If you use Instagram commercially as a marketing tool for your online business or webshop, a Flash Sale can be a great way to boost your sales, generate extra attention and/or quickly get rid of excess stock.
A Flash Sale is a quick, temporary sale that lasts only one day or even just a few hours.
Do you still have old stock, shop-soiled items, last pieces, samples, prototypes, one-of-a-kind models, unique items...? Then this is a very nice way to get rid of them and make your customers happy. Want even more good news? You can set this up with zero budget!
How does an Instagram Flash Sale work?
There are multiple ways to arrange this, because Instagram can be used in so many fun and effective ways for selling products and services. In 2020, the Flash Sale was the alternative to the King's Day Flea Market due to the first major Corona lockdown, and it proved to be super simple and successful. Just take a look at the hashtag #instavrijmarkt2020 and you won't even see all the Instagram Stories that were active on April 27.
💡 TIP: a Flash Sale also works great on other social media such as Facebook or TikTok. See where your customer is located and organize your Flash Sale there.
The Flash Sale tips
Back to the Flash Sale. For this, you can, of course, simply use your regular, business Instagram account. But we recently found such a nice method that we'd love to share and explain to you.
Tip 1 - Determine your goal and make a plan
Pay attention to the times of day your target audience is most active on Instagram. If you use a business Instagram account (recommended), Instagram provides this information in the Insights section. Determine what you want to sell and what you need to sell to reach your goal.
Tip 2 - Preparation is key
Write your posts in advance, including your hashtags, so you can copy/paste them at the right time (or schedule your posts with Buffer, Hootsuite or Creator Studio).
Tip 3 - Use a hashtag
An exclusive hashtag can be useful if you announce your sale in advance. The key to success, as with any marketing tool, is learning to play the game. Research how to use your hashtags accurately and effectively and go for it!
• EXTRA HASHTAG TIP 1: Make sure you use good hashtags and no forbidden terms! Read more about forbidden hashtags here.
• HASHTAG TIP 2: Don't know which hashtag to use? You can use the hashtag generator on Tagsfinder.com, which helps you find the top 30 hashtags based on keyword selection.
• HASHTAG TIP 3: Want to know which hashtags your competitor uses frequently? You can find that out with www.ninjalitics.com
Tip 4 - Use your network
Utilize your network and/or collaborations to draw attention to your sale. Get more attention for your Flash Sale by having others write or post about it. You can also use influencers for this. Do you need help with that? Then take a look at our Influencer marketing Ins & outs e-book.
Tip 5, 6 and 7
Tips 5, 6 and 7 can be found in the Instagram Flash Sale swipe file, along with a very interesting Flash Sale case study and additional tips.
Flash Sale case study
Elva Fields is a jewelry designer from America; in her webshop, you'll often find beautiful, handmade jewelry and vintage finds. Often 'one of a kind'. Perhaps Elva has unknowingly accumulated a lot of unsold stock and many loose beads over the years, and one day she thought: "Get rid of them!". I don't know the exact reasoning, but it's very possible she wanted to get rid of her extra items in a fun way and also boost her sales.
Below is a collage of Elva's successful Flash Sale. Every piece of jewelry you see has been sold, and at the time of writing, there's another Flash Sale next week.
In the swipe file, I explain each part of the case study individually. After that, you can get started yourself. Good luck!
Zero budget marketing
'Zero budget' means you use as many readily available resources as possible. A free Instagram account, the mailing list you already have, and your surrounding network. What you do additionally, and what does require a budget, is up to you. Such as advertising or growing your mailing list...
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Sources: Elva Fields and The Abundant Artist
