Instagram for shops: How to use Instagram Shopping

• Date: 23 January 2019
• reading time: 4 Minutes
• Blogger: Francisca Zimmermann
• E-mail: [email protected]

Have you seen the ‘shoppable posts’ on Instagram yet? With Instagram Shopping you can now add labels with prices and shop links to your posts, just like with Pinterest’s Shop the Look. And this is ideal for e-commerce businesses.

In this blog, we will tell you exactly how Instagram Shopping works and how you can use it to showcase and sell your products. 

What is Instagram Shopping? Instagram allows businesses to sell their products directly on Instagram. Instead of referring to a link in bio, Instagram followers can now simply click on a product to see a price and check out on Instagram or visit the website for a purchase. 

Shoppable posts are clearly visible on the feed, marked by a white shopping bag icon in the corner of the post. All shoppable products have a white dot, which shows viewers where to click for more details.

What are the advantages of Instagram Shopping? 

Instagram Shopping draws attention to your posts and products. While people would scroll past a normal post, a price and additional detail might make them stop and wonder how they feel about purchasing a product. Taking an extra step to find a link in bio for pricing can be just too much effort, while a price directly on a post makes considering a buy very easy. 

According to Hubspot, 80% of Instagram’s 800 million users currently follows an account that has Instagram Shopping activated. Allowing these people to directly shop from your Instagram profile means a huge potential clientbase and a very easy way to present your products to a large group of people. 

How to set up Instagram Shopping 

Requirements 

To be able to use Instagram Shopping, you first need to fulfill the following requirements. 

• Your business needs to be from one of the countries listed here.

• You need to comply with Instagram’s merchant agreement and commerce policies. 
• You need to have an Instagram Business account that is connected to a Facebook page. 
• You must sell primarily physical goods. 
• Your Business Account needs to be connected to a Facebook Catalog (can be managed on Catalog Manager or Business Manager on Facebook, or through Shopify or BigCommerce platforms).

Setting up your Instagram Shopping

Create a Facebook Shop (Catalog) 

To create an Instagram shop, you need a Facebook shop first. Instagram pulls your product details from Facebook, so without a Facebook shop Instagram won't have any information. 

If you have a webshop (with Shopify, for instance), the easiest way to set up a Facebook Shop is by syncing your existing shop with Facebook. This way, you will automatically upload all your items, pictures, and pricing to Facebook.

Those who don't have a webshop yet can also set up a Facebook Shop manually, through Facebook Catologue Manager (select the Upload Product Info - option). This is simple, but a lot more time consuming than automatically syncing an existing shop.  

While setting up your shop, make sure to select the e-commerce option. This will allow you to use the price stickers as pictured above. 

Sign up for Instagram Shopping in your Instagram app

Once your Facebook Shop is set up, you can sign up for Instagram Shopping in the Instagram app. 

Simply go to Settings on your Instagram Business account, click on Business and select Shopping. Then click Next and select the product catalog you want to add to your account.

Instagram will now review your application and activate your account if you meet all their requirements. This usually takes a few days. 

Tagging your photos and stories 

Once your shop has been approved, it's time to get started! 

You can now add product tags to both Instagram posts as well as Instagram stories. 

To add a tag to your post, simply create a new post and click on ''Tag Products''. You can find this option right under the caption field. Instagram will now let you select a product from your shop, and as soon as you share your post, the tag will be visible.

A second way to add products to your account is in a story. By selecting the sticker ''Product'' under the story sticker options. You will then get the option to select the product you want to tag, just like in a normal post. 

Need help? 

Especially for e-commerce businesses, we think Instagram Shopping is a great opportunity. It means thousands or even millions of extra eyes on your webshop, which can mean a massive growth in the number of sales. 

Do you think Instagram Shopping would help your business, but do you need some help getting started? We would love to help you out. Feel free to contact us for a FREE strategy call so we can discuss what we can do for you. 

Would you like to learn more about marketing and social media? Then our Social Media Gids Community can be a great place for you to explore. Here we share many excellent resources and work together with an inspirational group of business owners, entrepreneurs, and marketers. Our FREE e-books and our Social Marketing class, for instance, are very popular among our community members. 

Want to post a comment? Join the conversation in our community.

• Blogger: Francisca Zimmermann
• E-mail: [email protected]
• Social media manager & content creator at Social Media Gids
• Francisca Zimmermann is a social media expert with a background in research and a love for learning new things. She travels the world looking for beautiful places and interesting cultures, while she dives into the world of her clients to be able to write about them and their interests as a real 'insider'.
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