website, you’ll need to set up your account properly.
Step 1. Create andset up your Instagram account
First, you’ll need an Instagram account.
There are two types of accounts: personal andbusiness. Always pick a Business account, because it will unlock many features like:
- Adding a phone number andemail address to your bio
- Creating Shoppable posts
- Using paid ads to promote your products
- Accessing insights on your data (very important!)
If you jumped thegun andalready created a personal profile, don’t worry. You can always change a personal profile to a business one.
Simply log into your account, go to settings, andtap the“Switc
❗Heads up — you’ll need a Meta Business Account to do this.
With a brand new profile, you won’t have much data available in your insights. But once you start posting andgetting engagement on your posts, you’ll learn about:
- Which posts, Reels, or Stories are getting more traction
- How many accounts you’ve reached in thepast month
- How many profile visits andwebsite clicks you received
- Who is part of your audience (locations, age range, genders, etc.)
This data will tell you what your audience responds to best andwill help you plan out your future posts.
Step 2. Craft your bio
Okay, you have a business profile on Instagram. Time to make sales, right?
Hold up. First, we want to make sure your profile is attractive to your potential buyers.
If you have a phone number andemail address, include those in your profile forsure. Andwhen it comes to your bio, you’re pretty limited in thenumber of characters you can use, so use them wisely.
Forexample, sometimes a single emoji (andthus a single character) can speak a thousand words. Resist theurge to go overboard with theemojis, andonly use them if you think they will be relevant to your audience’s style.
Your bio should communicate theessence of your brand andlet your audience know how to buy from you.
Take Cents of Style’s account as an example of a great bio:
Their bio is simple, to-the-point, andtells theaudience what to do. Additionally, they’ve added thepossibility forusers to be featured wearing their products, so this is a great way to build a raving fan base.
Step 3. Create first posts on your Instagram feed
It’s pretty simple — because you are selling products, you should feature your products.
If you’re starting your account from scratch, it’s important to build up at least 12-16 posts so that your account doesn’t look empty.
This doesn’t have to mean that you only post boring still photos of your product lying on a table, either. Get creative with it andfeature:
- People using your product in various ways
- People doing fun activities either using or wearing your product
- Behind-the-scenes of how your product gets made
- Creative photoshoots involving your product
- Your product in a flat-lay-style photo
Just take a look at this feed from Odeata, a handmade ceramics shop:
Every shot feels carefully planned, andthe result is a gorgeous feed that makes you want to stock up your own home with these beautiful ceramic products (or is that just me?).
Create your Instagram Shop
Instagram profile with an engaging bio? Check.
Beautiful posts showcasing your products? Check.
Now you’re ready to start selling. At this point you have a few options: you can create a shop directly on Instagram, or you can handle your own payment methods.
Thefirst option is much easier — andwhat Instagram prefers. But just in case you want other options, or if you’re selling custom products, let’s first explore how to set this up without relying on Instagram Shops.
Option 1. Create your own shopping experience
Theless friction you create foryour customers, themore likely they are to buy.
One way to do it is by adding an online pre-order form to your Instagram bio. You can quickly create one using a tool like Getform.
You’ll be able to customize theform andlink to it from your Instagram bio. Form submissions will go directly to your Getform dashboard, where you can view them any time. You can also choose to get notified about new orders instantly via email.
With a tool like Getform, you’ll also be able to stay in touch with your customers andemail them whenever you have a new product or a promo going on.
If you don’t want to use an online form to accept orders, there are other options:
- Direct messages
- Comments
Forexample, although this specific shop does have a website, they start selling products on Instagram before they are live on their online store — by using thecomment section. Notice they are also using thescarcity principle to encourage you to make a purchase before theitem becomes available to a wider audience.
Although using comments is a good technique, there are ways to make theprocess even simpler.
What do I mean? Well, if I wanted to buy those earrings, I would have to write a comment. But there are no specific instructions forhow to proceed, so there may be a lot of back andforth between me andthe shop owner.
