The origin of selling on Instagram goes back to the classic CTA "link in bio." While driving your followers to the link in your bio is still a good option in your toolkit - it should not be the only thing you're utilizing if you're trying to make sales on Instagram. If you're only using "link in bio" to get customers to buy your products, you're falling behind the times of eCommerce on Instagram. We have 6 additional ways you can drive sales on Instagram.

1. Instagram Shop

This may be a no brainer to some - but in case you missed it (because let's be honest, being a small business owner is OVERWHELMING) you can have your very own shop on Instagram. This allows your customers to purchase your products without ever leaving the app. Every additional click someone has to take to purchase one of your items is like a small hurdle they have to jump over. If you put too many hurdles in their way, they'll give up on buying what you're selling.

Remove every single hurdle by setting up an Instagram shop. People can access your shop by tapping View Shop on your profile.

Another way they'll be able to access your shop is through the Instagram Shopping feed. Your products will have the chance of landing on this feed that's been curated by an algorithm for each individual shopper. So if your products end up here, it means you're reaching your ideal audience. Without an Instagram Shop, you'll never get access to this group of motivated shoppers.

2. Tag Items on Feed Posts

Warning: You can't take advantage of this features if you haven't set up your Instagram Shop yet.

Did you know that every time you post a picture of a product you're selling, you can tag it in your post? When you have products uploaded in your Instagram Shop, they can easily be tagged in your feed posts - letting your followers tap on a product while they're scrolling their feeds.

A great benefit of using product tags in feed posts, is that it gives your audience an opportunity to see your items showcased in a way they wouldn't be shown in a typical sales format. If you sell dishes, you need to make sure there are photos showcasing every angle of the dish on your website. With an Instagram feed post, you could share your dish full of freshly baked brownies - inviting your followers to imagine what they could do with your product. Then they can easily tap through to buy it.

3. Create Shopping Guides

Curate groups of items with eye catching titles to entice your followers to start shopping. Share your guides to your stories and encourage your followers to tap through to shop. You can create guides out of products from your Instagram Shop or from feed posts. Check out how the brand @alohas has taken advantage of this feature.

4. Story Shopping

If you don't have your Instagram Shop set up yet - never fear - this is a feature you can take advantage of immediately. Whenever you post a product to stories, you should always, always, always include either:

a) a link sticker leading them to the product on your website

OR

b) a product tag leading them to the product in your Instagram shop

Both are simple additions that will encourage sales through your Instagram stories. Remember - your customers want to click around as little as possible. If they see a product on your stories that they like, don't expect them to leave the instagram app and google it. Give them the option to access it right there in the story.

5. Encourage Community Tagging

With the roll out of product tagging to all Instagram users, now anyone can tag your products (as long as they're found in your Instagram Shop) in their posts and drive your sales. If your account gets tagged in a post featuring one of your products, try DMing the poster and encourage them to tag your product. They'll get a small commission if it sells, and you'll make a sale. It's a win - win.

6. Reels Shopping

We all know Reels have the biggest reach on Instagram. They're ability to reach an audience larger than just your followers is unmatched by any other form of content on Instagram. Make sure you're taking advantage of this when it comes to sales.

Instead of simply including a CTA to check the product out at the link in your bio, you can also tag products from your Instagram Shop in your reels! Never miss a chance to add a product tag to a reel - because if that reel blows up, you just mind see your sales blow up too.

Social media is always going to be an essential part of the sales funnel. There is no going back to the days of newspaper/radio/TV ads being enough to reach the spending power you're after. If your target audience is on Instagram, make sure you're utilizing all of these features to capture customers on the app.