With the unfurling of the pandemic, one could not step outside to shop. It is during the peak of crisis that Instagram shopping rose to prominence.
If you’re not using Instagram for the promotion of your business, you’re majorly missing out, given the fact that more than 500 million people daily use Instagram in which 50% of them follow at least one business.
You might be wondering how people shop on Instagram and how it helps in the promotion and growth of one’s business profile.
Before we delve into the nuances, it is important to understand what exactly an Instagram shop is.
What is an Instagram Shop?
An Instagram shop allows you to display and showcase your products by integrating your product catalogue with your profile, which enables the users to check your products through stories, reels, posts in the explore tab and in a special shop tab, present on your Instagram profile.
Benefits of Instagram shop
Instagram, undoubtedly is the king of promotion, and Instagram Shop is the facilitator. Using Instagram Shop brings with it many benefits. Firstly, it eases the process of shopping for the customer by reducing friction. Instead of bringing the customers to the store, the store is brought to the customers. Browsing the product catalogue will give you all the necessary inputs. You can checkout without leaving the Instagram page and once ordered, you get notifications about the delivery and shipping. Second, Instagram connects the brand with their customers by integrating your Instagram content and promotes it by posting stories and feed posts seamlessly. Third, Instagram shops help in bringing your product in the eyes of those users who have a high purchase intent. Whenever you tag a product, the post gets included in Instagram’s Shopping Explore tab. You can get high Instagram engagement by using relevant hashtags. This will allow you to promote your product to the target market since posts are much personalised based on what the customer wants. Thus, Instagram shops are a king in boosting sales seamlessly.
Complete Guide to start the shop
This guide will assist you in creating an Instagram shop. It’s a very easy process where you need to sync three essential components.
- Shopify store
- Facebook Page/Shop
- Instagram Business profile
Step 1:
The first step is to meet all the requirements of Instagram. You can only sell eligible purchase goods and must comply with the rules and regulations written in Instagram Commerce policies. Next, you must visit the Instagram shop’s page to check the list of the country. Your country must be enrolled in order to access the features. Now, ensure you have the updated version of Instagram app. Once you have the updated one, you will find the shop bag icon on the posts that are meant for sale. If you don’t see, go to the device settings and update the app. Now to start, you must have an Instagram business profile which is very easy to create. Simply go to the settings and click on switch to business profile. Then link your Instagram page with your Facebook business page which can be done by going to the settings and clicking on the option Linked accounts and linking them.
Step 2:
The second step requires you to integrate your product catalogue to your Facebook page. Having linked your account with the Facebook page, now you simply need to create a Facebook shop. The two ways in which you can create a Facebook shop. First by creating a standalone Facebook shop. However, it has certain drawbacks. For instance: You must have a website already created. Creating a standalone Facebook shop will be double the labor and tracking the product can get complicated. Second way is by syncing the product catalogue with your Facebook. It will ease your tracking process and is less time consuming. Due to this, you can rather focus on your sales without doing additional labor.
After creating the Facebook shop sync your product catalogue to it which will allow you the scope to promote the products directly on Facebook. If you haven’t synced, then create a Shopify store and add your products to it. Then connect the Shopify store with the Facebook page. Click the plus sign beside the “Sales Channel” options on the Shopify Home page. After your accounts are connected, start adding your product catalogue to the Facebook page. To do this, go to the product manager in the Shopify Home page and then select products. Click “Make products available” and then select Facebook. And it’s done.
Step 3:
The third step requires you to set up an Instagram sales channel in the Shopify Home page in a similar way. Click the plus sign beside the “Sales Channel” options on the Shopify Home page, and add Instagram.
Step 4:
The fourth step entails approval. Ensure you have completed these steps:
- Switched to business profile
- Linked accounts
- Linked Shopify store with the Facebook page.
- Synced your products to the Facebook shop
- Linked Shopify store with the Instagram account.
Once you have done this, wait for the approval which will take a few days. Once approved, Instagram will notify you with the same update.
Step 5:
The fifth step requires you to confirm the Facebook shop you aim to add to your Instagram, once you have been notified with the approval. Click “Get started” on the notification or on the business settings option and tap “shopping”. Then, choose the Facebook shop you want to use. Doing this will sync your product catalogue across Instagram, Facebook shop and Shopify store. And it’s done, you have an Instagram shop.
Step 6:
The last step is promotion of the products. After you are all done with the previous steps, tag the products in Instagram posts and stories for promotion. Tagging your product is a simple task. It’s the same as tagging people. Next, your post will have the shopping bag icon and shopping tag. Just as a reminder, you can tag five products per image and 20 products per multi-image posts. However, you need to have one Instagram shop post in order to activate the “Shop” tab on the business profile.
The process to set up an Instagram shop can be very tedious but is worth the time and labour. It helps you grow your sales and increases the engagement. Sell on Instagram even during a crisis by bringing the store to the customer, instead of waiting for the customer.
