When I first started managing an Instagram account for my dropshipping store, I always thought it was pretty hard.
However, over time, I've learned some things that made it a lot easier.
And I will share them with you here!
Let's begin with the basics, how do you create an Instagram account?
Creating your Instagram account for dropshipping
To start creating an Instagram account for a dropshipping store, you start just like everyone.
Step 1: Sign up
If you haven’t already, download the Instagram app from the App Store or Google Play Store.
Once installed, open the app and click on “Sign Up.”
You can also sign up from your PC by following this link:
The steps here speak for themselves.
Use your email (ideally your business email) and name, and set a password to create a new account.
Step 2: Optimize your username and bio
Your username and bio are among the first things people will notice, so getting them right is important.
Your username should ideally be the name of your store or something very close to it.
For example, if your store name is "Trendy Tees," your username could be @TrendyTees or @ShopTrendyTees.
In your bio, you have 150 characters to make an impression, so make every word count:
Here’s a simple formula you can use for your bio:
- What You Sell: “Premium T-shirts and Accessories”
- Your USP: “Eco-friendly | Free Shipping Worldwide”
- Call to Action: “👇 Shop our latest collection!”
Step 3: Switch to a business account
Some say switching to a business account will lower your engagement, but I'm convinced that it's well worth it.
Remember that if you want to advertise on Instagram (boosting your posts or via Facebook Ads), then a business account is required.
It also gives you access to features that aren’t available on personal accounts, like detailed analytics and contact options.
Here’s how to switch:
- Go to your profile and tap on the three horizontal lines (menu) in the top right corner.
- Select “Settings” at the bottom of the menu.
- Tap on “Account” and then “Switch to Professional Account.”
- You’ll be asked to choose between a Creator or Business account – select “Business.”
- Follow the prompts to complete your profile, including adding a category that describes your business (e.g., “Shopping & Retail”) and linking your Facebook page if you have one.
Tip: Did you know that you can list products directly on Instagram by connecting your account to your ecommerce platform like Shopify? It's called Instagram Shops, and you can learn more about it here!
Step 4: Set up a profile picture
If you haven't set up a profile picture just yet, you can do that now.
Use your logo or a favicon of your logo.
The recommended size for an Instagram profile picture is 320 x 320 pixels.
Step 5: Add a link in bio
One of the most powerful tools in your Instagram toolkit is the link in your bio.
Unlike other social media platforms, Instagram doesn’t allow clickable links in individual posts, so the bio link is the main way to drive traffic to your dropshipping store.
If you have multiple links you want to share (e.g., your store, a blog, a sale page), consider using a tool like Linktree or one of its alternatives:
These tools allow you to create a custom landing page with several links, all accessible through a single bio link.
This way, you can direct your audience to different destinations without constantly changing the link in your bio.
Also, look at how other businesses and Instagram influencers make their profiles.
You might get some great ideas for your own account after that!
Plus, you should check out these 12 Linkpop examples here if you want to create an amazing link to place in your bio.
The start of your Instagram account
Now that you have your dropshipping Instagram account set up correctly, it's time to start thinking about how your Instagram feed is going to look.
This is definitely a thing you need to think about before you create your Instagram account.
If you think about this early on, then you will know exactly what your plan is going to be.
Or at least you know how many times you're going to start posting!
This will make everything so much easier.
What should you post on your Instagram?
Here is a short overview of what kinds of posts you could create:
- High-quality product images and videos.
- Professional photography. Invest in good photography, even if it’s just using a smartphone with excellent lighting and angles.
- Lifestyle shots. Don’t just focus on studio-style photos. Show your products in use. For example, if you’re selling home decor, show the items in a beautifully arranged living room.
- User-generated content (UGC).
- Encourage customers to share. Ask your customers to share photos or videos of them using your products. Offer incentives like discounts or features on your Instagram page in exchange for their content.
- Repost with permission. When customers tag your account in their posts, repost their content to your feed or Stories. Always ask for permission first and give credit by tagging them in the post.
- Instagram stories and reels.
- Limited-time offers. Use Stories and Reels to announce special promotions, discounts, or flash sales. The time-sensitive nature of Stories creates a sense of urgency, encouraging viewers to take action quickly.
- Polls and Q&As. Engage your followers by using Instagram’s interactive features like polls, Q&A sessions, or quizzes. This increases engagement and provides valuable feedback into what your audience wants.
- Educational and value-driven posts.
- Tips and how-tos. Share tips or tutorials related to your products or niche. For instance, if you sell skincare products, post about skincare routines or tips for using your products effectively.
- Industry news and trends. Keep your followers informed about the latest trends or news in your industry. This positions your brand as a thought leader and keeps your content relevant.
How many times should you post on your dropshipping Instagram account?
I suggest you post at least once a day, but I think the best is posting between 2-3 times per day.
So with the lesson learned above, you will post this amount every single day!
If you choose to post two posts a day, keep doing this or maybe even more sometimes, but do not change your consistency by posting less.
This way, you will build that habit of pushing through and not giving up!
The reason you post frequently is to give people a reason to follow you.
If they see that you upload like once a week or once every few weeks, they could be like, "Why would I follow that page?"
They will not see any benefits from following you.
But if you post two times a day with really great content around the niche of your store, people will think something like, "They post a lot of nice content. I want to follow them."
Also, some say the Instagram algorithm works in such a way that it might not show every picture of every page that a person follows on their feed.
You could minimize this risk by posting more than one time a day, then you will have a pretty good chance of showing up at least one time at your follower's Instagram feed!
The Instagram algorithm tries to predict what photos and videos are the most important to you, and uses three main factors to determine this: interest, timeliness, and relationship.
Later
How many posts should be product promotions or advertisements?
