How to Launch a New Product on Instagram

Allow me to set the scene: you’ve formulated a mind-blowingly delicious new product. You feel on top of the world and cannot wait to share it with your customers. Until you realize you have no idea how to launch your new product on Instagram.

You’re not sure what to say, how to say it, or even where to say it…in a way that’s guaranteed to catch their eyeballs, spark their curiosity, and make customers want to buy immediately.

Never 👏🏻 Again 👏🏻⁠

Because I’m sharing my step-by-step process to launching a new product on Instagram. Use this checklist to launch with ease and results.

Why Did My Past Launches Flop?

Most product launches don’t flop because the product is bad. They flop because the marketing is rushed, there’s no strategy, or the campaign isn’t really a campaign…it’s just a handful of posts. 

A successful launch isn’t about one big launch post. It’s about building demand before the product launches, supporting it during launch week, and effectively integrating it into your regular content. 

I created this checklist because it’s the exact framework I use for my social media marketing clients to make sure: 

• Nothing gets missed
• There’s no rushing
• Decisions are based on strategy
• Launches aren’t one-and-done
• My clients see results

The Campaign Foundation

6- 8 weeks before launch

• Define your campaign goal
• Clarify who the product is for
• Clarify who the product is not for
• Consider how that person wants to feel when interacting with your product
• Consider what the product helps them do, be, feel, or achieve
• Write a one-sentence product tagline
• Create 3-5 messaging angles

First things first, we plan! While a lot of this information is outside social media marketing, and falls under your broader marketing strategy (like who the product is for), it’s helpful to run through this anyway so we can refer to it throughout the creative process.

Creative Assets

4-6 weeks before launch

• Shoot e-commerce photos
• Shoot lifestyle product photos
• Film product reels
• Film lifestyle reels
• Film storytelling reels

E-commerce photos are pictures of your product with a plain white background. They’re usually what you’d send to retailers or use on your website. I always recommend getting a PNG version of this photo with a transparent background.

Lifestyle photos are the beautiful pictures you’ll use in social media and email marketing.

Product reels show the product in a tutorial, recipe, or close-up clip.

Lifestyle reels show the product being used in its intended environment: brewing tea in the kitchen, drinking a protein shake after the gym, opening up a snack at the office.

B-roll reels can be anything & everything. I ask clients to film clips of the manufacturing process, packing the product for customer orders, taste-tests you ran, anything that’s visually interesting and related to the product.

Storytelling reels are clips from the process of creating the product. They provide a visual story to what inspired the product, how you created it, what speed bumps you encountered, and ultimately how the product came to be today.

Content Strategy

3-4 weeks before launch

• Awareness content (problem & solution)
• Lifestyle integration (when & where this product fits)
• Education content (what makes it different)
• Social proof (UGC, testimonials, founder POV)
• Conversion content (where to buy)
• Finalize your Instagram & TikTok content calendars
• Finalize your email marketing calendars

At least 3-4 weeks before launch, your content strategy should be created. If you’re an early-stage founder managing your own socials, and you prefer to work closer to launch, you totally can. This schedule is what I recommend for my clients: it gives me enough time to create the content, get their approval, complete any requested edits, and schedule in advance of the launch.

One benefit to managing your own socials is you don’t have to worry about all that! But you do, of course, have to create all the content yourself 😬.

Create Your Instagram Posts and Email Newsletters

After you’ve finalized your content calendars, you’ll need to create the posts and email newsletters. 

You can do this as you normally would. If you need help, check out this blog post to improve your Instagram stories, this one for your Instagram captions, and this blog post for the tech & tools I use to create content for my clients.  

Pre-Launch Strategy

2-4 weeks before launch

• Start teasing the problem your product solves
• Share behind-the-scenes or founder POV content
• Educate without revealing the full product yet
• Collect early interest (email signups or waitlist)
• Encourage questions and replies in Instagram stories
• Soft-launch language (“coming soon”)
• Identify UGC or creators who may support organically

It’s Launch Week!

• Publish launch posts
• Update bio to say “NEW product name”
• Update bio link to product page
• Send launch email
• Schedule ongoing launch week content
• Share UGC reposts and social proof
• Monitor results & adjust accordingly

Optional Retail Support

• Create content that supports in-store discovery
• Share “where to find it” posts
• Tag retailers and locations in content
• Provide retailers with social assets
• Tag retailers in your bio

Post-Launch Momentum

2-6 weeks after

• Shift from “new” to “everyday” messaging
• Integrate product into regular content
• Share customer reactions and reviews
• Continue education through use cases, recipes, or routines
• Reuse best-performing launch content with new hooks
• Repurpose content for TikTok or email
• Turn FAQs into evergreen posts

Review the Campaign Performance to Improve Next Time

You’ve hit publish on your posts, scheduled your email newsletters, and are ready to pack your orders. But the marketing doesn’t end there.

Once your campaign has ended, it’s time to review what worked so you can get even more sales next time.

Key metrics to monitor:

• Impressions, profile visits, website clicks
• Social-to-site conversion rate
• Overall revenue lift
• Identify top-performing hooks to use for other products and future launches
• Recreate content that drove saves and shares
• Adjust future messaging based on audience repsonse
• Document learnings for the next launch

If you’re totally stuck, book a 1:1 Clarity Call to get some answers, asap.

---

Wait, Who Am I?

Hiiii! 👋🏻 I’m Sarah, a CPG social media strategist with over 10 years of experience. I went from starting a clean beauty blog right out of high school to managing social media for Canada’s largest wellness retailer. Now I live in the middle of nowhere in North Carolina, helping high-growth entrepreneurs get SEEN so they can build a crazy fun life their business supports, and not the other way around.

If you liked this blog post and want more of the latest & greatest marketing advice (and a couple bev recs), here are a few ways to do just that:

Subscribe to Shelf Life. Be one of the hundreds of CPG food & bev founders to start your week with marketing lessons that actually last. Each week you’ll get one lesson about user behavior, launch marketing, founder-led storytelling, working with the algorithms, and building a crazy fun life your business supports, not the other way around. Click here to subscribe.

Scroll through the blog. If you liked this blog post, you’ll probably like the rest. Scroll through to snag my tried & true social media marketing advice. No gatekeeping here!

Get the marketing support your business deserves. I’ll manage your Instagram and TikTok accounts, audit your Instagram marketing, hop on a 1:1 Clarity Call, and more.

Explore the Shop. Each digital product is designed for CPG founders who want marketing to feel easy(er).

To get in touch with me personally, slide into my DMs or send an email to hi@seenandsharedmarketing.com.