How to Prepare Your Instagram Account for Black Friday

Here’s how you can prepare your Instagram account for Black Friday. 

Believe it or not, there once was a day and age when people had to abandon the comfort of their living room couch to make Christmas shopping happen—crazy, right? Now, thanks to Amazon, eBay and Google Shopping, you don’t even need to put pants on to make purchases. Make sure your Instagram account is ready for Black Friday. 

And with good reason—when Black Friday (and Cyber Monday) rolls around, most of America goes mad. Believe it or not, 30% of annual retail sales in the United States take place between Black Friday and Christmas.

Yup, the day after Thanksgiving, consumer madness lets loose …

Fortunately, as an entrepreneur, you’ve chosen to forego the mania of brick-and-mortar business, choosing to build out a more digital storefront. Only, this Black Friday, instead of scheduling a Facebook post and firing off a few aimless tweets, use Instagram to your advantage.

Seriously, with over 500 million active monthly users, the innovative social network isn’t only known for catching people’s attention with high-quality images and impressive user engagement levels, it’s also great for helping brands make sales.

Intrigued? Here’s how to properly make Black Friday on Instagram happen:

* Step #1: Choose Promotion Type

Makes sense, right?

With the rest of America’s most booming brands offering their fair share of jaw-dropping promotions, it’s your job to do the same. Whether it be discounted products, free shipping, a flash sale or generous loyalty points, your promotion must be top-notch.

* Step #2: Build Out a Landing Page

Wait! Just because you’re not a web developer doesn’t mean you should panic. Simply use Unbounce or LeadPages for affordable access to thousands of top-notch landing page templates.

After some deliberation, use one to tease your promotion and capture emails.

* Step #3: Automate Promotional Codes

With your landing page in place, make sure it’s linked to your brand’s autoresponder—both MailChimp and AWeber are excellent options. As prospects begin handing over their email addresses on your landing page, automate an email response to give them their promo code.

* Step #4: Use a Link Shortener

But wait—how are potential buyers going to find your landing page in the first place?

This is where Instagram comes into focus. Using a free URL shortener like Bitly, shrink your landing page link down to size. From there, include it in your brand’s Instagram bio.

* Step #5: Include a CTA In Your Instagram Bio

A shortened URL alone won’t do the trick, though …

For all Instagram followers know, it could just be a link to your website.

To combat this, include a short-form call to action, inviting visitors to click through to your landing page for a #BlackFriday special—you get the idea.

* Step #6: Publish a ‘Teaser’ Post or Two

Having spent countless hours building a reputation for yourself as a high-quality content creator on Instagram, now is the time to cash in on all of that hard work.

On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, send out a post or two, inviting followers to click on the link in your profile for an awesome, one-of-a-kind promotional offer. Additionally, you can post an image containing a QR code (which can be created using a QR code generator) for your audience to scan.

* Step #7: Kick Back, Relax, and Enjoy Your Instagram Account for Black Friday

This last step is by far our favorite …

While falling asleep on the couch to the Detroit Lions losing yet another game, take comfort in the fact that your Instagram account is already building interest in your brand’s products.

The result? Your Instagram account for Black Friday will never have been sweeter!

Time for Action!

What good is all of this without taking action? 

Don’t sit by idly, thinking that the magical powers of Black Friday alone will bring about a heavy influx of sales—things don’t work that way.

Follow each of the above seven steps to make your Instagram Account for Black Friday one for the ages!