How To Use Instagram for a Coin Business
ctf_error_coins
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I would like to try Instagram for my coin business.
I have never used Instagram in my life.
Let us have a positive thread on how to use Instagram for a Coin Biz.
What strategies work best, how does Instagram work, payments, returns, photos, all the basics for those of us who know nothing about it.
Links would be helpful as well as your thoughts.
Thank you, Chris
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I think someone in a bikini takes a selfie holding a coin?
He who knows he has enough is rich.
Look to the future as it is sooo bright
Ok, a guy in a Speedo holding a coin. Or better yet, someone androgynous.
I'm very experienced on Instagram. I'd love to give you advice and help you get started on it. You're welcome to reach out on PM but to answer what you've asked already-
Payments: Instagram has no payment processing established. It's not like ebay where someone clicks a buy button. I'd compare it to doing deals on the BST here, most people post images of the coin with a price and description, interested buyers will direct message the seller, and they will exchange information in DMs. Virtually all payment is conducted via PayPal.
Returns: Similar to payments Instagram itself does absolutely nothing to handle, assist, or force returns. I imagine you would simply enforce whatever return policy you have already implemented.
Photos: Users may upload up to 10 photos or videos in one post. If you are uploading from a mobile device, tap the button to make a post, then tap each photo you want to upload. You need to hold them for about a second to select the photo.
Sorry for any typos I'm typing at light speed and not looking back
I don't do much with social media, but I do follow a few coin folks(and precious metal related sellers) on Instagram. Regularly schedule weekly live auctions and giveaways seem to be the approach that many of them have. Others simply show pics and/or short video clips of the coins and an asking price. Good luck!
Thank you OwenSeymour
It will take me a while to get my head wrapped around it, but my guess is to jump right in.
I need to allot some of my time to Instagram as I value my time more than anything.
@OwenSeymour there are some sellers on IG that take other forms that I don't know much about such as zelle, venmo, etc but paypal is best. There are some that also will take checks and money orders as well.
IG is great and is a great new platform to get coins and get in touch with collectors from around the world.......I mean literally around the world. I've talked to some middle eastern collectors that don't even know about the forums but they use IG just like the forums here...to discuss and share their coin collections.
Many members on this forum that now it cannot fit in my signature. Please ask for entire list.
I understand, honestly once you get the hang of it it takes literally one or two minutes to make a good Instagram post. The most time consuming part about selling on Instagram is dealing with people requesting unnecessary amounts of images, and people making low ball offers. However I should add that it doesnt happen anymore often than any other selling platform.
Also its important to understand the fundamentals of Instagram. Users follow other users, when someone goes on Instagram they will see all the posts from the accounts which they follow in a mostly chronological order (posts may be a little shuffled but newest post appear first, with older or already seen post appearing lower in the feed). So when you upload a coin for sale within the first 48 hours of the upload you'll receive over 90% of the views the post will ever receive!
Most people misunderstand selling on Instagram thinking that they will make some uploads and let them ride for weeks, hopefully making a sale at some point in the future, that's not the point. The glory of Instagram is that, with a decent following, THOUSANDS of collectors will see your post within 48 hours. If it's a well priced desirable coin it will sell. The downside is that if the coin doesn't get any bites within a few days of upload it will likely be buried deep in your followers Instagram and forgotten.
Thank you again.
So kinda treat it as a promotional news feed throwing up one cool coin once or twice a week as opposed to a 500 coin inventory all in one upload.
That makes a lot of sense.
Do some treat it as quasi semi promotion Educational Postings, which I could do?
Can one person, one email address, one PayPal account, have two separate Instagrams accounts as I have two entirely different businesses?
Glad to help, and yes exactly! Once a week is a bit slow and it may be hard to establish a good following. I'd say averaging a post a day is good. Yes educational posts are popular, and often draw large and thoughtful discussions. NGC, PCGS, Stacks, Heritage, etc. Frequently make educational style posts. I seriously think you would do well as a dealer in error coins. Virtually every collector out there would follow a page posting cool error coins with well written descriptions.
If you join Instagram, let me know. Once you've got a few posts up I will give you a shout out on my business page. I have nearly 7700 followers so it will be a good jump start.
Basically it is like the BST board here. No formal process for anything, just make it up as you go. Post as much as you want, either for info or for sale. I've found that with my gold coins, I don't hardly ever get much interest on IG, but I have sold a few that way. I generally tell buyers I prefer fee free payments, but will accept normal paypal for an extra 3% fee. I've found myself not posting as much there lately since I was not getting many offers. I have over 1,400 followers, so it's not like people weren't seeing my coins either. And I usually try to post decent deals... I would make a post there at the same time I would do here, and I would have multiple offers within minutes here, and just getting "likes" but no offers on there. Be sure to follow as many coins accounts as you can, as that will help you get more followers.
"> @jwitten said:
I would always require the non-free 3% fee as there is built-in protection for the buyer and seller. I would eat the 3% as adding it on would turn some off.
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"I would make a post there at the same time I would do here, and I would have multiple offers within minutes here, and just getting "likes" but no offers on there. Be sure to follow as many coins accounts as you can, as that will help you get more followers. "
Great Idea, thank you.
