I am soon launching my Shopify ecommerce business and am going to build an Instagram page pre launch (thread in Journey section). My options are below:
Option 1 Currently I have a 45k follower account that is just a generic niche (outdoors / hiking / camping) account. I am debating removing the photos from this (and obviously changing the name) and posting 2 high quality pics a day for the new brand. I haven’t used this account in a long while. I’d be at 100 pics in 50 days (right before I actually launch the product) so it wouldn’t look like I have 45k followers but no posts.
Option 2 Start an account from scratch and post 2 high quality pics a day.
Right now I’m leaning towards option 1 as social proof is essential for selling a product. Additionally, many of the Ecommerce brands that are crushing it (and that I’m trying to replicate) have pretty poor engagement (I’d probably expect similar engagement to this if I went with option 1). Some example accounts and their engagement are:
@Ritual - 146k Followers - 150 to 500 likes per post
@Prose - 71.5k Followers - 100 to 450 likes per post
@Beam - 34.4k Followers - 75 to 300 likes per post
Would love to hear everyones thoughts - especially if you have your own ecommerce experience / instagram page. Thought I’d tag @Alexnvo as I’ve always respected your thoughts on organic growing.
It depends on what you’re selling, if the account has doesn’t really have monetization opportunities outside of transforming it into a store-front then yeah you can change it. If its completely off the niche of what you’re selling then I would just start a new account
Thanks @Koven - I have no plans on monetizing the 45k account and if I don’t use it for this Shopify store, it’s dead (I’ll never use it). Because of this, I’m thinking I use it as the brands IG account.
I’m running a test now posting a picture that is in line with the brand content and will see how it does.
Good luck man! I think switching niches does kill the engagement entirely (imagine ur just having 45k as a authoritative number) but if you really have no use for it then why not.
From my personal experience though, I feel that Instagram rewards new accounts content with more engagement/reach as opposed to older accounts that have been posting when the content gets rolling
As a person who sells through shopify and other marketplaces I’d convert that account to your new brand’s account, it’s going to look awkward only for the first 2-3 weeks, then it’s going to be filled. With a new account your ER will drop in time no matter what, so you will get to the same point. I would consider people interested in hiking/ outdoors the same niche as people drinking energy drinks, they are not the opposite for sure. You could even convert naturally and say that its your new venture, if they liked your content before then you may gain real fans of the product.
Other than that I would create more accounts promoting your brand, like “influencer accounts” that will do micro targeting plus m/s method on main plus ads.
I appreciate the feedback. So the product would not really be something the current followers of the niche account would be into. It’s just a different market / advertising. The main reason I’m thinking of converting it to the brand account is just for the social proof of having 40k+ followers. Even if the pics get 100-300 likes each (low engagement) at leas the high follower number should help convince anyone who visits the page to buy the product.
My one concern is, by converting the old account, that almost seems the same as buying fake followers. If I started a new account, every follower would be interested in the content I’m posting since it will all be organic growth. I was thinking with 2 posts a day this could lead to more sales. But, on the 40k account, the posts will get so little engagement that IG won’t show it to anyone and this could lead to zero sales.
It is the equivalent of buying 40k fake followers especially with such a low engagement rate, That is why I would recommend starting a new account, having un-engaged followers from the start can affect your engagement in the long-run.
What you can do is create the new brand account on Instagram and promote the posts on the 40k account and see if there is any conversion, from my experience you won’t get anymore sales from having the 40k be the brand account besides follower authority.
The big thing though is that most other brands that I’m trying to follow have horrible engagement as well. I think for partnerships / brand image, the more followers the better (engagement doesn’t matter as long as its OK).
As a signal to investors down the line, a larger social I believe shows brand strength. Also, pitching to places such as whole foods. Obviously, for a drop shipping store or something like that, definitely doesn’t matter at all.
Although other brands have horrible engagement, you shouldn’t compare yourselves to them as I think you’re better. In my niche, I know some brand accounts with 200-300k followers grabbing 50k+ likes per post and it just simply converts to even greater sales. Even my store’s Instagram pulls around 500-1k likes per post at 6.5k followers.
Your engagement is a direct correlation to the amount of conversions/follower growth you get as a business and reaching explore page on a brand account is amazing because you’re pretty much getting extra impressions for free. Using an account with bad followers limits that opportunity which itself is an opportunity cost.
Regardless, I think whichever way you go you’ll find success in growing an account or not, I just prefer to start off on the right foot in terms of long-term commitment (it seems you’re doing this long-term as its an unique product).
Thought I’d share an update. The account is up to 6 posts - waiting to get to 12 before deleting the old posts so it still looks kinda trash.
I’m currently getting no exposure through hashtags (literally zero). I’m wondering in this case if the account will ever get hashtag exposure even though organic likes is so low. Curious to hear thoughts here. Anyways, below are analytics on two posts. The account has 41.2k followers and is slowly dropping each post (not worried about losing followers in the begining as I knew this would happen - hoping it levels out then growth can continue). @Koven@Alexnvo@PierreDOlain
I’m going to continue posting daily on this big account while also starting one from scratch. That way in 2 months I can make a more informed decision (or keep both)
if you changed the name, it might take a few weeks to get traction. If not and re-branded – a couple of months. Post videos in stories/IGTV if possible. That’s where you will find the new followers and sales.( most of them)
