How to start selling with Instagram Shopping

Instagram Shopping enables companies to tag their products in their organic publications, and offers users the possibility of buying them easily. Your Instagram followers will be able to click on your publication and buy a specific product directly on your website, without having to look for it. Before continuing, we are going to list the essential requirements that you must meet if you want to benefit from this important functionality, which reached the US market in 2017 and the Spanish market in early 2018.

Requirements to use Instagram Shopping

• Have the latest version of Instagram downloaded and your Instagram page configured as a company profile.
• Have a Facebook page for companies. If you don't have one yet, we explain how to create a Facebook page step by step.
• Have your Facebook and Instagram page linked.
• Have your company profile synchronized with the Facebook product catalog, which we can create and manage, through the catalog manager in Facebook's Business Manager or through any eCommerce platform on the market. Such as Shopify or BigCommerce.
• Have a configured and active product catalog integrated on Facebook.
• Sell products and have at least 9 photos in your feed.

It is important to mention that, in Instagram Shopping we can only sell physical products, not services or digital products. Once you have your online store integrated with the Facebook product catalog and you have met the requirements that we mentioned, you must go to activate the configuration of your business, so that users can start purchasing through this platform.

5 steps to activate your Instagram Shopping account

• Go to your Instagram profile and click on "Settings"
• Then tap “Business” and go to "Shopping"
• Tap "Continue"
• Select the product catalog to connect to your professional account
• Finally, click on «Done»

If we do not see the “purchases” option in our business configuration, it is possible that our account is still in the review process or that it has not been finally approved due to not meeting the requirements. Once this is done we can go on to label those products that we want to sell through our publications.

Tag your products on Instagram Shopping

• Upload a photo, add the caption and filters you desire.
• Click on the product you want to tag.
• Write the name of the products to be labelled.
• Then, a search box will appear, where you must mark the products you want to promote.
• Finally, we recommend that you click on “preview these tagged products” to be able to review them all.
• Finally, click on "Done" and "Share".

We can label up to 5 products in the same image or 20 products in the carousel format.

As we keep updating our catalog on Facebook, Instagram will also be updated, deleting those items that are out of stock. Additionally, we will also be able to tag our products on Instagram Stories. We will only have the possibility of creating one product sticker per story. We cannot edit stories that have already been published, however, we can edit the old stories and upload them again with updated information.

‍

Is it possible to do paid advertising with Instagram Shopping?

Until now, we were only able to tag products in our organic Instagram Shopping posts. But all this is changing! According to the article Testing Instagram Shopping Post as Ads, the ability of ecommerce businesses to promote their Instagram Shopping posts as if they were promoted ads, is currently being tested within the ad manager of each ad account. With this new functionality, users after clicking on the product publications, will be able to be directed to a product description page within Instagram itself, where they will be able to proceed with the purchase from the mobile version of the business. Through this feature, brands that use this platform to sell online can reach their target audience more easily and improve their results by directing their users throughout the purchase process, by using a platform with which they are already familiar with.

‍

Conclusion

Instagram Shopping is very useful for companies, especially for those who want to position their products. Remember that, to be able to sell through Instagram you must have: a business account on Instagram, an ecommerce, and sell physical products. Visit the next article for more information: How to create a store on Instagram and be successful. You will learn more about all the benefits and advantages that you can obtain as a company if you dare to tag your products through Instagram Shopping. Instagram Shopping is a very powerful sales channel, and if you also make the most of it and advertise for a fee, your products will reach many more people in a simpler way, without the need for them to visit your website. If you want more information, Do not miss out our Guide to Marketing in Social Networks for SMEs and freelancers, in which you will learn the keys to get the most out of social networks in your business, getting more customers and gaining more visibility quickly and easily.