Here is an example of clear order instructions from With Love CS:
This post is pinned at thetop of thefeed, so all new customers can see it right away. On thenext slides, thestore owner explains more details including:
- timeframes,
- shipping fees,
- rush order options.
See how clear this makes it forany potential buyer? You see a product you like on a post, you read theinstructions, andyou follow them to order.
That’s it.
Here’s another example from Cents of Style. In this case, thecompany lets users know that theinvoice will be sent directly to their inbox. They’ve also added an obvious “Comment to Buy” text on their image, which makes it clear to people scrolling by that this sweatshirt is forsale.
Finally, you can always tell people to DM you formore information on theordering process or customization, like this jewelry brand:
This might seem a bit vaguer, but when you’re creating custom orders, you need a simple way to receive information from your customer first. DMs are a great way to do this andkeep theusers on theplatform, which means less friction forthem.
WhatsApp is another great tool to receive orders. Because ecommerce can reach international buyers, WhatsApp will allow you to communicate with phone numbers from anywhere in theworld.
This brand is using WhatsApp to take orders, even if they have a website. They even mention what type of payment options they accept.
Now that we’ve covered custom options to accept orders through Instagram, let’s move on to thesecond scenario.
Option 2. Launch an Instagram Shop
First, make sure your Instagram account is a Business account (covered above). If you’ve done this step, you can go into your Settings andPrivacy andchoose “Business tools andcontrols.”
From there, click on “Set up a shop”:
At this point, you’ll need to connect to your Facebook account. That’s because Instagram will pull from your Facebook page to access your product catalog. Then, you can choose a checkout method you want shoppers to use.
If you don’t yet have a catalog, Instagram will generate one automatically foryou at this point.
Once you’re done with theinitial setup, you can go into your Commerce Manager andadd all your items.
At this point, you can customize thelook andfeel of your shop, andeven organize your products in Collections.
Andthat’s it forthe basic setup. You can add, remove, or edit products andcollections as you see fit, just like you would on Shopify or other ecommerce platforms.
How to grow your Instagram shop by nurturing your audience
Once you’ve got theinitial setup ready, you have several ways to engage with potential customers on theplatform.
Thebest part? You can tag your shop items in nearly every Instagram tool, including:
- Feed posts
- Stories
- Reels
- Instagram Direct (your DMs)
So let’s cover some best practices foreach of theabove.
1. Post creative feed content
You probably know this, but you’ll be competing with many other ecommerce brands on Instagram. So you need to find ways to stand out when you create posts on your feed.
Posting awesome images that showcase your products is a great first step, but you should make use of your captions, too.
Captions aren’t just meant to tell potential buyers how to purchase from you. Before they make thedecision to purchase, you need to serenade them.
This is especially important if your item uses thesenses in other ways, like this wax melts:
You can also use your captions to describe your item, or paint a picture of what life can be like with theitem.
Take this caption, forexample:
They’re not just selling a skirt. They are selling thepromise of breaking traditions andwalking into a room like a boss.
Here’s another post from thesame brand:
Keep in mind that this specific tone of voice might not work foreveryone. This brand figured out their approach andcreates captions based on their style — you should do thesame.
So before you start posting just forthe sake of announcing new products, take some time to research who your target audience is, what tone of voice they respond to, andhow this correlates with your brand.
Oh, anddon’t forget to tag your products so that your posts become Shoppable!
Post Stories daily
Instagram users love Stories… andthey love buying from Stories, too.
Forinstance, 49% of Gen Z consumers rely on Instagram stories to find new products or services.
Here’s thething with Stories – if you post consistently, on a daily basis, you’ll keep showing up at thetop of thefeed forpeople who regularly watch your stuff.
This means that your audience will compound over time. It can start slow at first, but stay consistent andyou’ll be rewarded.
You can play around with different formats on your Stories to keep it interesting foryour followers. Yes, you should feature your products andtag them to make them easily Shoppable.
But don’t be afraid to share a bit more about what happens behind thescenes, too!