Be sure to tag all sorts of things in your post, that is how people will find you. Overtag to start.
Thank you, what is a tag and its purpose?
You tag thing like pcgs, coins, numismatics, errorcoin and people that look for those things will find you.
First and foremost, Instagram is a photo sharing site so I would post your great photos on Instagram with your logo similar to the way that PCGS does it for TrueView images. That way, you get people talking about your great photos and mentions of your company to boot.
On top of that, having having giveaways to get people to promote you or follow you on Instagram is beneficial to get more followers.
Checkout the PCGS Instagram account:
https://www.instagram.com/pcgscoin/
And this giveaway image:
As someone who recently started a coin account on Instagram, mostly to post and socialize but also to sell a little, here are some tricks I picked up. Some of the policies on Instagram are really confusing and I don't understand why they don't make improvements.
Making a post is super frustrating, until you figure out the trick. The post editor doesn't allow you to make new lines and editing is nearly impossible. If you have to write more than a few words, the trick is to type it out in a text document elsewhere, then copy it over. Also, your cut/paste won't work correctly unless there are no spaces or non-standard characters at the end of a paraphraph. Otherwise, all the text gets jumbled together. There are "how to's" posted online that explain this better than I am. Luckily, you can edit any post to fix the "errors".
Instagram wants you to use their mobile app. This means you pretty much have to post from a phone. So, that text document I mentioned above, with the text of your post? Needs to be accessible from your phone. Also, the pictures of the coins you post must be accessible from your phone's photo library.
As mentioned above, tagging your post gets you exposure. Other things that get you exposure is searching for other like minded folks and following them. Often they'll follow you back.
Also mentioned above, more frequently posting is a good way to get people to follow you. If you have a big inventory you want to get online, I'd put up about 10-20 coins immediately, so you establish a presence (otherwise people won't follow you), then post a few a day so that folks get used to seeing you in their feed. If you post all of your coins at once, then nothing for 6 months, people will assume your account isn't active.
Commenting on other people's posts is another way to get exposure and follows. Follows is what will ultimately help you sell coins, because you're new posts will show up in people's feeds.
I'm sure there's more, but this is advice I could have used a few months ago when starting up my own account.
To add to what I typed above, I really like Instagram, despite all the flaws in the software. The social aspect of it means you get to know people, it's way more personal than eBay. As a seller you get to establish regulars, and often you sell things without even making a post. It's a tool to advertise, at first, but then you get to know what people want and you just sell directly. It's smart to post each sale even if they're already sold though, to help up your post count, exposure, etc.
I haven't run into any scammers on IG yet, I'm sure they're out there, but the community is way cleaner than eBay. If someone scams, the community comes together to get the word out and nobody deals with that individual again.
I've also had more success selling multiple items at once, vs. one auction at a time. This saves everyone money with the combined shipping.
Thank you OriginalDan
To tag just means you add a hashtag (#) before a word you think people may search. So for example, at the end of my post I would do something like #gold #toner #coin #numismatics #pcgs, etc. The more you put, the more chance someone who is searching for something in particular will find your post. People can find your post a couple ways. One is by searching hashtags like that. The other is if they already "follow" you, then your post will automatically show up on their feed, which is like the first page of the coin forum. A way to get lots of followers is by just going through and following as many coin pages as you can find. Many will then follow you back.
I've been on Instagram since 2014 buying and selling coins, paper money etc.. Roughly 13,000 followers. If you have any questions or if you sign up for an account, message me here with any questions and your username so I can follow you.
The trick I've found to amass lots of followers is diversify your feed. I post silver bullion, coins, u.s. paper money, world paper money, stock certificates, odds and ends.
Selling is easy. Buying is easy. I wouldn't have a large portion of my collection of paper money if it wasn't or Instagram. I've never been scammed on the platform. However, there are scammers that show up. As long as you cover yourself, do your research, look for people that have lots of people buying from them, you're good. If you aren't comfortable with a deal, back out. Nothing is binding you from buying or selling to someone on there.
By the way, an error coin account will probably do really well even if you're just showcasing your collection. People like those kind of oddities and will follow you if you consistently post. The key is to be consistent.
Have only just been getting on Instagram. My only real gripe is that the image dimensions cut off the edges of a TrueView slightly. You either have to center it with the edges sliced off, or just cut it in two and post two images.
On windows 10 chrome laptop, right click on the Instagram page, hit inspect then click the phone looking thing upper middle right then refresh, your laptop will now act like a mobile and you can post images from it.
Safari has that Option under the Developer menu.
- Bob -
MPL's - Lincolns of Color
Central Valley Roosevelts
I see, so you just spoof your desktop like it’s a phone. Thanks for the tip.
Just Do It
I have looked at a lot of coins on Instagram...though I have not done business there. I became interested in IG when checking out the various internet coin venues.... Seems there is a big coin presence on IG. Good luck... Cheers, RickO
Like with a lot of things in life, you get out of Instagram what you put in.
