Black Friday Product Promotion on Instagram
Published on 17th of November 2023With Thanksgiving just around the corner, it’s time to focus your marketing efforts on the biggest shopping holiday of the year: Black Friday. Black Friday happens the Friday after Thanksgiving in the US, and over the past couple of years, this trend has spilled over to other countries.
As a business owner, you should be even more excited about Black Friday. Instead of just shopping for discounts, you can draw entirely new audiences on social media and make an excellent profit in a single day!
Keep reading to discover how to use Instagram to promote Black Friday products and discounts in 2023:
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Plan Your Black Friday Marketing Strategy
Black Friday got its name in the 1950s when massive crowds would flock to Philadelphia the day after Thanksgiving. These crowds held tourists and shoppers, all of whom desired a little retail therapy before attending the Army-Navy football game.
It wasn’t long before retailers realized the value of Black Friday. They saw how it would help them end the year ‘in the black’ instead of ‘in the red.’
If you want to end your business year in the black, it’s time to get cracking on your Black Friday marketing strategy on Instagram. You can use clever advertising to promote early bird sales and exclusive deals. And most importantly, you can use Instagram to create a sense of urgency. You can add a countdown timer to your website and point your Instagram content links to it.
Speaking of your website, you must optimize it for the Black Friday event. If you don’t use relevant keywords related to Black Friday shopping and deals, your website won’t rank on the first page of Google. At the same time, you must ensure that your website is 100% mobile-friendly, since most customers will want to view your promotions on their phones.
Use Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories is an excellent way to create said sense of urgency. With this feature, you can post limited-time discounts and new product teasers. You can include the countdown in your stories and use polls to gauge your followers’ reactions to your Black Friday offers.
While you’re at it, you can use Stories to encourage your followers to continue shopping with you after Black Friday. Create stories that promote unique rewards or loyalty points for repeat shoppers. Extra perks, like loyalty programs, help build brand loyalty outside of big shopping events.
Plan Marketing Campaigns With the Help of Expert Content Creators and Influencers
Influencer marketing is bigger than ever on social media platforms, including Instagram. It is undisputedly one of the best ways for your brand to increase sales on Black Friday and any other time of the year. This is especially true if you tailor your products to the Gen Z and Millennial market. Both of these consumer groups will accept the word of an influencer over that of a celebrity. If they see your brand partnering with a trusted content creator or influencer, they will be more inclined to buy from you.
It is also an easy way to get more feet into your store (if you have a brick-and-mortar shop). Ask an influencer to create Instagram videos with your store as the backdrop. They can introduce products from shelves and racks and even do live demonstrations. In addition to drawing people to your store, this will help create hype for Black Friday.
Promote Minimum Spend Offers
Minimum spend offers do incredibly well on Black Friday. For instance, many large franchises or chain stores offer rewards for customers who spend a certain amount of money. You can do the same for Black Friday. Offer coupon codes, gifts, or gift cards to customers who spend a set amount of money on the day.
Make free shipping a part of your minimum spend offers, and you’ll see interest in your brand skyrocket. A large chunk of consumers prefer to shop online if shipping is free. This is excellent news if you have an exclusively online or hybrid shopping setup.
Create Omnichannel Campaigns
Whether you kick off your marketing campaigns on Instagram or your website, you should expand to other platforms. Potential customers must be able to reach you on social media, via email or phone, WhatsApp, and on your website using a chatbot. The idea behind omnichannel marketing is to meet customers where they are and on their preferred platforms.
While you may reach a large audience on Instagram, you’ll find an entirely new following via email. Or you could discover a different target market via WhatsApp. It is never a bad idea to experiment with omnichannel marketing, and if you’ve never tried to, Black Friday is the perfect starting point.
Don’t Forget About Cyber Monday
If you sell your products online only, don’t forget to include Cyber Monday in your marketing efforts. Cyber Monday refers to the Monday after Thanksgiving and Black Friday. It is the second biggest shopping day of the year and focuses on online-only deals. In 2020, Cyber Monday overtook Black Friday as the biggest shopping day (mainly due to COVID-19 restrictions) and hauled a massive $10.8 billion in online sales compared to Black Friday’s $9 billion.
Cyber Monday is still a huge deal in 2023 because, for shoppers, it means getting great deals while shopping from the comfort of their homes. If you have an e-commerce website, you can use Instagram content to point your followers towards your Cyber Monday deals.
Monitoring Campaign Performance is Crucial
You want to monitor the performance of all your marketing efforts in the lead-up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. If one campaign is falling behind, switch them up with something more exciting. Instagram Insights, in particular, provides valuable data on reach, engagement, and conversion. You can use this information to fine-tune all your marketing campaigns and optimize your Black Friday promotions.
Final Thoughts
Instagram is one of the most powerful platforms for promoting Black Friday products and deals. If you take some time to plan creative content to draw your target audience, you will make the most of this much-loved shopping event and drive your business’ sales to incredible heights.