Ready to make sales on Instagram? Learn the best strategies for selling digital products and turning followers into paying customers.
Remember that feeling when you posted an Instagram reel and your DMs exploded with "This is exactly what I need!" or “How did you do that?!”
Many creators start out by answering DMs one by one, sharing tips in posts, and trying to help everyone individually. But there are only so many hours in a day, right?
That's why selling digital products is a game-changer.
Instead of repeating the same advice, you can package your knowledge into downloadable resources that help hundreds of people at once — and make good money doing it.
With Instagram's incredible reach of over 2.35 billion users, the opportunity to sell digital products and monetize your expertise has never been better.
Why Instagram works as a sales tool for digital products
Instagram may have started as a simple photo-sharing app, but it’s evolved into a powerful sales engine.
When Instagram Shopping debuted in 2016, letting businesses tag products in their posts, few could have predicted how significant this move would become.
While Instagram Checkout was launched in 2019, allowing direct purchases within the app, Meta started phasing out the Checkout function. Now, users make purchases directly on the seller's website.
The platform's growth in recent years has been striking, particularly in digital product sales.
Consider this: spending on digital products is expected to reach $416 billion by 2030, and transaction volumes have surged by nearly 70% in just the past two years.
Since 2022, it's become much easier for creators to succeed on Instagram selling digital products. The numbers tell a compelling story: 70% of shopping enthusiasts now rely on Instagram to discover products, while 44% shop through the platform weekly.
For creators and small businesses, these tools aren't just nice to have anymore—they're fundamental, with 80% of users reporting that Instagram influences their purchasing decisions.
How to sell digital products on Instagram
Want to turn your Instagram following into a thriving digital product business?
Our proven seven-step guide will take you from a beginner to a successful digital product seller on Instagram.
Step 1: Set up your business presence
Starting with the basics - you'll need to change your personal Instagram into a business account and link it to a Facebook Business Page to access all the selling features you'll need:
- Head to the settings and tap the "Account type and tools" button
- Select the "Business" option in the account type step and tap "Next"
- Review your contact info and connect a Facebook page (optional)
- Complete the professional account setup steps you'll see on the screen
A business account also lets you add contact buttons, run ads directly from the app, create product catalogs, and access to Instagram Shops features.
Step 2: Prepare your digital products
Before diving into the technical stuff, get your digital products in order. Whether you've created courses, ebooks, or templates, make sure they're polished and stored securely online.
Ensure your digital products are in easily downloadable formats (PDF for ebooks or zip files for templates or can be quickly accessed through your own website. Create preview versions or samples to share in Instagram posts/stories.
Pro tip: Host files securely on reliable platforms like Dropbox, Google Drive, or, preferably, dedicated course platforms.
Step 3: Enable Instagram commerce
It's time to enable Instagram Shopping. You'll need to meet their requirements:
- Your business must comply with the Meta Terms of Service, Commercial Terms, and Community Guidelines
- You must have a domain and link all products you post in your catalog to that domain
- Check local restrictions and make sure selling through Instagram Shop is allowed
Set up your product catalog through Facebook Commerce Manager. Approval usually takes a few days (2-7 days), so don't worry if it's not instant.
Once you submit for approval, Instagram will review your account and products. After approval, you can start tagging products in posts and stories, essentially turning your profile into a digital storefront.
Step 4: Optimize your profile
Your profile is your storefront window, so make it shine. Write a bio that clearly explains what you offer. Here’s an example:
✨ Digital Templates & Workflow Systems 🎯 Helping entrepreneurs get organized & save 10+ hours/week 🔥 Best-selling Notion templates ⬇️ Shop my productivity tools 📩 DM for custom solutions.
Add a solid link-in-bio tool like Linktree Pro ($7.5/month) to showcase multiple links in one spot, track click rates, and customize your page's look. It turns your single Instagram bio link into an organized hub for all your content and offerings. Create highlight reels featuring your products.
Check out these Instagram bio examples for small businesses.
Step 5: Payments and delivery
Let's talk about money handling. Setting up your payment processor (like Whop) is essential.
You'll want to create a smooth system where your digital products are automatically delivered when someone makes a purchase.