8 Reales Madness Collection
Why anyone wants to see @Insider2 in a bikini escapes me.
Wow, wow and wow.
I thank you all, this is the best place for all types of information.
I have learned so much in the last 12 hours about Instagram.
First off, my iPhone has shattered glass as I drove over my phone with my Truck. The phone still works but is a pain in the rump to use so I need to replace the glass.
I already have all the images, so I will need to load some into my phone to start.
I will need to do some longer write-ups about my inventory.
Thank you all who PM'd me with their Instagram contact info. I will be in touch with all of you.
Thanks again all, Chris @ CTF_Error_Coins
Regarding hashtags, I didn’t see if anyone mentioned you are limited to 30 in a post. There are different opinions on how to use them. Some people post them in the original post. Personally, I always post my hashtags in a comment immediately after I make the post. They will still work and it looks cleaner to me. I have a note in my iPhone that I save all of my hashtags to so I can just copy and past the whole block of 20-30 tags at once and past them into the comment. You don’t want to delay if you do it that way. If you wait 30 minutes to post hashtags they don’t bump your post back to the top so they’re far more effective posting immediately after making the post.
Once I make a post I usually look at it and click a couple hashtags to verify my post is showing up in the feed.
You can make your account a business account. I’d recommend that because it will give you more data on how many followers vs unfollowers are viewing it and that sort of thing.
A lot of people play the follow for follow game. Don’t just blindly follow every single person that follows you. A lot of those people will just unfollow you a day later anyway and then your feed gets clogged up with junk you don’t want to see instead of seeing the friends, and customers you do.
Don’t get discouraged if you get 15 followers and realize two days later 13 have unfollowed you. That’s the game of Instagram. It’s annoying but nothing we can do about it.
Collector of randomness. Photographer at PCGS. Lover of Harry Potter.
Oh WOE is me. I guess my life will never be complete as I won't sign up for Instagram.
or Reddit
or Twitter
or Pinterest
or Tumblr
Just me and my desktop and the horse and buggy in the stable.
I had an intagram account for a few years, posted material semi-regularly (would go through cycles), and never gained any traction. I'm in my late 20s, but it just wasn't my thing at all. Seems to me there are a lot of people even younger than me on there, or new collectors just getting started. There's a lot of interest in bullion, mostly common material that I don't buy or sell. More expensive pieces, Canadian stuff, and medals did not sell. Actually, I never made a single sale through the platform. I found the "community" is kind of insular. If you don't engage constantly in the liking and commenting, you're not in. And that's just not my thing. There's a lot of scrolling through ads, checking for new followers/likes, etc. I found it a great relief to get Instagram out of my life, limiting sales through shows, word of mouth, and my website. Hopefully your experience will be the exact opposite. I'm betting the people on there will also have lots of interest in your errors.
Dealing in Canadian and American coins and historical medals.
Get off my IP address!
Step one, Check
Replaced iPhone shattered screen and new screen protector.... $90 .... 15 minutes of time.
Should have done this part 6 months ago, geez
This is a great post!
Please visit my website Millcitynumismatics.com
Let me know what your handle is when you get set up, error coins would be cool to look at on that platform.
I only post stuff out there, but don't sell so no help on that and still picked up over 2500 followers. I do clean up and delete the junk followers once in awhile, like the spammers or ones that have 5 posts and 5000 followers - junk. Pay no mind to any naysayers (the ones that brag about being stuck in 1975 tech, not a badge of honor) and give it a go. You won't know until you try it out. Best of luck!
10-4,
My Instagram picturesErik
My registry sets
So I looked at some tutorials and they kept mentioning that you go to your facebook page to link all your info and contacts.
I do not do facebook. Can I sign up without facebook, which I think I can?
I really do not want to do facebook.
Does the business account cost extra?
Is it better?
Yes you can sign up without facebook, you just need an email address and password. I don't like mine either. Business account doesn't cost anything extra. It just gives you extra information about who is reading your posts which can be beneficial.
These are the insights to an image from my photography page which is a business page:
Collector of randomness. Photographer at PCGS. Lover of Harry Potter.
I honestly reccomend ignoring the facebook recommendation unless you have a large following on Facebook already established. That concept is mostly centered around the idea of your friends on facebook following your new account on Instagram- which probably wouldnt yield a great turnout for a coin page lol.
Business pages do not cost any extra, they're very similar to a personal page except that the owner of the page (you) receives useful insights regarding the demographics of those following you & interacting with your content. Theres not really any reason not to have a business page.
Thanks, guys, I really appreciate it.
Do you sign up for a personal account and switch to a business account (as I saw in a video) or can you go straight to signing up for a business account?
TIA, Chris
@ErrorsOnCoins Silly you just filter Kitty Cat Ears & a Nose on your error coin photos to attract customers
I think that's Pinterest
Should I use an underscore to keep my name consistent CTF_Error_Coins ?
How do I hashtag error coins? Would it be #errorcoins, or #error_coins, Or #error coins?
I recommend CTF_Error_Coins.
Hashtag would be #errorcoins. Splitting up "error" and "coins" in any way will separate the hashtag from using both words.