How to Sell on Instagram

Using social media to expand the reach of your business is marketing 101. Over the years social media has made it easier to not only reach potential clients but also have clients purchase directly from your store. This link between social media and shopping can be a vital tool for your business’ success.

Recently Instagram has introduced Product Tagging to the platform. Instagram’s product tagging is an effective way to turn your posts into a mobile sales channel.  We have provided some tips that will get you going so your Instagram posts can also be mini-advertisements for your products that leads to direct buying.

This works especially well if your product line offers things that people buy with their eyes. Products like clothes, jewelry, or home decor can easily be sold this way. This makes instagram is a great social media channel to use for your business.

Instagram is an image-based social media platform, primarily on mobile device.  This social, in the moment kind of content that is tied to taking images with phone cameras is what separates it from Pinterest. Pinterest on the other hand has content is more permanent and the platform is also desktop friendly.

Now Instagram is the ultimate platform for creating a feed of product hero shots. It should be noted that a product hero shot is the leading visual representation of your brand’s product or service. On Instagram your images are typically of real people using your products in their lives. I mean it really doesn’t get any better than that, or does it?

Well it does now, because Instagram has now allowed you to tag your product with descriptions and pricing info with a link to your eCommerce website where you can get the sale.

How to Get Started With Instagram Shopping

One great thing about Instagram shopping is that it is synced with Facebook Shop. Now this means that you will need to already be set up with a product catalog on Facebook. Once you have set this up then you will have to be approved for Instagram Shopping.  Once both of these things have been completed, then the set up on Instagram is pretty straightforward.

To enable Instagram product tagging:

1. Tap  to go to your profile
2. Tap the Get Started alert at the top of your profile
3. If you don’t see the alert in the image above, tap 
4. Tap Shopping
5. Tap Continue
6. Select a product catalog to connect to your business profile
7. Tap Done

Once this is set up, you will need to get images that show your products and begin tagging them in your posts.

Notes and Tips

• You have to use the mobile Instagram app to manage the shopping features.  Unfortunately you can’t manage any of these features or see the shopping icon from a desktop or laptop computer.
• Because you have to add tags to shoppable posts from the mobile app, you have to do this individually on each post. Currently this means that you can’t use any social media management tools like Hootsuite to create shoppable Instagram posts. You will need to do this individually
• Right now you are able to get data on how many people have tapped onto your product, explored the description and clicked through to your website.  The analytic data will show conversions as a referral from Instagram.
• You will want to get data on the types of images, products, and posts that will get more engagement and conversions from your posts. You will want to use this data to create more convertible content. It is important to keep in mind how much power an image has to sell your product.  Having well composed hero shots that show real people enjoying the product are very effective motivators.  Influencer images are a must for product tagging.
• At this time you can’t tag products in Instagram stories or videos.

Keep in mind that Instagram is still a social media platform, and not just another place for you to publish your product catalog.  You will want to create content that is shareable and that will be engaging to your Instagram audience.  This is your first goal.  Product tagging is a great tool that can strengthen your connection between your audience and your brand and products.  This can lead to getting more sales if your content is getting likes and comments, so don’t be too promotional.

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If you have questions or concerns about your Social Media presence, give Stratedia a call at 860.415.0430  or visit us online at stratedia.com. We‘re ranked #1 as the top seo company CT by Clutch.co! Let Stratedia help you, GET TO THE TOP!