For automated delivery, sell your digital products with Whop. Whop is an all-in-one platform with which you can sell digital offers of all kinds. Simply put your whop link in bio and Whop takes care of the rest - payments, delivery, and even customer service.
If you want to sell your products through your own website instead of setting up a whop, but you don't like the high commission rates of most payment processors—you're lucky because you can use Whop as a payment processor, too.
Step 6: Create product listings
Now for the fun part - listing your products! Create attractive mockups using tools like Canva or Photoshop - show your ebooks on tablets, templates on sleek laptops, or courses on bright, clean backgrounds.
Remember, people buy with their eyes first, especially on Instagram.
Write descriptions that really connect with your audience. Instead of just listing features, tell customers how your product will improve their lives or businesses.
Set clear pricing. Research competitors, but don't undervalue your work—consider offering different tiers or bundles.
Check out our digital product strategy to find out the best methods to creating digital products step by step and become a pro.
Step 7: Promote your products
Jeremie Lander from Better Finance Today LLC
When it comes to marketing ebooks I do organic sales — meaning I don't run ads, I don't have any paid advertisement, I just use my following on social (like Instagram) to drive sales directly to these books.
- Jeremie Lander, three-times published author.
Finally, spread the word about your products. Mix up your content between Stories, Reels, regular posts, and some Instagram ads. Engage with your audience, respond to comments and DMs, and build those relationships.
Think of it as hosting an ongoing digital open house.
Use Instagram carousel posts to show multiple preview pages or features, and always include testimonials. Remember to highlight the instant-delivery aspect - people love immediate gratification.
Looking at your Instagram analytics will make it much easier for you to understand what kind of people are interested in your products.
You should also think about partnering with influencers to market your product - it's one of the most popular ways people market their digital products in the age of social media.
Bonus tip: If you're hosting and selling your digital products through Whop, you can set up global and user-specific affiliate programs and encourage your customers to promote your product for you.
Where to host your digital products
Since Instagram's native checkout isn't around anymore and the app redirects users to the sellers' websites, the best way to sell digital products on Instagram is with Whop.
Whop has emerged as a popular platform for digital creators, specifically for subscription-based digital products and memberships.
With competitive fees starting at 2.7% + $0.30 per transaction, it provides tools for recurring payments, access management, and community features.
Creators can easily link their Whop store from Instagram, making it ideal for selling premium content, software, or exclusive digital experiences - or use Whop's payment processing system and embed checkouts to sell products directly on their own website.
Whether you're selling ebooks, online courses, paid community access, webinar access, online coaching services, downloadable templates - or anything else digital - you can do it with Whop.
How to market your digital products on Instagram
Ready to turn your digital products into Instagram success stories?
From ebooks to courses, Instagram's visual platform offers powerful ways to showcase your digital offerings and connect with eager buyers.
Learn how to leverage Stories, Reels, and strategic content to build an engaged audience and transform followers into loyal customers.
Create reels and stories showing products in action
Think of reels and stories as your virtual showroom – they're perfect for giving potential customers a peek at what you're offering.
Screen recordings work wonders, especially when you're walking through your product's best features.
Take digital entrepreneur and educator Patt Flynn (@patflynn) for example. This creator who built his brand around teaching online business and passive income strategies regularly used screen recordings to showcase his course platform and digital note-taking systems.
He would do walkthroughs of his courses, showing the actual interface, member community, and how students navigate through the content.
A couple of quick tips:
- Keep your demos snappy (under 60 seconds)
- Grab attention in those crucial first three seconds
- Don't forget to use trending audio – it's like giving your content a natural boost in visibility
- Remember to keep your caption game strong (not everyone browses with sound on!)
Leverage testimonials and user-generated content
Do you know what's better than telling people how great your product is? Having your happy customers do it for you.
When someone sends you a glowing review or success story, that's pure gold. Turn these testimonials into eye-catching carousel posts, and don't be shy about creating a dedicated highlight reel of customer wins.
Here’s why: it provides permanent, visible evidence that your product works. And, when potential customers see others succeeding, they're more likely to trust your product and envision their own success.
Another pro tip: create a unique hashtag for your product and encourage customers to use it when sharing their results. It's like building a community while collecting social proof.
