Instagram Shopping: Everything eCommerce Sellers Need to Know

Instagram Shopping finally hits the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Australia, Spain and Canada!

In March of last year, Instagram announced the rollout of their new Shopping feature to select US eCommerce businesses, specifically designed to help sellers sell more products directly through the app. When you look at the growing Instagram stats, it shouldn’t be a surprise just how successful Instagram Shopping has been since launching in the US.

 

Instagram currently has over 800 million monthly visitors and in the US alone its usage is growing 5X faster than other social networks. Add that to the fact that as many as 60% of people say that they first discovered a product on Instagram and 33% of the most viewed stories on Instagram are from business accounts, Instagram has become a leading selling tool for online sellers.

 

The bottom line is this: in a selling market where consumers want simpler and faster shopping experiences, Instagram Shopping taps into just that.

 

So how does it work?

 

Instagram Shopping places shoppable tags, in the form of a shopping bag icon, on your Instagram images. After prices are revealed, Instagram users are able to tap for more details where they are taken to a product details page pop that will include the product name, the price, and a ‘Shop’ button that will then take them to the relevant URL to add the product to their cart and check out.  

 

eCommerce Instagram shopping postseCommerce Instagram shopping postseCommerce Instagram shopping posts

 

During the beta testing last year, one large case study which included as 50 merchants found that Instagram Shopping increased traffic to their product pages and site by 1,416%, with some eCommerce sellers increasing their Instagram revenue by a whopping 100%.

 

Instagram shopping post examplesInstagram shopping post examplesInstagram shopping post examples

[Image Source]

 

There is no doubt that Instagram Shopping has had big success in the US and now, with the rollout of seven more additional countries, we’re only seeing the beginning of what Instagram Shopping will be doing for eCommerce sellers.

Convinced? Sure you are! Here’s everything you need to know about setting up Instagram Shopping.

 

How to Set Up Instagram Shopping

 

Uploading Products to Facebook Shop

 

To use Instagram Shopping, you need to make sure that your products have been imported into Facebook Shop. You can do this in bulk using eCommerce platform apps and tools or adding each product manually by following these Facebook instructions:

  1. From your Facebook page, click the ‘Shop’ section.
  2. Next, click ‘Add Product.’
  3. Next, add product image, price, description, shipping options, etc.

how to set up Facebook shop

  1. Select ‘Advanced Options’ to put in the custom tax rate for each product.
  2. Once you have clicked ‘Save,’ each product is reviewed and then approved by Facebook before it shows up in your shop. Here’s Facebook’s Product Listing Guideline.

example of big eCommerce brands using Facebook shop

 

 

Setting Up Instagram Product Tags  

Once you have ensured that your product catalogs are synced up with Facebook Shop, you’re ready to set up Instagram Shopping by following these simple steps, with the help of Instagram’s setup wizard:

 

  1. Update your Instagram App to ensure you have the latest version
  2. In your Instagram business profile, click the ‘Options’ tab and scroll down to select products
  3. Authenticate, via Facebook account, your Instagram business account
  4. Select the product catalog you would like to sync with Instagram
  5. Choose and upload your Instagram-ready product photo
  6. Tag products in your uploaded photo
  7. Click ‘Share’!

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You really don’t have anything to lose and everything to gain with Instagram Shopping. For now, adding shoppable Instagram tags doesn’t cost you anything, unless of course, you create ads from those shopping posts. With increased traffic and sales almost guaranteed, sellers who are not doing what they can to get in on this action earlier, are missing out on huge earning potential.

 

And what’s next? There are some indications that Instagram is looking to extend shopping to video and carousel posts, as well as expanding to more countries. If it’s not in your country yet, it will be soon. So get ahead of the game by sorting out your Facebook shop feeds now, and of course, improving your Instagram engagement and following so that you’re ready when it does.

 

With that, I will leave you with 5 Instagram Follower Growth tips to get you started.

 

Bonus: 5 Tips to Grow Your eCommerce Instagram Account

 

Instagram Growth Hack 1: Tell a Story

It’s not just about the quality of the picture and which or how many tags you use; like any social platform, your posts and account should tell your brand’s story or show off your brand personality. Here’s an example.

 

good example of eCommerce on instagram

 

Instagram Growth Hack 2: Take Full Advantage of Less Popular Hashtags

You have up to 30 hashtags to use on each post, but if all of them are bringing the number of uses to the millions, you’re going to lose out of being seen. Like with any marketing - go niche. Be creative with your hashtags.

 

top hashtags on Instagram

 

For example, say you want to tag #love; you will be competing with over a billion posts, but if you include #younglove or #springlove - whichever matches your products or brand - you could enjoy more reach.  

 

Instagram Growth Hack 3: Have a Branded #Hashtag and Cross-Promote It

Remember that #Shareacoke campaign? This is a great example of using branded hashtags promoted on various channels and on the product to push Instagram engagement and followers.

 

#shareacoke campaign

 

Instagram Growth Hack 4: Be Engaged

You can increase your Instagram account awareness by engaging with and liking photos that fall in the niche you’re selling in. Want proof? Just look at Freshly Picked, which now has over 800k followers, who started her growth spurt by searching niche hashtags and spent time on her target audiences’ Instagram accounts, engaging and liking photos.  

 

 

Instagram Growth Hack 5: Run an Instagram Competition

 

how to run an Instagram competition

 

Running a contest on Instagram can be a big follower grower and traffic driver. Sprout Social has the following tips on creating and hosting a successful Instagram contest:

  1. Follow Instagram rules and guidelines
  2. Use a branded hashtag
  3. Put effort into video, photo or graphics creation
  4. Make it easy to enter
  5. Take advantage of UGC (user-generated content)
  6. Make it fun and promote it
  7. Use the right tools

You can read their full guide to Instagram competitions here.

Nicole Blanckenberg

Nicole is an eCommerce business blogger, Small Biz consultant, and content managing wizard with over 16 years of experience. She runs on a healthy dose of caffeine and enthusiasm. When she's not researching the next content trend or creating informative small business content, she's an avid beachgoer, coffee shop junkie or hanging out on LinkedIn.

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