Gift Card Instagram Sticker – Everything You Need to Know!

Social media marketing has been taken to a whole new level given the crazy situation 2020 has put us in.

More of us than ever as logging on, with use social media apps up over 8%, which is just another reason (as if you needed one!) to up your digital marketing game.

But it’s not just us needing to up our game, nope social media platforms are upping theirs too and in our humble opinion here at Social Puffin, we reckon it’s Instagram, with their new stickers, that have done this the best.

Because we’re focused on digital marketing for small businesses, the expanded Instagram sticker catalogue is our favourite move by any platform in recent times. And top of this list is the Gift Card option, which we think is a brilliant way to continue to drive sales, both at this difficult time and into the future.

So here it is, our full lowdown on exactly how to set up, use and market the Instagram Gift Card sticker…


Related Posts

This page contains affiliate links meaning Social Puffin may receive a small commission on any purchases at no extra cost to you.


What is the Gift Card Sticker?

The Instagram gift card sticker is essentially a feature businesses can add to their Instagram (and Facebook) stories to help sell their gift cards online through social media.

It can be used to grow awareness of your brand as both technically-savvy and forward-thinking, using gift cards to sell products to both new and loyal customers.

After adding the sticker to an Instagram story, viewers can purchase your gift cards online, as well as share your story with their friends.

A great way people can support small local businesses who may be currently closed, here at Social Puffin we think this is one of the best marketing options to use at the moment because of its low cost, ease and effectiveness.

How To Access the Gift Card Sticker Feature

Instagram users with an Instagram Business or Creator account can access gift card stickers.

If your Instagram profile has yet been converted to a business or creator account (i.e. it’s still a personal account) learn how to quickly and simply make this swap here… it’s free to do FYI.

Those with an Instagram Business account should see the gift card sticker as an option within their Stories mode.

Simple hit the home button within the Instagram app on your phone, tap the camera icon in the top right to create your Story, and, when that’s done, tap the sticker button – which is the square button with the smiley face third from the left.

This brings up options to add a location sticker, @mentions, times, polls, GIFs and gift cards.

The logo for the Gift Card sticker is a white rectangle with purple text and a present image.

Just tap this icon to add the Gift Card sticker to your Instagram Story.

Setting Up the Instagram Gift Card Sticker

At this point, if you haven’t already configured the Gift Card sticker, you’ll be presented with several choices for ways you can link gift cards to your Instagram and Facebook accounts.

The number and type of choices you see, will depend on your geographical location as different companies operate in different areas.

See the list of companies for your country in this comprehensive list from Instagram.

As Social Puffin is based in the UK, we’re going to be discussing the options available to businesses in this county.

Currently there are 4 and we recommend the top option Gift UP!

We like Gift Up! because it’s very simple and easy to set up, it offers a high degree of flexibility and it’s low risk – by this we mean if you don’t sell any gift cards, you don’t pay anything.. how good is that!

How to Use Gift UP!

So now we segue quickly to discuss Gift Up! and how you set up an account with this company, so that you can then link your profile here with your Instagram Gift Card sticker.

Gift Up! is essentially an online company that makes designing, customising and selling gift cards online really easy.

They have 5 stars on TrustPilot and receive rave reviews.

They make things easy and simple for non-techy folk and small businesses that may not have the resources or systems to implement a gift card system.

Brilliant!

One of the best things about Gift Up! is that, with their basic plan, you pay for every gift card you sell, meaning if you don’t sell any, you don’t pay anything.

Their commission rate is 3.94% of every gift card you sell, but if this line of your business really takes off, you can move to one of their more advanced plans that involve monthly costs, but offer lower commission rates.

Gift Up! allows you to upload your own designs (if you have a gift card already) or they have a huge range of templates to choose from if you don’t.

This company allows you to set gift card amounts i.e. £50 or £100 or to make the value customisable.

They allow customers to buy gift cards for themselves, or for friends, which are sent either my email or by regular post.

And they organise payment so that funds from your sold gift cards are automatically shuffled into your account.

All you need to sign up to Gift Up! is either a Paypal or Stripe account.

So yes, sign up to Gift Up! to launch your online gift cards, and then move onto the next step in making this Instagram Sticker work for you.

Linking Your Gift Up! and Instagram Accounts

Once all that’s done, return to the Instagram app and pair your Instagram profile with your Gift Up! profile.

Again this is down either by tapping the Gift Card sticker and following the process, or by locating the “Add an Action Button” within your Instagram profile.

This part may be within your “contact options” within “edit profile” if you can’t see it immediately.

Hit the Gift Card option to add this action button and then follow the process through.

You’ll need the URL from your Gift Up! account to join it with your Instagram profile.

Once you have your Gift Card action button set up, it will appear on your Instagram business profile.

Using the Gift Card Sticker in Instagram

Now you’re all set and ready to use the Gift Card Instagram Sticker.

Simply create your Instagram Story and then place the sticker over the top before you upload it.

We love the creative ways many small businesses are using this sticker, including videos or tours of how the Gift Cards could be spent, reminders that they make perfect gifts or fitting the sticker into your story with a comedy location / placement.

Don’t forget to include a CTA too.

Of course, it’s always worth viewing the Story and clicking through on the sticker to make sure the process works once you’ve uploaded it – you don’t want to miss any sales.

Then you need to promote your sticker – either by sharing it across to your Facebook channel too or by paying to boost the story via ads – although we wouldn’t normally advise this until you know you’ve found the best formula that works (see below).

You can ask people to share it and support your small business too, or you can interact heavily with other business’ Stories around the time of posting to ensure yours achieves the maximum organic reach.

Don’t forget to monitor your Story analytics too, so you can track how the funnel is working.

Are people tapping on the sticker?

If not, play around with different Story formats and templates to see which drives the highest sticker taps.

If yes, you know you’ve hit on the right Story design (so it’s all about rinsing and repeating this).

Are people buying the gift cards?

If not, then maybe you need to redesign your gift card or alter the amount or settings you have in Gift Up!

Again play around to see what works best and don’t forget you can run a Story every day, so plenty of time to test – although don’t overkill it!

If people are both clicking on your Story and then purchasing Gift Cards, you’ve hit that sweet spot, so keep doing what you’re doing or consider running a paid Story campaign to get your Gift Cards in front of even more eyes!

And the best thing about Gift Up! and this Instagram Sticker is that it’s sustainable too.

You can keep running this formula as long as it works for you and then use the Gift Up! app to manage redemptions of further sales in-store too!

PIN IT TO PINTEREST!

We hope this post on how to set up, use and optimise the Gift Card Instagram sticker will prove useful to you.

Especially in these difficult times.

All small business could use a helping hand right now and we’re delighted to see some social media platforms responding to this.

Have you used any of the new Instagram stickers designed to support small businesses?

Let us know how you got on in the comments box below…