I suggest that around 80% of your posts are normal posts.
These are posts that don't sell any products and are not company-related.
So this means that roughly one out of every five posts could be a product promotion or advertisement post.
These numbers are different for everyone and every niche, so you have to try and see what works best for you!
My tips regarding product promotion posts:
- Let them blend into your product feed. More on that below, but what I mean is, for example, don't make every normal post about nature with a yellow background and then have a white background for your product post. Make them part of your Instagram feed!
- Make them shoppable! I suggest reading this article here to learn more about how to do that.
- You could make the product pictures yourself! This way, you have total control over how you want your product promotion posts to look.
Make sure every post falls within your brand image
To explain this really simply, you need to make sure that every post fits together with the rest of your posts.
Your goal with your Instagram feed is to make it "a whole."
Make every post, even your promotional posts, part of the same "feel."
I suggest having at least nine posts on your Instagram account before you start advertising via Instagram.
This looks great because you will have the whole screen filled with images! Also, it could come across as not legit if you only have one post.
Bonus tip: You could create a dummy Instagram account and set it to private. Now you can post your new post first on your dummy account and see how it looks! See if the caption is good, if the picture (or video) is looking good, and if it looks good on your feed.
Should you use an Instagram scheduler?
Personally, I really like to schedule social media posts.
This way, I save time; for example, if I want to post three times a day at different times, then I don't have to do that manually every single time.
It will not only save time, but you will have a much higher chance of staying consistent!
It also comes in really handy when you want to take a day off social media or want to go on a holiday!
You could just schedule all your posts for that day or your whole holiday.
Below you will find some examples of the best Instagram schedulers:
- Tailwind - I use this one for my Pinterest post scheduling. You will get the first month for free if you click on my link! It directs you to their homepage now, though, but you can easily find their pricing table.
4 Tips for growing your Instagram account
Now that you've set up your dropshipping Instagram account and know how your Instagram feed will look, it's time to start thinking about what strategy (or strategies) you'll follow to get more followers.
1. Use shoutouts
This option is great if you have some money to spend and want to speed up your beginning phase.
What you need to do is find similar pages (not direct competitors) or influencers to yours and ask them for a shoutout.
The followers you will get from these shoutouts will be highly interested in your posts because they come from pages with similar posts!
2. Do a giveaway
This is definitely a great option to grow your following, but it also needs a bit of money to be able to give something away for free.
Basically, you have a product (preferably your product, but this could also be a product people like inside your niche), set an end date for your giveaway, and post information on your feed via Instagram!
Try adding something like "Tag one friend."
This way, you have a great chance of high engagement because that friend could also tag a friend, and that friend could tag a friend as well, and so on!
3. Engage with people inside your niche
Your goal is to engage with people inside your niche or in your target audience.
There are, of course, different options to do this.
Option 1. Follow people inside your niche
With this option, your goal is to follow a lot of people who are inside your niche.
Think about people who are following a page similar to yours.
Of course, there are multiple options you can do to have the greatest chance of a follow back.
You could only follow that person, follow + like a picture from them, or follow + like + comment on a picture.
You can see the results of an experiment here:
I began by simply following 100 of my competitors’ followers. Later, I followed another 100 but I also took the time to like one of their photos. Finally, I followed a third group of 100 and liked as well as commented on one photo from each account..
Here were the results:Follow: 14% followback
Shopify with How to build a massive following on Instagram
Follow + Like: 22% followback
Follow + Like + Comment: 34% followback
You can clearly see that doing all three will give you the most chance of a follow-back.
Of course, this will also take you the most time to do.
The only downside now is that you need to manually unfollow a lot of people (for example, people who didn't follow you back).
When you find posts that are related to your niche and use related hashtags, you can start engaging with these pictures or videos.
Start commenting on these posts saying stuff about that post or maybe their Instagram feed!
This is a great way to get more exposure because these people use the same hashtags!
Just make sure you put some time into your responses!
Don't make them these generic comments. Take some time to say something about the picture or video.
Now you have a good chance that you made someone happy which could result in a follow!
As I said above, you could also visit the top nine posts of a hashtag that is inside your niche every day and comment on each of these posts.
This way, you will get a lot of exposure as well.
Of course, it all depends on how much time you have or want to put into this!
Option 3. Respond to people commenting on your posts
You need to make sure that you respond to the comments you get on your post after you've posted it.
Preferably within one hour. This gives your post a good chance of hitting the Explorer page.
You will also build a great relationship with your followers, which could result in higher engagement for every post you make!
4. Don't grow by buying fake followers
A lot of people out there suggest you buy Instagram followers to increase the trustworthiness of your stores.
They suggest getting around 10.000 followers to look legit.
My suggestion is to do nothing regarding fake followers, fake likes, and so on.
Although buying followers or likes might seem like a quick fix to get more followers which then could lead to being more popular on Instagram, it could definitely haunt you in the long-term.
If you want to spend money to grow faster, definitely look at the shoutout or giveaway option above!
Instagram account examples
If you're considering creating an Instagram account for your dropshipping store but want to see some examples before you start, the next two articles are perfect for you!
One of them contains Instagram account examples from other dropshipping stores, and the other one includes examples from bigger ecommerce stores.
You can check them out below:
Conclusion
So there you have it, now you know how to create your Instagram account for your dropshipping store from scratch.
Remember to push through the beginning phase. By doing so, you will set yourself up for success later on. Don't give up!
Let me know in the comments or by contacting me directly by pressing the "Contact Us" button at the top if something is unclear to you or if you have any more questions!
I'll be happy to help you.
Want to learn more about Instagram?
Ready to move your influencer marketing for dropshipping to the next level? Check out the articles below:
