What is Instagram Shopping?
Instagram Shopping is a tool that is increasingly changing the relationship between brands and customers in the leading platform of photos and videos. If previously, the goal of social networking was to promote the products and the company, now it becomes an essential part of the consumer buying journey.
This is because most businesses can now enable the Instagram store and direct customers to e-commerce by tagging products in publications.
That is, it’s not just about engaging and building relationships; it’s about selling and increasing business conversion rates that fit Instagram’s business policies and requirements. For those of you who want to know more about how the Instagram store works, we have created this guide with the benefits of the tool, all the requirements and setup steps. Let’s go!
Why sell through Instagram Shopping?
According to Instagram itself, about 130 million accounts tap shopping posts for product information every month, while 500 million profiles keep an eye on Stories daily. Precisely because of this vast movement, Instagram has gained more and more space in the promotion of companies that work mainly with virtual commerce.
Selling products through Instagram Shopping has, therefore, become an essential tool for those who want to streamline the process and get customers to the buying stage faster. In addition to making it easier for users to access your products and pricing, this functionality also tends to increase conversion rates for your e-commerce as the user can purchase with just one click.
So if your brand hasn’t thought about enabling this feature yet, it’s time to review your strategy right now!
How to start using Instagram Shopping?
Before you can start using Instagram Shopping on your profile, you need to be aware of some of the platform’s requirements.
Most importantly, the profile must be commercial, and the company must have e-commerce, as this functionality only directs the user to the page where the product is sold and does not fulfill the complete sales process.
Another critical point for enabling Instagram Shopping is that the store should only sell physical products that follow social networking business policies.
Among the prohibitions is the sale of animals, alcoholic beverages, health items, and services, among others. To check the complete list, click here!
Additionally, you need to create a Facebook catalog with your products to activate the tool on Instagram. This can be done either through the Ad Manager or directly through your company’s Facebook page.
By completing all of these steps, your account should be submitted for review, so Instagram can make sure it meets all the requirements and can be approved to start selling through the app.
Set up the store on your Instagram Shopping profile
Once everything is ok with your account, and it is approved to use the Instagram Shopping feature, you can activate the store on your profile. Below you will find the step by step to enable this setting:
- Access your Instagram profile and go to Settings;
- Go to the Business tab, then click Shopping (this feature will only be available for accounts that have been previously approved);
- Then tap Continue and select the product catalog you want to connect to your profile;
- Finally, tap Done to complete the setup.
Tag products in publications
Now that Instagram Shopping has been enabled on your profile, it’s time to start tagging your catalog products in your photos.
Adding tags to your posts is a straightforward and fast step because tagging is now automatically available in the post-setup when the store is active.
Therefore, in the same place where you enter the caption and other pieces of information, you have the option to search for a product in the catalog and add it to the photo that corresponds to it. But keep in mind one important point: You can only tag a maximum of five products per picture and 20 in carousel posts.
Also, there is the option to tag products on Instagram Stories posts. Just select the label icon when editing the post and search for the product you want to include.
After that, just move the tag so that it is next to the advertised item. Easy, isn’t it?
However, as with every good strategy, you need to know how to connect this feature to actions that are interesting to your audience and get their attention.
After all, it’s not enough to just tag products in every post. It is necessary to promote the store, keep the catalog always updated, and use photos that have everything to do with the customer profile.
Only then will you be able to succeed with your Instagram store and develop your e-commerce from social networks.
