How to Make Sales on Instagram in 3 Easy Steps (Full-Strategy Infographic!)

Social media is constantly evolving. As soon as you feel like you’ve got Facebook and Twitter figured out, suddenly there’s Vine and Snapchat and a whole bunch of exciting new stuff to learn.

It keeps things interesting, and keeps social media managers on our toes.

Lately it seems like more and more social media managers are enthusiastic about Instagram and the opportunities there to engage with fans and share great photos and videos.

And the opportunities are big! With more than 300 million active users, Instagram is giving brands some great results. A Forrester study found that top brands’ Instagram posts generated a per-follower engagement rate of 4.21%—58 times more engagement than Facebook and 120 times more than Twitter!

We’ve had a lot of fun experimenting with Buffer’s own Instagram account and were excited to learn more. So we reached out to our friends at Made Freshly, whose Instagram game is pretty much undeniable.

They made us an awesome infographic that covers everything you need to know to make Instagram work for you and your brand: tips and stats on growing your followers, creating a marketing flow, and making sales directly from Instagram.

Check it out (details and citations for all the stats listed are directly underneath). Happy ‘gramming!

Plus 20 phenomenal Instagram stats

On growing your Instagram followers

• Of 16,000 Instagram users surveyed:
  • 62% follow a brand because they love it
  • 54% follow a brand to discover new things
  • 48% follow a brand because the content is entertaining
• 65% of users feel honored if a brand likes their post
• 41% of Instagrammers follow a brand for perks and giveaways
• 70% of Instagram users have already taken part in a contest
• 70% of Instagram users have looked up a brand on Instagram
• 37% of Instagrammers follow 1 to 5 brand accounts – 32% follow even more!
• 78% of consumers make purchases based on a brand’s social media account

What to post?

• 90% of information transferred to our brains is visual
• Nike posted 60% lifestyle content and saw 8 times more engagement than Adidas in 2014
• The Golden Ratio for Instagram posting
  • 30 percent owned
  • 60 percent curated
  • 10 percent promotional

Instagram timing

• Peak interactions on Instagram: 8PM to 9PM
• 30% of Instagram posts appear on weekends
• Brands post an average 6 times a week

Instagram hashtags

• 88% of posts contain at least one hashtag
• Engagement decreases with more than five hashtags

Instagram image qualities that can drive more likes

• High lightness generates 24 percent more likes
• Lots of background space generates 29 percent more likes
• A single dominant color generates 17 percent more likes than multicolored images
• 67% of consumers say detailed images strongly influences their purchase decision