You already have an online store or are thinking about starting dropshipping via Shopify or Woocommerce? Then it is recommended to create an Instagram profile for your store. Instagram has over one billion monthly users in all age groups and in all possible niches. For you, this means: You can reach a lot of potential customers!
Here’s how to create the perfect Instagram profile for your online store
Why create a business profile at all?
A suitable username is probably one of the most important aspects when it comes to the profile for your online store. First of all, yes, it is important to create an extra company profile. Just don’t get the idea to promote your products or store through your personal account. This will not work and is absolutely unserious. Your personal profile has no relation to the niche or the products. Really no one will take it seriously. Of course, this only applies to the average Instagram user. If you are an influencer yourself, this can be quite successful.
The goal is branding. You want to create a brand that sticks in people’s minds and relates to the niche. Really anyone can sell any product, especially these days when many are starting dropshipping. A strong brand name will help you stand out from the rest. The username is the first thing users see on Instagram. It says a lot about your profile and what you stand for.
Unlike personal accounts, with business accounts, you have access to “Insights”. You can see exactly how many users you’ve reached and how popular your individual posts have been. This is incredibly useful.
Pay attention to the username
It is recommended that your username is the name of your website. So if your website is “Gamingworld.com”, your Instagram username should be “Gamingworld”. Now, unfortunately, a lot of usernames are already taken. Don’t panic, you can easily fix the problem by using a prefix for example. A prefix would be for example “my”, “the” or “our”. If “Gamingworld” is occupied, you could try “MyGamingworld” or “TheGamingworld”.
Use a meaningful name
In principle, the name should consist of the name or website name of your online store and additionally a slogan or keywords. Remember that the name can only have 30 characters. I advise you not to use numbers, underscores, periods or abbreviations in your username.
Why keywords? If someone searches for “Cheap Gaming Accessories” in Instagram search, they will find your profile if you have it in the name.
Here are examples of names in your profile:
- Gamingworld.com – Play Smart
- Gamingworld – For Real Gamers
- Gamingworld.com – Gaming Accessories
- Gamingworld – Best Cheap Games
Just like the username, the name in your profile says a lot about what your profile is about and what you have to offer.
If you’re thinking to yourself, “But Gucci, Supreme or Adidas profiles look different and don’t have something like that in their names!” – Forget it. These brands have such strong brand recognition that they can write whatever they want. People know what Adidas or Gucci is all about. These brands don’t need to write it in their name.
Choose an appealing profile picture
This can either be your logo or something strongly related to your niche. So if you have a logo for “Gamingworld”, you can use that. If you don’t have a logo, you should show a person happily playing games. This profile picture should trigger some positive feelings in your profile visitors or at least seem sympathetic.
Short and informative profile description
No one likes to read profile descriptions that are all text and unformatted. In my experience, it works best if you summarize the most important aspects of your store in bullet points, using emojis.
What might these bullet points be?
- A short description (few words) what your store is about
- Information about the shipping method (Free Worldwide Shipping)
- Coupons or discount codes, if you offer them
- Information about new offers or products
- Information about contests or giveaways
- Call To Action
This is how the profile description could look like:
Additional information
Additionally, you should also set your profile to be a company profile so that you can get important statistics about your reach. Also, be sure to include your website or a link to a special product you are promoting. Instagram has also added a “Call To Action Button” feature for some accounts. However, these are mostly only available for restaurants, agencies or consultancies. You should also add an email address so that your potential customers can reach you.
Make sure your layout is unique and your colors are appropriate
Your profile represents your brand and your store. Therefore, it is extremely recommended that you know your target audience. Understand what they want, what drives them and what their expectations are.
If you are in the beauty or fashion niche, you should also make sure that the layout of your profile is creative. You can do this either through certain patterns in the layout or through the colors of your posts.
Here are some examples:
This way you can leave a “wow effect” and your profile visitors will definitely remember your profile and your brand. That’s what it’s all about: staying in the customer’s mind and creating “brand awareness”. An exceptional layout will also set you apart from the competition.
Post only high-quality posts
This is the golden rule: never post low-quality posts. The choice is yours: either professional or so outlandish and special that they are good. Here, however, it is extremely important to know your target audience and to know who your target audience is in the first place and how they react to it.
Good examples are the accounts of Louis Vuitton and Balenciaga. Both are luxury brands, but the types of posts are worlds apart. With Luis Vuitton, everything is highly professional, while with Balenciaga, you might think they’re memes. Both work, though, because they both appeal to exactly the target audience they want to have. The posts at Balenciaga are sometimes so absurd that they already have something creative again.
If you are just starting out and need unique content, I recommend this method!
What kind of posts should you avoid?
- Posts with a watermark
- Pictures or videos without a message
- Prices or excessive font in the post
- Poor image or video quality
In general, it is better not to post images or videos unless they are of appropriate quality.
Learn how to use hashtags correctly
As a new brand and Instagram profile, you are dependent on using hashtags as they increase your reach and you can attract potential customers. You can use up to 30 hashtags, but I recommend using 20-25 hashtags, as overusing hashtags may make Instagram think your profile is spam and you risk getting a “shadow ban”.
You can use tools like All-Hashtag, Ingramer or Tagsfinder to see exactly which hashtags are appropriate. Just enter one or more keywords like “gaming” or “fashion” and the tool will generate a lot of hashtags for you. You don’t necessarily have to use this tool, you can also look directly on Instagram.
In general, I would use the following strategy for new profiles:
- 5 hashtags with an extremely high number of posts (over one million)
- 5-10 hashtags with a high number of posts (100,000 to one million)
- 10 hashtags with a medium number of posts (50,000 to 100,000)
The goal is to achieve the widest possible reach and rank high on the “Explore” page for some hashtags. Then, if users search for a particular hashtag, they will find your post at the top. For new profiles, it’s almost impossible to rank well for hashtags with a very high number of posts. The competition is simply too high for that. For now, focus on hashtags with a medium number of posts and increase your reach. Once you have a lot of followers, you can focus on more popular hashtags.
Here I show you how to create a network of IG niche accounts!
If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment.
