How to Increase Your Dropshipping Store’s Sales with Instagram Shoutouts

If you want to have more sales and make your Instagram page grow, you need to gain exposure. The quickest and most efficient way to do this is to collaborate with other niche related accounts and get them to promote your account. You can pay for someone to post your materials to other relevant Instagram pages, or, alternatively, you can come to an agreement with another user to post each other’s pictures on some other terms. This strategy is called an Insta Shoutout.

How the Instagram Shoutout strategy works

First of all, find the most popular (10K+ followers) accounts on Instagram that are related to your niche. For example, if you are selling Harry Potter merchandise, you should look for Harry Potter niche accounts. Simply enter the necessary keywords in the Search field on Instagram, and go through the results to identify the most popular accounts.

Once you have selected the preferred accounts (the more the better), you need to contact the owner of the account through Instagram Direct – this is the section where you can exchange direct messages.

You can send other users a short message asking them to contact you through email in case they are interested in paid shoutouts on their Instagram accounts. Normally they contact you the same day, so you won’t have to wait long. Agree upon the terms and the price, and ask for the payment details. You can ask to launch a Shoutout for 24-48 hours (longer time makes no sense). The price depends on the number of followers and usually varies from $5 to $30 for one Shoutout. We would recommend paying around $10 per 100,000 subscribers for one Shoutout (for example, if a group has 300,000 followers, a $30 price for one Shoutout is fine). You can pay more or less of course, but in general, you can stick to this amount.

The Instagram Shoutout basically consists of the picture of the item (it can be a collage of different pictures as well) and a promotional text. The text should be short and simple, providing information about the item name and price, the name of your account, and the link to your webstore. You can also add some hashtags.

An example of an Instagram Shoutout post:

After your Shoutout is posted, your sales will start going up. We recommend launching Shoutouts once a week for every account to ensure regular sales and constant growth in follower numbers.

How to communicate with Instagram account owners to launch Shoutouts

Here is a simple instruction about how to negotiate with Instagram group owners about launching Insta Shoutouts for your dropshipping webstore.

Once you have selected the preferred accounts (the more the better) where you want to launch Shoutouts with your ads, you need to contact the owners of these accounts through Instagram Direct. Please note that unfortunately this function is not available on PC – on Instagram you can only send direct messages from your mobile phone or tablet.

Log in to your Instagram account and search for the chosen accounts using the search bar, then simply proceed to contact the owners of these accounts.

Step 1: Acquaintance

You: Hello! My name is ….. Your account is really great! I would like to ask if you are interested in paid shoutouts on your account? In case you are, please contact me via private message or through e-mail myaddress@gmail.com to discuss details. I can create shoutouts for you on my account as well. Thank you in advance!

Account Owner: Hello! Insta Shoutout is $25. Shoutout is live for 24 hours.

Step 2: PayPal account and posting time

You: Please send me your PayPal account details so that I can make payment. What time is it now in your country?

Account Owner: My PayPal is ……@gmail.com. It’s 4.13 am now. I only accept payments as friends/family because of the PayPal fees. Please send money as a friend or family if you want to start the shoutout.

*NOTE: The question about time zone is relevant because you will probably target customers living in some specific region, so the timing will matter. To check time zones, you can use this time converter: http://www.worldtimebuddy.com/est-to-utc-converter. You can choose the most convenient time for you and ask an account owner about the opportunity of posting at this exact time. Besides, you can also ask the account owner about their professional opinion on the most suitable time for posting. They usually track the subscribers’ activity in their accounts and can give you good recommendations. It is also important to ask an account owner not to post anything after your shoutout in next 7-8 hours.

You: Could you start the shoutout today at 1pm EDT?

Account owner: Yes, I can.

You: Great! I will send you money and information in the next 30 minutes.

Step 3: Sending money and information

You: I’ve sent you the payment. Could you check it please? Post this information at 2 pm EDT.

*NOTE: It’s better to send a print screen of your payment. It will help the account owner to check information quickly.

You: [Image]

You: [Caption]

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*NOTE: You can also ask an account owner to place a link to your product in his profile BIO.

You: Please post the link in your bio: https://ksort.com/egg-yolk-separator-egg-divider/ Tag me on the photo when you post. Thank you!

Step 4. Checking

Account owner: Ok! I’ve got the payment. I will post at 2 pm EDT. Thank you.

*NOTE: Check your Shoutout right after posting. If the account owner did not tag you in the photo or wrote something wrong, you can ask him or her to make the necessary changes.

That’s all. To get more information check out our complete Instagram Shoutouts Guide!