If you're looking to expand your product research methods, Instagram is an excellent platform.
I've been using it for years as a way to learn about products and find inspiration for new ideas about the latest product trends.
Instagram became a powerful tool for marketers to reach their target audience. In fact, it’s now the fourth largest social network after Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp. The platform allows businesses to create visually appealing posts that attract potential customers.
But how do you research new products on Instagram? What tools should you use?
In this article, we're going to show you eight ways to do product research on Instagram. We'll cover everything from finding influencers to finding trending products based on user feedback.
Let's get started!
8 Product research methods to use on Instagram
Here are eight strategies you can use to find new product ideas on Instagram!
1. Find influencers
When researching products on Instagram, one of the first things you need to do is find influencers who are relevant to your niche.
Influencers know very well what is hot in the market at any given time. They can help you understand what people want and don't like.
But how do you convince them to work with you?
Here are some tips:
- Show them your previous work. This will give them confidence that you have what it takes to deliver quality products.
- Offer them free products or discounts.
Furthermore, make sure you follow these guidelines when choosing influencers:
- Choose influencers who are active on Instagram.
- Check if they have followers and likes.
- Look for influencers who post regularly.
Some of these tips may seem obvious, but I'm surprised by how many brands overlook them.
Hashtags are a great way to get your products in front of potential customers, but more importantly, they have another functionality.
In fact, if you want to find what people are saying about a particular product, then hashtags are your best friend. Hashtags can be beneficial for product research.
When using hashtags, use relevant ones specific to the category you're looking for.
For example, if you are selling skincare products, some relevant hashtags could be:
- #skincare
- #beauty
- #cosmetics
- #makeup
One of the best hashtag generator tools you can use to find products is Sistrix.
This Instagram hashtag generator allows you to search through all the available tags and filter them according to your preferences.
Once you've filtered your hashtags according to your needs, paste them into the Instagram search bar to find the most popular products.
3. Search by location
Another great method for product research is searching by location. This feature allows you to look for products in a specific area.
For example, if you want to find products in New York, you can enter "New York" in the search bar.
This can be useful if you're looking for products only available in specific locations. It can also help find out what local businesses are selling and what people in the area say about them.
The downside of this feature is that it can bring up results from third-world countries.
Hence, before searching for products in a specific country, make sure to only set the location in western countries since the online buyer's intent is higher in these countries.
Once you've done that, use the Instagram engagement calculator to check the engagement rate.
Simply type the influencer's name in the search bar to get the engagement rate.
Now, the average engagement rate on Instagram is around 4.7 %. If you find an influencer with more than this engagement rate, the account owner is likely using a bot to harvest likes and comments, so avoid it altogether!
Using this technique, you'll be able to find the latest product trends that are trending in your area.
Tip: Combine this method with the tips covered in this article on how to spot trends for product research!
4. Look for user-generated content
Another great way to research products on Instagram is to look for user-generated content. This is content that is created by users and not by brands.
User-generated content can be incredibly useful because it's genuine and honest. It can give you an insight into what people really think about a product and whether or not they would recommend it to others.
But user-generated content is also incredibly easy to manipulate, so how do you know if the information you're getting from your users is real?
Here are some things to look for:
- Check the number of likes and comments. If a post has a high number of likes and comments from the language location you've set, it's more likely to be genuine.
- Check the user's profile. If the user has a high number of followers and posts, they're more likely to be genuine.
- Check the user's posts. If the user only has product-related posts, they're more likely to be an influencer or brand, not a genuine user.
- Check the date of the post. If the post is from a long time ago, the product might be out of stock, outdated, or discontinued.
In short, don't trust everything you see on Instagram; instead, try to verify the authenticity of the information you're seeing.
5. Instagram Reels
Instagram Reels allow users to create short videos showcasing their best work. This product research method allows you to quickly find the most popular products in your area.
Instagram Reels is a relatively new feature, but it's already proving to be incredibly popular.
Reels are short, 15-second videos that people can create and share on Instagram. They're perfect for product reviews and unboxing videos, and product research.