Plus, you can use interactive tools such as Polls andSliders to engage with your audience.
If you frequently run out of stock andneed to restock your shop, Stories are a great way to build up excitement. Forinstance, this slime shop uses thecountdown timer to remind people of when to check theshop forrestocks:
Have fun with Reels
Reels are a versatile medium to share content with your audience – not only can they appear in theReels section of a page, but you can share them in your Stories or directly on your Feed.
Andbecause they’re video content, thesky’s thelimit when it comes to deciding what type of content to create!
Let’s take a look at theHolo Taco brand to see how much variety a single shop can leverage with Reels.
Holo Taco is mainly a special effects nail polish brand. Theobvious first choice fortypes of reels, of course, is swatch videos to showcase how awesome their nail polish looks:
But you’ll also find tons of other content types on their Reels! Forinstance, they publish educational videos to help customers make themost of their products, such as nail art tutorials:
Andthey’ve also got behind-the-scenes of how they designed certain products. Here’s a recent example of a video showcasing theentire design process fora nail polish bag:
You can also create Reels that are pure entertainment value. These types of Reels are best to attract new people to grow your audience.
Forexample, I’ve seen tons of slime businesses post ASMR-style content featuring their slimes. They’re not telling people to go andpurchase these slimes – instead, their focus is just to create videos their ideal buyer wants to consume.
In other words, don’t be afraid to have fun while promoting your brand!
Remember that whenever you feature your products in your Reels, you can easily tag your products in them to make them Shoppable – just like you would on a Story or feed post.
Leverage hashtags so your posts get found
Hashtags are used to show your post when users search forthis term.
You’ve probably noticed that most of theInstagram posts andReels shown above contain hashtags.
First off, remember that Instagram only lets you use 30 hashtags per post. You should make use of every single one of them to maximize your reach.
Not sure which hashtags to use? There are several tools that will help you figure that out, but Tailwind works especially well.
Not only will Tailwind allow you to schedule your posts in advance (thus reducing your workload), but they will give you suggestions forhashtags based on your topic.
They’ll also tell you how many posts there are forthis hashtag. If you only use hashtags that contain millions of posts, you’ll compete with too many other people to get any significant attention. If you use hashtags with little to no posts, then chances are, nobody is searching those terms.
But hit thesweet spot, andyou’ll maximize your reach.
Inside Tailwind, those sweet spots are highlighted in green. You don’t have to get all 30 hashtags in this sweet spot, but aim to get at least half of them in that zone.
Cultivate your community to grow your brand
Here’s thedeal with social media — it’s called social media fora reason.
Unlike a regular website experience, you have theopportunity to start a conversation with your customers.
This allows you to cultivate trust, find out what they want, andturn them into raving fans.
Don’t underestimate thepower of community to sell products on Instagram. Make sure you respond to every single comment (except trolls, of course) so that your audience feels heard.
Just take a look at this feed of comments andnote that thecreator has responded to everyone:
I’d go a step further andtell you to encourage people to comment on your posts. This can be done by asking questions about how people use certain products, or even asking forfeedback.
Forexample, this artisanal soap maker is taking their audience’s preferences into account fortheir next creations:
Thesmaller you are, themore sustainable this is. So make themost of your humble beginnings andstart growing your relationship with your audience right away. Respond to everyone who:
- Reacts to your Stories or engages with your Story stickers
- Leaves comments on your feed posts or Reels
- Sends you DMs
- Tags your brand’s profile to give a review
Of course, feel free to ignore any spam messages or comments. But themore you interact with your true fans, themore loyal they will become.
Kick-off your ecommerce brand andstart selling on Instagram
You’ll find plenty of amazing tools to simplify your ecommerce marketing, but sometimes starting off with a free tool like Instagram is all it takes to kick it off.
No, it’s not easy — using Instagram will require you to publish content on a regular basis andengage with your audience.
But when done right, you can have a profitable ecommerce store without needing a website. Plus, you’ll be able to communicate with your audience much more easily, which is great to build a fanbase early on in your business!
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