Instagram is an awesome marketing tool for any kind of business out there for quite some time now. If you set up Instagram Shopping, it will impact your brand even more.
Instagram Shopping makes it super easy for your audience to purchase products. They can do that directly on the Instagram app, which means more time to scroll through content without losing any time in between.
Using that feature as part of your sales and growth strategy is not a requirement, but we promise that it’s gonna make your life easier.
We all know that Instagram and other social media platforms are designed to keep the users consuming content on the app. In fact, they introduced the Shopping feature to take this even further. It is really hard to get your links to show on your Instagram. At the moment you can only add links in a couple of ways. The swipe-up feature (which you need 10.000 followers to use or a verified account) or the link in your bio.
We’re here today to help you set up Instagram Shopping on your account with an awesome guide, lets get to it.
How do you set up Instagram Shopping?
1. Check if you are eligible
Not every account is eligible to start using the Shopping feature, so first, we’ll teach you how to check this.
First of all, check the requirements set by Instagram.
- You must agree to the policies listed on the link above and comply to them.
- If you haven’t already, change your Instagram to a business account.
- You need a Facebook page connected to your Instagram account. If you don’t have one, when switching to a business account it will help you create one.
- Your store has to sell physical products. At the time, Instagram does not allow service providers to sell on Shopping.
- Create a Facebook catalog. You will need to attach it to your account.
The requirements are fairly easy to meet, so if you sell physical products you have a high chance to be eligible.
2. Connecting Instagram to a Facebook catalog
Remember that you need a business profile to do this.
- Open Instagram, then head to your profile and tap settings.
- If you don’t have the correct account type, hit “Switch to Professional Account” and follow the instructions.
Now that this is done, we’re gonna connect your account to Facebook.
- Once again, go to settings on Instagram.
- Hit “Connect a Facebook Page”.
- Here you’ll either create a new page or connect to an already existing one.
- Follow the instructions Instagram will give and your account will be linked.
Now we need to set up a Facebook catalog if you don’t have one already.
- Log in to Facebook and visit this link to your products page.
- You will now select “Create Catalog”. Be sure to select Ecommerce, otherwise you won’t be able to sell on Instagram Shopping.
- You are now able to upload information for each of your products. If you have Shopify or other Ecommerce programs, you can also connect it to Facebook and save a lot of time.
Now you should have a product catalog up and running. Let’s link it to your Instagram business account.
- Open the Facebook Catalog Manager.
- Select the one you want to sell on Instagram.
- Hit “Channels” then “Instagram Shopping”.
- Add your Instagram account and you’re now connected.
Ok, so now we have the catalog, but we still have to activate Instagram shopping on Instagram.
3. Activating Instagram Shopping
How do we activate that on your account? Easy, here are the steps:
- Go to your Instagram profile and open the settings menu.
- Tap on “Business”, then click on “Set up Instagram Shopping”.
- Follow the instructions and that’s it, your request is now under review.
Note that this process can take up to a week as Instagram will review your request and decide if you will be granted Shopping permissions.
When they give you the “OK”, you’ll be notified. You can then start selling and tagging products on your posts.
4. Create shoppable posts and tag your products
Now that you have set up Instagram Shopping on your account, you can start tagging products on your posts just as you would tag people.
Instead of showing you a list of people, it will show items from the catalog you created in the second part of this article.
Remember to always update your catalog with new products, otherwise, they won’t show up.
You can also make your Stories shoppable, which is super easy:
- Create a story as you normally would.
- Hit the smiley face icon to open the sticker list.
- You’ll see a “Product Tag” sticker, tap that and select the product.
Stories are a great way to get your products seen by people, and just as you can promote posts, you can choose to promote the stories that feature your products.
That’s it, so by the time you finish reading this, you should have your Instagram Shopping request under review, and a week from now, I bet you’ll have your shop up and running.
Create great quality posts and sell more
You have the shop running, but you might wonder what you should post to get better results. Here are a few tips to improve your sales results.
Use high quality photos of your products
Your goal should always be to post photos or videos that carry professional quality and that show at least one picture of the product being used or worn.
For example, Brutalkill is a hardcore style clothing store and they always post models wearing their products, this way customers know how the clothes fit.
Note that they also include a geolocation tag on the posts, this also helps in increasing the reach to locals.
Make sure that your profile is aesthetically consistent to your products
You want to sell your products, that is the whole point of the shop, so you should consider reviewing your account to make sure the overall aesthetics are a good match.
We have a guide on how to use Instagram templates to create great quality content that is aesthetically consistent with your brand identity.
En torno Ceramics is a great example, their profile looks beautiful and you can see how it all matches.
Use hashtags that are relevant to the product you are selling
Make sure that you use great hashtags in your posts, but those must also match the product featured in the post.
Hashtag management is a big part of your reach and we have the right article for you in case you need more information.
The Explore page has a section specific for Instagram Shopping, and good hashtag management will get you featured there.
Thank you for getting this far into the article, I hope you enjoyed it and that you keep on enjoying our content.
You should have your store set up soon and a lot more knowledge on the Instagram Shopping subject.
Red is the content creator for this blog, working directly with the Nitreo team, he aims to help clients and Instagram users to optimize their content and metrics. He is also a photographer obsessed with urban photography and portraits, so you can expect a few posts about Instagram photography from time to time as well.
Red has worked as a Portuguese translator and interpreter for over 7 years, he also felt really weird writing this bio in the third person.