9 Instagram Photo Ideas to Drive Sales this Holiday Season
Last update: 27 February 2023 at 03:11 pm
5.00/5The festive shopping season is almost here. With 1 billion monthly active users, 83% of whom discover new products and services on Instagram, it’s more likely that your holiday are also active in-app.
If you market your products or services on Instagram, it’s high time to interact with holiday shoppers on the platform as the number of people who buy gifts on Instagram is predicted to grow.
According to the recent report on holiday spending statistics, eCommerce spending has reached $142.5 billion with the average US spending of $1,536, more than half of all consumers want to shop online due to health concerns, and online shoppers make 43% of all holiday orders on their smartphones.
To stand out from the crowd and grab the attention of holiday shoppers on the platform, it’s important to know the best Instagram photo ideas that drive sales this holiday season.
Why Drive Sales with Instagram Photo Ideas this Holiday Season?
Instagram is a world-known photo-sharing app, so the idea of posting Instagram pictures isn’t new even though more and more people upload creative videos.
Taking a perfect shot has become a significant part of Instagram branding, but knowing creative Instagram photo ideas for the holiday season can also help to drive more sales for the following reasons:
- Reach your holiday shoppers on their preferred channel:90% of Instagram users follow at least one business account in-app and the platform accounts for a whopping 67% of the 290 billion interactions (likes, reactions, comments, and shares) across most social media platforms. Simply put, holiday shoppers are active Instagram users, so it’s comfortable for them to discover seasonal offers and deals in-app.
- Most customers are visual learners: Around 65% of people are visual learners which means they perceive visual information better, so having an eye-catching and cohesive Instagram feed is a good way to grab your customers’ attention. As a result, you can spark customer interest in your products.
- People make purchase decisions on Instagram: Not only do people discover and research new products and services on Instagram, but also 80% of consumers decide whether to make a purchase after seeing a product in-app. Marketing your holiday offers on Instagram, you help more potential customers consider your options as gift ideas for the holiday season.
Publishing Instagram posts is an important part of any Instagram marketing strategy. But when done right, holiday Instagram pictures can drive the decision-making process and therefore increase sales.
So, wouldn’t it be great if you could find new creative ways to wow your following and encourage them to become paying customers? Check out our list of Instagram photo ideas to drive sales this holiday season.
9 Instagram Photo Ideas to Give a Try this Holiday Season
Get Followers in the Festive Mood
At first blush, posting holiday pictures on Instagram isn’t the best idea to encourage impulse buying. However, gift-giving is one of the holiday rituals and when buyers are in the festive mood, they start looking for products for their loved ones and themselves.
With the right instagram photo ideas that help people get into the festive spirit, you can spread the good vibes to your followers and Instagram visitors to encourage them to start holiday shopping.
Thus, it’s a good idea to post a series of festive photos and decorate your Instagram account with creative photos that get your following in the festive mood.
If you take holiday photos for your account, that’s great. But if you use the same filters, that’s even better. Why? According to Sellfy, using the same filters or presets is a good way to present a unique and distinct artistic style that reflects your brand identity and therefore help your Instagram feed look cohesive. Check out how Oreo did it in the example below:
To create awesome Instagram photos for your business account with ease, use a photo editing tool like Filtertune that allows users to design their own filters or boost inspiration when browsing thousands of filters made by other creators, edit different parts of photos with the smart adjust feature, or even remove unwanted parts of images with the free photo editor (vanish feature).
Here’s a “before and after” post that shows how Filtertune can help to make a perfect photo for your Instagram feed:
Showcase Your Seasonal Products
Seasonal products are in demand during certain periods. Being available for a short period of time, seasonal products create the FOMO (fear of missing out) effect that encourages customers to give your time-limited products a try. Moreover, these products have high peaks during particular months.
To drive seasonal sales, it’s important to showcase your products. The more product options your followers see, the more people can become paying customers.
Whether you decide to upload one photo of your seasonal products or add several images that show one product from different angles, there are many ways to market your seasonal products.
For example, Starbucks has one image that features all fall products and sparks interest in its variety:
To give your followers a sneak peek of your seasonal product variety without clogging the main feed up with content, add a carousel post that allows you to add up to 10 photos in one post. It can help you promote your seasonal products, too.
If you would like some help with advertising your products on Instagram, there are many qualified social media agencies who can help you plan out a social media marketing strategy for the holiday season.
Offer Limited Edition Products with Instagram Photos
Another great way to drive sales during the holiday season is to introduce limited edition products with Instagram photo ideas. It can be either a product improvement in terms of a new design or a new product introduction.
