How good can Instagram be for organically promoting sales?
Potentially very good — as organic beverage brand Suja Juice recently discovered. The company parlayed Instagram placements into an effective digital storefront that was very successful.
“By combining inspirational content with a buying mechanism, (it) resulted in the social network becoming the top mobile referral site for mobile sales,” according to MobileCommerceDaily (MCD).
“Recognizing that Instagram is an important marketing channel for reaching mobile customers, Suja Juice partnered with Curalate to leverage its Like2Buy solution, enabling consumers to like a post and be directed to the brand’s Web site,” explained MCD. “However, the brand also grasped the need to incorporate inspirational content to ensure the success of the buying mechanism.”
Unlike competing visually oriented social media sites, Instagram has less of a focus on products, making more organic engagements possible.
To establish Instagram as a storefront, Suja Juice integrated Curalate’s Like2Buy solution, a tool that allows users to go from browsing on Instagram to a nutritious juice recipe or blog post about healthy living on the brand’s Web site.
“Any brand that sells its products online and has the resources to create high quality, engaging content can use Instagram as a virtual storefront,” said Heather MacNeil, vice president of marketing at Suja Juice. “By using a tool like Like2Buy, powered by Curalate, brand fans simply ‘like’ a brand’s post, and they get directed to the brand’s ecommerce site.”
Reportedly, since integrating Like2Buy, Instagram has become a top mobile referrer to the Suja Juice Web site and the number one mobile referral site for mobile sales.
“Over a 30-day period, Like2Buy was the number one mobile referral site for online purchases and accounted for 20 percent of the brand’s overall traffic, with 49 percent of those users representing new visitors,” noted MCD.
But the Instagram gambit has to be low-key, visual, organic — and very subtle.
“Instagram isn’t about pushing products; it’s about sharing experiences,” said Matt Langie, chief marketing officer of Curalate. “What Suja Juice does a great job of is complementing their core product offering with the types of experiences that the Suja customer aspires to have.”
