Set Up Shopping on Your Instagram Account: Sell Directly to Customers
DIY Sprocket Solutions
With the huge leap in popularity in recent years, it’s no wonder that Instagram is expanding its capabilities to include new tools to help people buy and sell on the platform. People are flocking to Instagram to find influencers and brands that are touting the products that they love. Instagram has made the process of buying through Instagram easy by setting up “shopping” through your business as long as your account fulfills certain requirements.
If your business meets these qualifications, you can begin the process to sell:
- You must sell physical goods that comply with Instagram commerce policies
- Your business has to be located in one of their approved countries
- Your Instagram account must be converted into a business profile
- Your Business Profile must be associated with a Facebook catalog
- Your Facebook Business Profile can’t have restrictions like country or age. If you do have shipping restrictions, you must be clear about these on your website checkout page
Once you meet all of the above requirements, you can begin the next steps towards selling. First you’ll need to connect your Instagram business profile to your Facebook catalog. You’ll have to either add a shop section to your Facebook page or use a catalog on Business Manager. You can find detailed information on this step two of the process here.
After your Facebook shop is set up and linked, your account will be reviewed. The review process typically takes a few days. Once approved, you can then go in and add product tags or stickers on Instagram. Be sure that you have the latest version of the app and then go to your business profile to turn on product tags. There are ellipsis or a gear icon in the upper right hand corner of your screen. Tap this icon. Then tap “Shopping” under “Business Settings”, click continue, you’ll then have the option to select the product catalog that you want to use for shopping on Instagram and then click “Done”.
Now it’s time for you to create a post or a story for people to shop from!
From Instagram:
On Instagram posts, you can tag up to 5 products per single image or up to 20 products per multi-image post. Product tags in posts will show the name and price of your tagged products. You can tag products in both new and existing posts from your Instagram business profile.
In Instagram Stories, you can create one product sticker per story. Product stickers show the product name, and you can edit sticker color and text. You cannot edit stories that have been published, and will need to delete and re-publish.
Instagram is an image based platform. Shopping straight from posts and stories is a great opportunity for both businesses and buyers to achieve what they are searching for on Instagram. If you are using platforms like Instagram or Pinterest to feature your products through great images, this is an effective marketing move for your business. Have you shopped on Instagram yet? What are your thoughts? Comment below!
Breanne Bannon
Breanne is a Content Writer, Social Media Marketeer, and Sales Associate for Sprocket Websites.
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