If you’re a business owner looking to expand your online shopping experience for customers, setting up Instagram Shop is a great solution! This free tool allows you to create your own online store within the Instagram app, making it easier for customers to find and purchase your products. Here’s what you need to know about Instagram Shop and why you should take advantage of it!
- What Is Instagram Shop?
- Benefits of Using Instagram Shop
- Getting Started on Instagram Shop
- How to Promote Your Products on Instagram Shop
What Is Instagram Shop?
Originally launched in 2019 for major retailers, Instagram Shop now offers many businesses the ability to sell items within the Instagram platform through videos, photos, Reels, Stories, and ads! With just a simple tap, customers can purchase a company’s products through Instagram’s in-app browser without being redirected to a new window, offering a seamless shopping experience.
Benefits of Using Instagram Shop
Not sure if Instagram Shop is the right opportunity for your business? Through using Instagram Shop, you can provide your customers with easy access to your products and make it easy for your business to grow in an online marketplace. But that’s not all! Here are some other major benefits of Instagram shopping.
Increases Product Discoverability
70% of shoppers turn to Instagram for product discoverability. And with convenient features on Instagram like shoppable tags, it’s easier than ever for customers to discover products! By using these tags in your photo posts, customers are able to check out products and make quick purchases. Best of all, customers don’t even have to shop directly from your main business page. The ability to shop for products can be done via their Feed and Stories when your ads appear or when they find you through hashtag searches.
Works Well with Visual Marketing
Instagram Shop makes it easy for you to market products to customers through visuals. When you create shoppable posts through Reels, Instagram Stories, and photos, you’re not only enticing a buyer to make a purchase, but also strengthening your brand as a valuable shopping option. And the more that people like posts that include shopping tags, the more likely you are to be found in Instagram’s Explore page.
Simplifies the Shopping Process
Through Instagram shopping, you can bring your storefront directly to the customer, streamlining the shopping process. Gone are the days when an online shopper had to hop from link to link to find your product (which ultimately decreased the likelihood of a purchase). Now, with a few simple taps and swipes, what may have been just an intention to buy is more likely to turn into an actual purchase.
Getting Started on Instagram Shop
Ready to start setting up your online shop with Instagram? You can have your shop available on your Instagram profile within a few quick steps!
Be Sure You Meet the Requirements
While your business may already comply with Instagram’s commerce policies, there are four other criteria your business must meet before you can set up a page with Instagram Shop enabled. To qualify, your business must meet the following:
- Register your account as an Instagram business account
- Be located in a supported market
- Only sell physical, eligible products
- Connect your business to a Facebook Page
Add Your Product Catalog
When creating your online shop, you’ll need to have a catalog with product descriptions. There are two ways to add a product catalog to your account. You can either use the Commerce Manager tool found within Facebook Business Manager or use an e-commerce platform manager, such as Shopify or Big Commerce. Once you’ve created your product catalog, submit your account for review. After your account has been approved, turn on the shopping feature so customers can start shopping from your Instagram posts.
How to Promote Your Products on Instagram Shop
The best way to promote your products on Instagram Shop is to create unique, engaging posts customers will want to tap on! Here are a few simple ideas you can try to get more customers shopping through Instagram.
Create Shoppable Posts
The easiest way to promote your products is to create a shoppable post! A customer will know a post is shoppable if a shopping bag icon appears in the bottom-left corner of your photo. When someone taps on the photo, the product’s tag will appear showing the name of the product and a price, prompting them to click on it and take them to your online store. If you sell clothing or merchandise and showcase multiple items in a photo, you can tag up to five shoppable products per post to make buying multiple items quick and easy.
Utilize Instagram Stories
500 million people use Instagram Stories every day, so be sure to use this feature to promote your business’ products! When creating stories, use a product sticker to tag products, just like you would with a shoppable post. A product sticker is a prompt that allows the customer to learn about the product and, hopefully, make a purchase. You can also use the Swipe Up feature to allow customers to view your entire Instagram Shop!
Create Fun Reels
While Instagram Reels are relatively new to the platform overall, businesses can take advantage of the popularity of them to share fun and engaging videos that showcase products. Just like a shoppable post or story, business owners can tag products within a Reel to make it easy for customers to shop directly from it.
Take Advantage of Hashtags
When creating any shoppable post, don’t forget to use hashtags! Using general hashtags like #shoplocal, #shopsmall, #shoponline, and #shopinstagram can help your products appear in hashtag searches, as well as in the Shop and Explore pages.
Run Instagram Shopping Ads
To help reach new customers, make an Instagram Shopping Ad! By using Instagram’s Ads Manager—which is run through Facebook Ads—you can create two kinds of advertisements: ads with product tags and checkout or ads with product tags only. Creating shoppable ads is a perfect way to find new potential consumers and re-engage shoppers who have shown interest in your products.
Try Influencer Marketing
Although still in its testing phase, creators and influencers will soon be able to tag brand products in their posts! This emerging feature on Instagram Shop will allow influencers to promote products via a brand partnership. And because it’s part of the Instagram Shop feature, followers can tap the product tag and purchase the product, just like a regular shoppable post.
Interested in using Instagram for your business? Hurrdat Marketing offers social media marketing services that can help you get in front of your customers on top social media platforms. Reach out today to learn more!
