Drive more Black Friday sales with Instagram: 8 smart marketing tips and Insta tricks

With only a few days left until Thanksgiving and Black Friday, we want to give you an extra reason to be thankful this year. In this article, we’re going to share some precious info about how to rock your Instagram in order to drive more Black Friday sales. Why? Because while the day itself needs no introduction you, on the other hand, need to make sure your offers are properly introduced. Otherwise, you’ll risk getting lost in the sea of Black Friday specials that your followers will definitely be bombarded with and fall off their top of mind.

Don’t despair though because we won’t let that happen. We’ll give you a few valuable insights on how you can promote your Black Friday offers. Not only that, but we’re going to reveal how you can promote the Black Friday specials in a disruptive way that will cut through the Instagram noise and enable your voice to be heard. Beware though, time is ticking fast so be quick to read our Instagram tips and tricks for this year’s Black Friday and start implementing them. Ready? Let’s have some fun.

1. Find your big concept for Black Friday

All big brands start their Instagram campaigns (and campaigns in general) with one single thought that they build on – an appealing concept that makes it easier to generate various posts ideas united under the same umbrella. This approach doesn’t only benefit you, easing your work process, but it also creates a clear picture in the minds of your followers.

So, before even thinking about what photo to post, think about what you want to say with your Black Friday Instagram campaign. What’s that unique thing about your brand or business that can make Black Friday even more special? What’s that insight (funny, dramatic, serious, romantic) that will make your customers tick? What is that thought that will help you generate quality content easily? Got it? Great! You have a solid starting point. Let’s move on.

2. Tease your followers’ curiosity

This is a next level Instagram Black Friday tip that will require a bit of creative effort from your side. However, if you manage to pull it off, all your hard work will pay off. To achieve the results we’re talking about, think differently. Instead of bombarding your followers with tons of messages and crossing your fingers in hope that they’ll do you the favor of checking out your Black Friday offers, make them actually want to. The trick is simple: tease their curiosity in a way that will entertain them. Step away from the classical Black Friday messages and go wild!

How? Well, we’re not in your shoes, but here are some ideas:

• create a Stories series that continues a narrative from one day to the other in order to have followers checking your feed daily
• create a unique contest and hide Black Friday promo codes in your news feed (think about all places that could be of use from your bio to your Stories to captions and even IGTV)
• enable your customers to get involved in creating a special Black Friday offer through a contest-like mechanism

3. Give Shoppable Tags a spin for all their worth

If you’re not yet familiar with shoppable posts, don’t sweat it. Take five and read through our short intro for shopping with Instagram and have a quick look at how you can work the shopping magic in Instagram Stories. Once you’re done reading, come back to this article.

Ready? Great! Now take all the tactics you learned and apply them to your Black Friday Instagram strategy. Make sure to create special posts that promote the items you’ll be focusing on during Black Friday, but don’t be dull! Remember tip number 1 from our guide and get your creative juices flowing! Build a story around your posts and use the Shoppable Tags as a nice add-on to give more value. Same goes for Instagram Stories: focus your attention on the narrative to build an engaging Story and let the stickers come afterward. Of course, make sure to mention Black Friday in your CTA!

4. Craft your captions with loud and clear CTAs

Okay, we’ve talked about what to include tactically and visually in your posts and Stories, but it’s time to also think about your captions. As you know, your caption can make or break your post and you should pay close attention to how you phrase your messages. Here’s what to consider when crafting your caption and when editing it:

1. State your message loud and clear. Sure, we encourage you to use witty metaphors if they are in tune with your brand tone, but make sure they’re easy to decipher by your target.  
2. Write CTAs that inspire action, action, action! Your biggest goal for Instagram this Black Friday is to direct your followers to discover and purchase your offers. So, whether you devise a contest, want them to access a link or whatever else, make sure to include a persuasive CTA.
3. Create a custom Black Friday hashtag that will inspire (which brings us to our next point)

   

5. Find a catchy custom hashtag for Black Friday

While there are a lot of Black Friday hashtags you can tag along, let’s be honest: these are used by hundreds of thousands of Instagram users (even millions!), slimming down your chances of appearing on top for too long. While you definitely shouldn’t exclude these from your caption, make sure you also create a custom Black Friday hashtag that’s yours and yours alone. The right custom Black Friday hashtag will help you catch some well-needed momentum and will ensure you stay on top of the results.

6. Create a pre-Black Friday Instagram schedule and post in advance

Once you have your concept and tactics all figured out (and you’ve made sure they are brave enough to stand-out) it’s time to schedule them in advance. So, open Preppr and start making the necessary steps towards having your Black Friday posts all in line. We also suggest that you slightly increase your number of posts, Stories and videos on IGTV (without appearing desperate or becoming annoying). Find just the right balance that will make you pop-up. Yes, yes, we know, it’s a fine balance but we trust that you’ll see this through!

Finally, you don’t need to worry about the best time to post on Instagram, we have you covered with our automatic time-suggestion tool.

7. Use Preppr’s OneBioLink to redirect followers to your Black Friday offers

All your efforts to create a coherent Black Friday Instagram strategy would appoint to nothing much if you didn’t guide your followers to where they can actually purchase the products. You might do this with the shoppable tags, but you also have another killer feature from Preppr that will help you make the most of your bio link and implicitly of your Black Friday strategy: the OneBioLink.

What’s the OneBioLink from Preppr? Well, my friend, it’s a cool way in which you can nestle under the same link a variety of other links that will guide followers to a different number of landing pages for your Black Friday offers. It’s so simple to use and set up! You only need a Preppr account and, if you don’t have one yet, we suggest you give it a spin with our free trial.

8. Be extra ready to quickly answer comments and DMs

If your Instagram strategy for Black Friday pays off and your posts hit their target, expect a lot of engagement! Followers will definitely comment on your posts and DM your Instagram Stories. And, while you might have a second or two to get giddy about that, you won’t have too much time to waste! You’ll need all hands on deck to reply to comments and answer those DM messages, especially since they might address targeted questions about Black Friday.

In order not to be surprised about this, we’re giving you a heads-up. Make sure to double your efforts during BlackFriday. Bring some fresh hands on board. If up until now you had one person dealing with replies, you should now consider at least two. We understand that you might be a single-wo(man) show and, if this is the case, then consider how you could organize your days prior to the big Black Friday event just so that you have everything under control.

Now get your Instagram ready for Black Friday!

We already told you that time is of the essence here. Black Friday is quickly approaching and you need to get your strategy going. Waste no more time and start now. We’re eager to see what you come up with. Let creativity be your guide and let Preppr be your trusted sidekick!