Building a digital product and selling on Instagram is one of the most fulfilling things you can do with your time. 

After all, what better way to make a living than to talk about things you’re already passionate about? All in a platform that’s NOT pay-to-win, where little guys have equal chances against big companies? 

But before you get all excited about creating and selling your first digital product, here’s the ugly truth about this business: 

Just because you know a LOT about your subject and are passionate about it, doesn’t automatically mean you can monetize your knowledge. 

Selling products on Instagram is so much more than just sharing your hobby; it requires a strategic approach that: 

• Attracts the kinds of people who will actually BUY your product…
• Warms them up to your product idea (so they don’t just stay for your free content)…
• And pushes them to shell out once you finally launch.

That’s why today, I’m taking ALL my first-hand experience for what works and what doesn’t, and putting it together in this 6-step guide on how to sell digital products on Instagram. 

How to Sell Digital Products on Instagram: What I’ve Learned From Selling Courses Over the Last 5 Years

Whether you’re still in the idea phase or you already have a following on Instagram, here are the exact steps I’d take to start selling digital products. 

Step #1: Pick a Product YOU Can Sell

If you already have a product, you can skip to step 2. 

But if you don’t have one yet, or you’re still unsure if you’ve picked the right product, then read on, because this is one of the most exciting steps: 

Choosing which product you’re going to sell. 

To start, ask yourself, “What’s a skill or piece of knowledge that I know better than others, and that people would LOVE to have?” 

Selling digital products is mostly about sharing your insider knowledge with others eager to learn. So pick a topic that:

1. You know better than most people.
2. Many people are eager to learn more about and how to do it better (to the point where they’re willing to pay). 
3. You’re passionate about (optional, but super helpful to keep you going and making your business more fulfilling). 

If you’ve solved a problem that so many people have (ex, productivity, weight loss, starting an online business, etc.), you already have one foot through the door. 

Next, you’ll want to choose your format. 

Courses are the obvious choice for most niches, but there are a bunch of different ideas you can go for:

• Courses – the go-to digital product. Courses allow you to sell your knowledge of almost anything. As long as there are enough beginners eager to learn, you can take what you know, put together a course, and sell it on your Instagram. 

• Exclusive Membership – more high-ticket courses/training often come with an exclusive members group. You can offer ongoing training and mentorship, a collaborative community, and plenty of other perks. 

• eBooks – eBooks are typically faster to make and easier to sell than courses. They have more of a “try it” energy than courses, which is why they’re usually better for beginners who want a quick and easy way to learn more about a topic (without committing to a full on course). 

• Templates – templates like Canva templates, DM scripts, Notion boards, content calendars, or even things like home workouts are helpful for people who want a quick start. They want results, but don’t want to go through the pain of learning how to plan these out themselves. 

• Swipe Files – for marketers, swipe files are a goldmine. If you’ve built strong swipe files filled with hooks, captions, high-converting CTAs, ad copy, etc., yourself, why not sell it to others? 

• Audits – plenty of people pay experts to get feedback on their work. If you position yourself as an authority in your niche, people would love for you to review their work and critique it. 

Not sure what to pick? 

Search for other Instagram accounts in your niche and see what they’re selling.

Of course, you don’t want to copy exactly what your competitor is doing. But use it for inspiration, because this should tell you what your target audience already buys. 

Step #2: Decide If You’re Selling a High-Ticket or Low-Ticket Product

Knowing your pricing beforehand is critical because it greatly affects your sales strategy. 

The most successful digital products on Instagram are either high-ticket ($3,000+) or low-ticket ($20 – $200) products. 

In my experience, digital products priced between $200 – $3,000 don’t perform too well. They’re too expensive to sell on autopilot, but they’re too cheap to warrant a sales call.

Of course, there are exceptions. But most Instagram businesses I’ve helped grow fall into one of these two categories. 

Once you’ve chosen, your sales strategy will look slightly different. 

1. High-Ticket Products

The strategy for selling high-ticket products is to give out a freebie first, get them on a call, and only then offer your high-ticket product. 

On Instagram, don’t push people straight towards booking a call with you. 

Use your account to get as much attention as possible, use your freebies to warm the audience, and only serious people will book a call with you. 