In fact, once you start following a brand or an influencer, you'll see it on your reel feeds every time they post a product review.
Note: Don't forget to set the location to your specific area or country. This way, you'll be laser-targeting the product research.
To find relevant reels, simply head to the Explore page and type in a relevant hashtag.
For example, if you're looking for iPhone reviews, you could search for #iPhonereels or #iPhonereviews.
6. Shoutouts
Shoutouts are a great way to get noticed on Instagram. When someone tags you in a photo, you'll receive a notification letting you know they've tagged you.
You can use shoutouts as a form of product research. However, this method can be time-consuming as influencers nowadays tend to be very picky in choosing the partner to work with, so you'll need to follow a decent amount of influencers in order to monitor their latest product partnership.
Once you've started following influencers, you can check the comments and see what people are saying about them.
If there are any mentions of a particular product, then it's probably worth checking out.
You can also use this technique to learn more about the product. Check the overall product quality on Amazon's reviews to better understand whether it has the potential to sell.
For more information about Instagram shoutouts, check out our other article here!
7. Use Instagram Polls
If you're looking for a more interactive way to research products on Instagram, then you should definitely check out the Polls feature.
Polls are a great way to get product feedback and find out what people think about a specific topic.
In fact, this method can be a follow-up to the shoutouts. Once you've got enough data to understand if this could be a potential winner, to get a confirmation consensus about this product, ask people what they think about it.
The best part about Instagram Polls is that they're completely anonymous, so you'll get honest feedback from your followers.
After that, all you need to do is post your poll and wait for the results!
To create a poll, simply select your profile picture, then choose the image of the product, and select the icon with the face:
Once you've done that, you can type your question according to the type of poll you want to run:
Now, sit back and wait for the results.
8. Look up competitors
The last thing you should do when researching products on Instagram is to check out your competition.
Understanding how your competitors are doing is essential to stay ahead of the game.
By checking out their accounts, you will be able to see what types of posts they create and what kind of products they sell.
Go to their website and take note of what they offer and any special offers they might be running at the moment.
This can help you make better-informed decisions regarding your own business.
If you need help finding other stores in your niche, check out our other article here!
Understand which products people follow using the emojis slider
The new Instagram Stories feature lets you see how people respond to your posts.
What do they like? Do they prefer specific colors or clothing styles? You can now use the emoji slider to find out.
Using the emoji slider, you can choose from more than 200 emojis to help you communicate with your audience.
You can even use the emoji slider to ask your followers questions about your products or services, such as "What are your thoughts on this dress?"
If you want to make sure that you don't miss anything important, you can set up notifications for specific hashtags.
For example, you could set up notification alerts for #fashion, #beauty, #food, etc., depending on the type of post you're interested in.
Summary
Before we go to the conclusion, we created a quick summary of this article for you, so you can easily remember it:
- Find influencers who have similar audiences to yours and look into their content, make sure to validate their authenticity before starting to work with them.
- Use hashtags to search for relevant topics. This way, you'll be able to find new product ideas.
- Look up your competitors and analyze their content to know what works and what doesn't.
- Use Instagram Reels to monitor the latest video trends in order to gain insights into the followers' interests.
- Use the search by location if you’re looking for products that are popular in a certain area. You can use the search function on Instagram to find them.
- Look for user-generated content to see what products are trending and how they perform by checking comments on those posts. This method is a bit more time-consuming, but it’s worth it if you want to find some really good products.
- Check out the influencer's shoutouts to see if they have a good track record with promoting products.
- Instagram Polls are a great way to get honest feedback from people who have likely used the product.
Final thoughts
As you've seen, there are many ways to do product research on social media platforms.
Instagram is a fantastic platform for marketers to reach their audiences. With millions of users worldwide, it's a great place to connect with your ideal customer base.
However, it's also a great platform to help you discover new products and services.
Once you have an idea of your target market, you can start searching for influencers with similar demographics.
Then, you can follow their content to find out which products are trending and how well they perform.
And don't forget that there are other methods to do product research as well! For example, via Pinterest. (Here's a whole list of methods)
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