Instagram Shopping – The most important in a nutshell |
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Instagram now offers much more than just sharing pictures or videos. More and more influencers and online stores are advertising products on Instagram. But users are always redirected to external platforms to complete their purchases there. Why not simply use Instagram Shopping and offer customers the opportunity to buy products directly on the platform? With Instagram Shopping, switching between platforms is no longer necessary, so customers can complete their purchases faster and then continue to scroll through Instagram in a relaxed manner. We’ll show you the benefits of Instagram Shopping and how you can sell your products directly on Instagram.
The Instagram Shopping feature enables the trend of social commerce, making it easy to sell products within the social media platform. Through your company’s posts, users can easily click on your products and buy them directly. To do this, the post just needs to be tagged with a product name, price, and a link and they can buy. Once you’ve added a product catalog to your Instagram profile, you can easily offer your products via posts, stories, in the Explore section, or in the Shop tab. Products are easily tagged like friends and identified by a shopping bag icon on the post.
Nowadays, there are a lot of distractions on the internet, so a lot of things just get lost due to the huge information overload. That’s exactly why you can use Instagram shopping to grab users’ attention for yourself. The ability to do everything directly in the app, without having to switch to an external site, is a huge advantage. This sets you apart as a business. Besides the direct and uncomplicated purchase, there are also some other advantages that come with Instagram Shopping:
Basically, it is only possible on Instagram to integrate a single link in the bio. As a result, there are hardly any opportunities to present one’s own products, because a display of multiple product links is thus only possible to a limited extent. However, Instagram Shopping offers exactly the right solution for this: customers can view a variety of products directly on the platform and get excited about them.
Companies can thus use Instagram Shopping for collections and present their offers to customers directly in the app. Through the company’s current feed and offers, customers develop more trust in the brand and are more likely to intend to buy something. Once the will to buy is there, everything can be done directly in the app and there is no need to redirect to an external platform. It’s also worth mentioning that Instagram Shopping is completely free.
In order to sell one’s own products within the Instagram Shopping function, they can be linked in the popular posts through product pins. The following options are available:
Tag products with Instagram Shopping on posts
First of all, some requirements must be met in order to use Instagram Shopping for your own business. Services generally cannot be sold via Instagram Shopping, only pure product sales are currently possible. In addition, Instagram’s commerce guidelines must be adhered to and the latest app version must be used. You can recognize this by the shopping bag in your profile. If this feature is not yet available, you can simply update the Instagram app. An Instagram business account and an existing online store are also basic requirements. Instagram Shopping can then be set up with a few clicks in the Instagram settings.
We’ll show you how to set up Instagram Shopping for your account in four steps:
First, you need an Instagram Business account, this will then be linked to your Facebook account. The linking can be done easily through the Instagram settings. In the settings under the item “Accounts” select “Linked accounts”, there you log in with the Facebook profile and a link will be created automatically.
If the Instagram Business account already exists, you can go directly to the “Set up product catalog” item. This will link the profile to a catalog via Facebook. There are two options here. Either an existing online store, such as from Shopify, can be linked to the Facebook account or you have to create your own product catalog directly as a Facebook store. Important to mention: The “E-Commerce” tab must be selected in order for shopping tags to appear on the images.
Once these steps are done, you can go to your Instagram profile. There, in the profile settings, first go to “Business” and then to “Instagram Shopping”. Here you now need to submit your account for review. Approval can take anywhere from a few days to a week and a half, and you will receive a notification via email accordingly. After the approval, you only need to select the appropriate Facebook Shop in the Instagram settings and the creation of products can start.
For this purpose, a function will be enabled for you both in the feed and in the stories. When uploading new products, you can now work with the help of the “Mark products” option. Once you tag products on the photos, they will appear directly in the Shopping Feed on Instagram. Multiple products can also be selected on one image. Users can thus directly view the products for sale, click on them and, in the best case, buy them directly via Instagram Shopping.
It may sound elaborate at first, but Instagram Shopping offers, in addition to the already mentioned advantages, above all a simplified buying experience. After all, when making a purchase, most customers usually want it to be quick.
Via the catalog in their Instagram profile, that’s exactly what’s possible. As users scroll through Instagram, they discover posts with linked products. If their interest is piqued, they click on the highlighted products and are taken directly to the stored product catalog. There, they can now look at and select any products they want.
The step to purchase is then not that big anymore, because everything can be completed directly via the app. As a result, there is no need to switch platforms, and browsing is hardly interrupted by the short checkout process.