Kayla Itsines (@kayla_itsines), the fitness entrepreneur, did this brilliantly with #BBG (Bikini Body Guides) and #SWEATwithKayla. Her customers would share their fitness transformation photos using these hashtags, creating a massive community of before-and-after results.
To learn more about using UGC, check out our guide on what user generated content is, how do you use it, and how it can help your sales.
Strategic ad campaigns
Running ads can be manageable and inexpensive. Start small—even $5-10 a day can teach you a lot about what works with your audience.
The beauty of Instagram ads is how precise you can get with targeting: you can reach people who are already interested in your offering.
Try different formats and see what clicks with your audience—think behind-the-scenes glimpses, before-and-after results, quick tutorials, time-sensitive offers, or authentic user experiences. The key is to start simple and scale what works.
Optimize your bio for sales
Your Instagram bio is prime real estate – consider it your digital product's elevator pitch. Instead of just listing what you do, tell your story. Share those impressive numbers (like how many people you've helped).
Business mentor and investor Basesh Gala’s bio says, “Trained 100,000+ Entrepreneurs,” which adds a lot of credibility.
Make your bio conversational. Here’s an example:
Coffee-obsessed course creator teaching you to build passive income (while wearing pajamas). 300+ students turned their expertise into $$ last year. Free masterclass in bio!
And most important: make it super easy for people to find your products. A good link-in-bio tool can turn your single link into a mini-website showcasing everything you offer.
Create educational content that builds trust
Here's the thing about selling digital products: people need to trust you before they buy. Educational content is your secret weapon here.
Share your knowledge generously through posts that address your audience's pain points. Don't just teach – show them why they need your solution.
Vanessa Lau (@vanessalau.co) is a good example of this strategy. Before selling her Creator Program, she consistently shared free LinkedIn and social media tips.
She'd post carousel breakdowns like “Why your posts aren't getting engagement", or "Five LinkedIn headline formulas that work" along with screen recordings of her own content creation process.
This set the stage for her product offering and established her as the go-to expert in her niche.
Engage strategically in your niche
Building visibility isn't just about posting content – it's about being part of the conversation.
Spend some time each day genuinely connecting with potential customers. Jump into discussions where your expertise adds value.
Find creators who complement what you do (not compete with you) and build relationships. Those authentic connections often lead to natural collaborations and sales.
For example, Chef Nick DiGiovanni (food creator) and Lynn Davis (known as "Lynja" from Cooking with Lynja) collaborated on various cooking challenges including making the world's largest sushi roll and other massive cookie recipes.
Each creator brought their distinct personality and style to the videos, making it a winning combination.
Nick brought professional cooking expertise and production value while Lynja brought humor and her signature editing style. And, while Nick's audience skewed toward serious cooking enthusiasts, Lynja appealed to a broader, entertainment-focused audience.
Track and adjust your strategy
Let's be real – what works today might not work tomorrow. Keep an eye on your Instagram insights, it's going to give you data that will help you grow your business, but don't get lost in the numbers.
Focus on understanding what content makes your audience stop scrolling and engage.
Notice patterns in your best-performing posts and stories: what day of the week and time of day gets the most engagement, video length that keeps viewers watching, long vs. short captions and more.
Use these insights to create more of what your audience loves, not just what's trending.
How are creators using Instagram to sell digital products?
"The beauty of digital products is that you create them once and can sell them infinitely. It's not just about follower count - it's about solving real problems for your audience"
-Vanessa Lau, who scaled from creator to seven-figure business owner.
Today, creators are turning their expertise into profitable digital products, from templates to courses.
Let’s look at some successful creators making money from digital products on Instagram.
April Hovelson - Physical health and fitness
April Hovelson (@aprillynnhovelson at Instagram) is a great example of someone who monetizes their knowledge and skill.
She frequently posts on multiple platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Her energetic and warm vibes allowed her to gather over 100,000 followers on Instagram.
Her contents mainly consist of exercise videos and her life updates. On top of promoting her content, she's also forming a bond with her followers by sharing snippets from her life.
