How to set up an Instagram shop in 9 easy steps

Many, if not all, e-commerce businesses today can take advantage of the benefits that an Instagram Shop offers. Why? Instagram has around 200 million active users, most of which visit at least one business daily. That’s why you must learn how to set up an Instagram shop in 9 easy steps. After all, you really can pass up the countless benefits that this platform offers you and your business.

 

Among all the social media platforms, Instagram has taken leaps for creating and establishing e-commerce. Because of this, it can help you to grow your business. So, what’s exactly an Instagram Shop?

 

What is an Instagram shop?

 

An Instagram shop is a space where you can link your product catalog with your Instagram profile. This way, you will be able to directly promote your products to this platform’s users.

 

For this, you will be able to use posts and stories. You can also use a special store and an explore tab on your profile.

 

But this isn’t all. You can also tag your Instagram Shop’s products on your posts, just like when you tag a friend. On the other hand, a shopping bag will show up in your images.

 

This way, as soon as they touch your image, they will see prices and touch the product labels.

 

What can you see on the product pages of an Instagram store?

 

Learning how to set up an Instagram Shop is a great opportunity for your business for many reasons.

 

Your users can get all the information they need from your product’s page before buying them.

 

For example, they can know:

 

• The names of the products.
• The images of the products.
• Product descriptions.
• The prices of the products.
• The links to view the products on your website.
• Related products.

How does an Instagram shop work?

 

When buying, the user experience can change considerably if you use this tool. The Instagram shop works as follows:

 

• An Instagram user chooses to follow a brand’s account.
• This user will be able to see a product in their feed through a post from the brand they like through Instagram.

 

If the brand labels the product, the user can click on it to view its details. The user can also obtain information on the product’s name and price through that same label.

 

As a result, from this same label, the user can go directly to the brand’s website for its product. This way, Instagram Shop makes life easier for brands since they can reach the conversion stage faster.

 

Another important piece of information is that Instagram Shop is available for both stories and posts. However, even if you post images without the product’s information, the user won’t get confused. This is because they will be able to see a bag icon on those images that do have information. It will show up in the left-hand corner of the image without issues. Next, we’ll show you the steps you need to take to set up your Instagram shop.

 

• Confirm that your company meets the requirements

 

Before setting up an Instagram shop, you must meet all the requirements Facebook sets.

 

This point is important to this company, as it’s the best way to ensure the proper use of their products.

 

Through these requirements, companies must provide real and transparent information.

 

 

 

What requirements must you meet to set up an Instagram Shop? 

 

• Let it be known that you agree to Instagram’s terms of use.
• Sell ​​physical products that comply with advertising and trade policies. The sale of digital products or the sale of services isn’t accepted in the Instagram store.
• Have a reliable fan base to guarantee its reliability.
• Install the latest version of Instagram.
• Comply with community standards, as well as the agreement with the merchant.
• Have a presence in the supported countries. Those companies that use a proxy service or a VPN to set up their Instagram shop may be penalized.
• Being the owner of a website, since from that domain the articles will be sold on social media.
• Have at least 9 posts in your feed.

There are many malicious people on the Internet, and to prevent your information from being wrongly disseminated you must verify your domain. This way, no one will be able to pose as your company.

 

• Convert your account to a business

 

Continuing to set up your Instagram shop, you must first confirm that you have a business profile on Instagram. If you don’t have it yet, don’t have to worry as it’s very easy to do. To activate it you must go to the option:

 

• Settings
• Account
• Change to commercial account.
• Add company information.

 

Once you carry out this step, you will need to associate your business Instagram profile with a Fan page on Facebook.

 

Also, it must be associated with an advertising account. The latter, you can easily set up with within the ad manager.

 

• Link your business Instagram account

 

Linking your business Instagram account to a fan page is also very easy. You just have to follow the following steps:

 

• Settings on Instagram.
• Account
• Linked accounts.
• Facebook
• Enter account.

 

Next, you need to add your Facebook email and password. This will finalize your process.

 

To carry out this second step you don’t need to have a store in Marketplace or on the Facebook page, the fan page will be enough.

 

• Create a product catalog

 

You must have a product catalog linked to your business profile to set up and activate your Instagram shop.

 

As a result, you cannot skip this easy step:

 

• Manual method 

 

You can easily find a catalog creator from the Facebook Ad Manager. You can use it to upload your products’ images alongside their description and price.

 

• Automatic method 

 

If you have a catalog in stock, you can integrate it into any e-commerce platform certified by Facebook. Some of them are OpenCart, Magento, WooCommerce, and Shopify.

 

• Wait for your account’s approval

 

After completing the previous step, you must submit your professional Instagram account for review. To do so, you must follow the following steps:

 

• Settings
• Registration to use the shopping function.