The holiday season is a period of gift-giving, so it’s no wonder that customers crave exclusivity when it comes to products and services. Making limited edition products a part of your product line, you can spark interest in your products among existing customers and acquire new ones, too.
Want to know how to offer limited edition products on Instagram? Learn from Oribe! In honor of a new holiday season, the company has introduced the limited edition holiday collection and informed its Instagram followers about it via a photo post:
Tell Following About Your Holiday Offers
Practically every customer wants to find deals and offers before making a purchase decision, but even more people want to save money when shopping during the holiday season.
In fact, 40% of customers want to spend less on buying products for their friends, family, and themselves. To give your following a solid reason to buy from you and therefore increase sales, it’s important to tell people about your holiday offers with Instagram photo posts.
For instance, Wolf & Son offers free gift packing and shows it off with a flat lay image on its Instagram page:
Create a Holiday Gift Guide
Holiday shoppers buy gifts for their nearest and dearest, so they often seek out assistance from brands that can help them choose good gift ideas for friends. Thus, holiday gift guides are popular among customers.
If you have a gift guide for your customers, that’s great. But if it features your products and shows them off from different perspectives, that’s even better. For instance, you can publish it as a blog post on your website, write about it in an Instagram post, and invite followers to check it out through a clickable bio link, just like in the example below:
Not only does it help your customers choose the perfect gift for their best friends and family, but it also helps you find your target audience on the platform as people are ready to share handy information on their personal accounts which means they can spread a word about your gift guide among their subscribers.
Announce a Seasonal Sale
Holiday shoppers want to save money when buying gifts and products during the festive season. Since the holiday season is known for its big discounts, people are looking for sale offers from brands. To satisfy customers’ needs and drive sales, it’s a good idea to announce a seasonal sale on Instagram.
Here’s how one company informs its followers about a seasonal post with an Instagram photo idea:
Believe it or not, Instagram collects almost 70% of all available data that helps brands recommend the right products to the right target audience with in-app advertising. This means Instagram is one of the native ad networks and you can run an Instagram ad campaign to promote your seasonal sale and reach more potential customers.
Publish Seasonal UGC
With the growing number of brand content, modern customers seek out user-generated content that serves as a social proof and increases brand loyalty and trust. To prepare your Instagram feed for the holiday season and encourage more followers to buy from you, publish seasonal user-generated content from your existing customers.
When you incorporate user-generated content in your marketing strategy and share fan-made photos on your profile, not only do you provide followers with social proof, but you also let your potential customers drive inspiration from other customers to create UGC photos for you.
If you’re just starting on Instagram, you can work with a relevant Instagram influencer who can take a photo of his or her outfit that shows off your seasonal products in a festive mood. Here’s how Lulus did it:
Organize a Holiday Giveaway
Instagram giveaways are extremely popular among social media users. When it comes to the festive season, people believe in miracles, so they are more likely to take part in your holiday giveaway to get a chance to win something valuable for themselves.
Running a social media giveaway is an effective Instagram lead generation strategy that helps to collect leads, get more Instagram followers, and turn them into customers. Why? You can give away your seasonal products and therefore attract potential customers who are truly interested in your products.
Not only do you promote your products with a holiday giveaway, but you also encourage people to buy them from you.
Check out how ClassPass teamed up with Fabletics to organize a holiday giveaway and give their followers a chance to win something valuable:
Want to find out more on how to run a successful holiday giveaway? Choose from a variety of contest ideas that attract participants and organize a giveaway that suits your company’s needs, wants, and values.
Promote Your Gift Cards
When it comes to choosing gifts, many holiday shoppers need assistance. Since people want to present valuable gifts, they spend much time doing research. However, many customers lay a bet on gift cards that guarantee success.
Not only do gift cards make the holiday shopping easier for people, but they also give demanding gift perceivers a chance to choose a gift of their choice which means they are more likely to satisfy customers’ needs and wants.
In short, if you offer your holiday shoppers gift cards, tell about this option as an Instagram photo idea, just like in the example below:
The Bottom Line for 2021 Instagram Photo Ideas
Instagram is a great marketing channel for business communication with your customers especially during the holiday season. Practically every marketer knows that it’s important to create a cohesive marketing strategy for your profile, so using perfect Instagram photo ideas that drive sales for the holiday season is a must, too.
It’s high time to plan your seasonal marketing campaign and use creative Instagram photo ideas to drive sales this holiday season, so feel free to use the above-mentioned creative ideas and don’t miss your chance to bring your business to the next level in a creative way.