Her Instagram bio directs users to her Pillar website where she links her digital workout programs like "Build with Bodyweight" and "Build From Zero" - ranging from $34.99 to $99.99 and online courses like "Macros 101 course" and "The Beginner Weight Lifting Course" - ranging from $249.99 to $350.
Pascal Campion - Digital art
Let’s say you have an account showcasing your digital art. If you've built your account well, your branding is unique, and people resonate with your content, selling wallpaper for desktop or mobile can be super easy.
Pascal Campion (@pascalcampionart) is known for his digital illustrations of everyday moments. He currently sells drawing tools, and various online courses on digital drawing.
Why does his business model work?
First, he’s invested the time to build trust with the audience by posting for years. He shows his process in Instagram reels, giving his audience a behind-the-scenes peek into how he does what he does.
His daily art, which often features family moments or rainy-day city scenes, resonates emotionally with viewers.
How can you sell digital art online?
Start by posting your digital art on your Instagram page. You don’t know what your audience likes (yet), but you keep posting.
Suddenly, you notice that one of your posts is going viral. Your audience is resonating with it. Turn that into a Canva wallpaper and sell it for $7 to $10.
There are so many possibilities with digital art, and this could be your first step into that world.
Ebooks
Creating and selling an ebook is easier than you’d imagine. If you have an instagram page about knee pain, create an ebook about knee pain advice and exercises.
If you're a self development page, create an ebook on how to have an abundant mindset. Once you truly understand what your audience wants, the magic happens.
Remember, your ebook doesn’t have to be complicated, glossy, or professional-looking. What people care about is the value you provide.
Whop makes it super simple to sell an ebook. The all-in-one platform allows to you upload your ebook to your own whop and sell it to millions of customers searching for digital products.
If you're a beginner in the online selling space, consider using your ebook as a lead magnet by giving it away for free in exchange for collecting data. Data is one of our most important assets; building an email list is invaluable in the long term.
If you want to learn more, check out our guide on selling ebooks on Instagram.
Quick tips for selling products on Instagram
If you’re an aspiring content creator or new to selling digital products on Instagram, these handy tips might help.
- Choose your topic carefully
Find out which posts on your page are already performing well. Create a digital product based on viral content. The more specific you are, the more people will connect with it. - Do research
Use Google Trends and other search tools to see what people are searching for related to the topic. - Use tools to edit and design
Canva has dozens of templates for creating an ebook, a writing course, or a template library.
Remember, getting your digital product business on Instagram is more of a marathon than a sprint.
Keep refining your approach based on what works best for your audience, and feel free to adjust your strategy as you learn what resonates with your followers.
Start selling digital products on Instagram today with Whop
You've already built an engaged following on Instagram. Now it's time to turn that connection into revenue through thoughtfully crafted digital products.
But, while Instagram is a great storefront, when it comes to selling your digital products it helps to have a reliable platform that makes the process seamless.
This is where Whop comes in - it's your all-in-one solution for hosting and selling digital products.
With Whop, you can create a professional storefront, securely deliver your products, and manage all your sales in one place.
No technical hassles, just a smooth experience for both you and your customers.
Selling digital products on Instagram FAQs
What types of digital products can I sell on Instagram?
As long as the products meet the Terms of Service, Community Guidelines, and Commercial Terms of Meta - you can sell all types of digital products.
Do I need a business account to sell on Instagram?
Yes, you need a business account to sell on Instagram and access all Instagram Shop features.
Do I have to have a website of my own to sell on Instagram?
You don't have to create a website to sell on Instagram but you do need a domain. Whop can help you with both of these challenges, allowing you to both host and get individual links for your products.
Can I host my digital products on Whop to sell on Instagram?
Yes, you can host all types of digital products (online courses, downloadables, coaching services, etc.) on Whop.
What are Instagram's requirements for selling digital products?
Having your business, account, and products meet the Meta Terms of Service, Community Guidelines, and Commercial Terms.
Can I accept international payments?
If you use Whop to host and sell digital products or use it as a payment processor for your website, you can accept international payments with no issue.
Where can I track my analytics?
You can track your Instagram account analytics by going into the account settings and selecting "Insights." If you're hosting and selling your products (or using it as a payment processor), you can see your Whop analytics by clicking on the "Dashboard" button on the left side of your screen.
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