Selling via Instagram

Social media is great but the platforms have to find some way of generating revenue.  The primary mechanism has been advertising revenue but those platforms are always on the lookout for additional opportunities.  According to USA Today article, “Picture this, entrepreneurs: Selling via Instagram“, Instagram has been experimenting with a sales platform.  This new feature allows followers of a company to buy a product if they see it in a company’s feed.  The article states that 200 million users visit at least one business profile each day so there’s a lot of potential traffic to capitalize on.

A class exercise could be to ask your students to read this article before coming to class and then in class have them develop an Instagram plan for their favorite retailer.  They could choose a clothing boutique, a bike shop, an electronics store, etc.