This saves you from entertaining people who don’t have any intention of buying your product. In my experience, this strategy gives you a much higher closing rate of around 30-60%. 

So use the ideas above as a freebie, then nudge people who grab those freebies to book a call for your real product.

2. Low-Ticket Products

To make a low-ticket product work, you need to sell on autopilot. 

$20 – $200 is the sweet spot. It’s low enough that people don’t have to think too hard about buying, but it’s high enough that you don’t have to sell a bazillion copies to make a profit. 

The secret with low-ticket products is to direct people straight to the checkout page rather than a sales page. 

I’ve found that this converts more, mainly because creating a sales page for a low-ticket product can cause more confusion. 

People who follow you on Instagram should already know your product (more on this later), so just direct them to your checkout page instead. 

Step #3: Build Your Instagram With Intention

When it comes to selling digital products, having thousands upon thousands of followers is NOT as important as you might think. 

Yes, it helps if you have 100,000 followers. 

But the truth is, if all those people followed you for the wrong reasons, they’re not going to convert once you start selling your course, ebook, or templates. 

The secret is to build a warm audience of followers, people who are ready to pull the trigger and buy once your product launches. 

But… how? 

Two ways:

1. Pick a “Problem” Niche

You’ve probably heard that “niching down” is critical. But if your goal is to sell digital products, it’s more than just that. 

Don’t just pick people who share an identity (like “online business owners” or “content creators), but choose a specific problem that these people have:

• Online business owners → Online business owners struggling to get leads
• Creators → Creators who get views but no brand deals
• Entrepreneurs → Entrepreneurs with inconsistent income
• Freelancers → Freelancers with no repeat clients
• Fitness enthusiasts → People working out but not losing weight
• Students → Students who can’t focus or study consistently

Of course, select the problem niche that your digital product can solve. 

Once you’ve chosen that, move to the next step, which is:

2. Research What They’re Watching

Once you have your problem niche, you’ll want to make all your content speak to that group of people. 

But the question is… how do you find content ideas that’ll reach these people?

Here are some ways:

• Spy on Competitors – Go to Instagram search, type in a keyword related to the niche, and watch the top reels there. This should give you a bunch of content ideas you can remake. Take note of the hook, what pain points are being brought up, and what CTA these viral videos are pushing. Check the comments and see what people like about the reel. 

• Ask AI – Asking AI to help with content ideas is never a bad idea. You see, AI works just like an Instagram expert helping you out. It doesn’t know everything, but it sure knows a LOT. You don’t have to use everything it gives you, but it’s a very helpful tool to quickly get potentially viral ideas. 

• Search Reddit – Since you have a problem niche, head to Reddit and look for what people are asking there. You’ll find a goldmine of questions and problems that other accounts haven’t addressed yet. 

• Use Your Audience – If you already have a few followers, you’re bound to get a lot of questions. Again, if you’re in a problem niche, this is bound to happen. So don’t just answer DMs. Instead, take the questions you usually get and use them to pump out more content. 

Do these, and you should have a huge bank of content ideas. So you can post consistently and reach your target audience. 

Step #4: Create Irresistible Content

Now for the real work. 

You have your product idea, you have your target audience, now it’s time to bring the two together through your content. 

This is your main marketing machine. Do it right, and getting your first sales shouldn’t be difficult. 

I have a full technical guide on what makes a good/viral reel (such as hooks, tension, payoffs, and CTA). Here, I want to focus more on the different categories of content you should be making as someone selling a digital product. 

Make sure your content hits these categories, and you should attract people who will be eager to buy your product:

Awareness

Make people stop and go, “Hey, that’s me and my problem!” 

Hook your audience by stating the problem in the first few sentences, show them that you understand exactly how they feel right now, then offer a simple solution they can implement right now. 

This should show them that you are the expert, and you know how to solve their problem. 

• “If you’re getting views but no brand deals, this is why.”
• “If people watch your content but never DM you, this is the real problem.”
• “If you’re working out consistently but not losing weight, watch this.”

Agitation

This isn’t just stating the problem upfront; it’s going a step deeper and hitting the feelings that people with this problem have. 

The format is the same: show that you understand your audience, and offer a simple solution. You can then ask for a follow (they’ll follow if your advice is helpful), or even nudge them to check out your product. 

• “Every viral video without a brand deal is money left on the table.”
• “No leads means you don’t have a business — you have a hobby.”
• “You can work out every week and still look the same next year.”

Educational

Educational content is great not only for reaching new people, but also for your current followers as well. 

Pack these reels with value. Teach part of what you’re selling (without giving the whole thing away), and this should establish you as an authority in your niche. 

The better you do this, the more people will trust that your paid product is worth its price. 

• “3 easy ways to make brands see you as a partner, not just a creator.”
• “Here’s the simplest way to turn content into inbound leads.”
• “The one thing you need to check if fat loss just isn’t happening.”

Proof

Content that shows results, either your personal story or client success stories. 

This can be before-and-after reels, client testimonials, or even you sharing your journey. You want people to inspire people with these reels, so make it relatable, and also show what’s possible. 

• “Here’s how this creator landed their first brand deal without going viral.”
• “How one small change turned my views into daily leads.”
• “Same workouts, different result — here’s what changed.”

Sales 

This is the most direct content for pushing your product. 

Start with a strong hook talking about the problem, and directly show how your product fixes that problem. 

You’ll want to be careful with this, though, since too much sales content will push people away. 

Post content like this sparingly. After all, you can run ads on this content (more on this later). 

• “If you want brands to take you seriously, this is exactly what I built.”
• “This system is for business owners who are tired of chasing leads.”
• “If you’re done guessing why weight isn’t coming off, this is for you.”

Step #5: Set Up Chatbots

Have you ever seen those reels with a caption like: 

“Comment ‘SALES’ to get my eBook!” 

And when you comment “sales,” you instantly get a DM with a link to the product? 

This is done by Chatbots. And if you’re selling products on Instagram, having a tool like this is a non-negotiable. 

You NEED to make it as easy and fast as possible for people to find your product. 

Chatbots can also quickly answer frequently asked questions without having to wait for you to answer them yourself. 

There are tons of tools that allow you to do this nowadays, some of the most popular options include: 

• ManyChat – The most popular option because it’s powerful, beginner-friendly, and fully optimized for Instagram DM automation, keyword triggers, and digital product delivery.

• Chatfuel – Popular with businesses that want simple automation without heavy setup, especially for FAQs, lead capture, and basic product flows.

• Customers.ai – Formerly known as MobileMonkey, well-known for omnichannel messaging, allowing creators to manage Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and web chat in one dashboard.

The great thing about Chatbots is that they also help with engagement. 

If people are commenting on your reels and sending you DMs, this signals to Instagram that people interact with you. Then Instagram pushes your content and account to more people, who also interact with it. 

It’s a secret weapon to grow your account even faster. 

Step #6: Use Ads For Content That ALREADY Works

You might think:

“I’ll just create a reel showcasing my product, then run ads to get customers!” 

You could do that, but here’s why I DON’T recommend this: 

If you pay to boost content that didn’t do well or go viral organically, you probably won’t get the results you’re looking for. 

Because Instagram ads show up just the same way as unpaid content does (while people are scrolling). 

Yes, ads will help your reach. But if your reel doesn’t make people stop their scroll and watch organically, it won’t make them stop, even if you put hundreds of dollars behind it. 

The beauty of Instagram marketing is that it puts the small guys on a level playing field with big companies that have money to burn. 

So focus on creating the best organic content. 

And if something goes viral? 

Boost that with paid ads to get even more customers. 

Ready to Start Selling on Instagram?

Selling digital products is easily one of the best ways to make money on Instagram. 

I’ve done it, hundreds of my students have done it, and thousands upon thousands of other creators have done it as well. 

It’s not some secret process that only works for the most clever people. 

It’s a system that can work wonders for literally anyone. 

So don’t wait. 

Start by choosing a product you want to sell, and follow the steps above, and you should be all set up in no time. 

But if you’re starting from scratch and you want to go viral and build a business as fast as possible, then check out our AI Content Creator workshop, where I go over the easiest and fastest ways to grow an Instagram account with AI.