 

After this step, your account will undergo a verification process, during which it will be tested to see if it complies with all the requested requirements.

 

Generally, reviews of Instagram accounts only take a few days, or at least that’s what Instagram discloses. However, there is no exact verification period, as it will depend on the company’s characteristics.

 

Anyway, you can monitor your account’s review status in the configuration option, in the purchases tab. In some cases, companies may receive a notification requesting more information to verify their ownership of their web domain. 

 

• Activate shopping functions

 

Once your account is approved, you will get to the best part of the process. Now, you can activate the Instagram purchase functions by following the following steps:

 

• Setting
• Companies
• Purchase
• Continue

 

This section allows you to view all the catalogs you create in the Ads Manager.

 

Then, you just have to select the catalog with the products you want to connect to in your profile. To make the process easier, Facebook recommends centralizing all your inventory in a single catalog.

 

• Label your products

 

Once the shopping option is active in your Instagram shop, you can tag your Instagram stories and posts with products from your catalog.

 

To add product tags to your feed posts, you must upload a photo to Facebook as usual, and then you must find the option to “Tag Products.” To do this, you must touch the photo and then search for the item you want to link within the catalog.

 

Following this step, you must click on the “Done” option and publish the image by clicking on “share.” As you can see, this step is very simple, and it’s even similar to what you should do when you want to tag a person.

 

Also, by using this option, you can link 20 products per carousel and 5 products per image in your feed posts.

 

So once a follower views one of your posts and clicks on the image, the purchase labels with the price will show up at once, along with the product descriptions. As a result, the person will be able to select their preferred product on Instagram and be immediately directed to the linked virtual store.

 

• Add shopping stickers in stories

 

Next, in our guide on how to set up an Instagram Shop, you can also add shopping stickers to your stories. To do this step the right way, you need to do the following:

 

• Upload your story.
• Select your purchase sticker in the same section of stickers.
• Choose the product you want to stand out in your catalog.
• You can move the sticker and place it wherever you want in your story.
• By pressing the sticker, you can change the color of the text.

 

As you can see, this is very easy to do.

 

• Promote your products directly

 

Instagram is the most used social media platform, and it’s great for creating a good connection with the public. So, from the moment you finish setting up your Instagram Shop, you can start promoting all your products. You can do this in your posts and stories.

 

This way, you will avoid inconveniencing your followers when they click on the link to your biography. Once your company has a catalog of products connected to an Instagram store, you can tag your products to promote them directly. So, as you can see, this is one of the best advantages of having a store on this platform.

 

But this is not the only advantage that you will get from having an Instagram store.

 

Advantages of setting up an Instagram Shop

 

Once you have an Instagram store enabled, you can get many advantages:

 

It’s a 100% reliable place

 

An Instagram shop allows you to redirect your users to your website. This process builds trust in users who can then become buyers as it’s a site endorsed by an online store.

 

If your company is an SME, you can get a lot out of it 

 

If you already have a Facebook store and e-commerce, the process will be easier than you imagine. This is because you won’t need to upload certain information, and you will only have to wait for confirmation from different platforms.

 

Besides, this tool is very useful for SMEs because it can generate greater recognition and stand out from the competition. So, if you want to position all products, this option is a great opportunity to do so.

 

You will get more traffic from Instagram to your website 

 

By having a store on Instagram, you can increase traffic to your website. This is because once a user clicks on “buy”, they will arrive directly at your site.

 

Your brand will reach greater recognition

 

Instagram has millions of active users daily, and this is a great benefit for companies. Right now, there’s nothing more important for your company than having an Instagram Shop to reach more people. Besides, you must also take into account your geographic location and your segmentation to achieve greater recognition.

 

It will generate a greater number of orders

 

When an Instagram user is interested in buying, they will appreciate the immediacy. This will allow you to increase sales and know which users are coming from Instagram.

 

It’s easy to use

 

You can easily post your product on Instagram. As we have already told you in one of the previous points, this tool is very useful for companies, especially SMEs whose objective is to position their products.

 

However, to carry out this process, you must comply with some processes. For this reason, you must have an Instagram business account with e-commerce. On the other hand, you should also have a physical store, but it isn’t vital if you’re just entering the market.

 

Works as another source of positioning 

 

If your brand doesn’t have a good Google positioning, this tool can help you achieve greater visibility on Instagram and, as a result, a better social positioning.

 

Sales on social media are very advantageous for your company, and the more media you use, the more likely you are to get new sales. As the main objective of most businesses, we know that getting new clients is vital for its success and joining social media does just that. On the other hand, it also allows you to stand out from others in the market through your products.

 

For this reason, this tool becomes a great addition, even for your physical store.

 

How can you increase your sales through your Instagram Shop?

 

In any tool from the web, you can do different actions to increase your conversions. And here we mention some of them:

 

• You can constantly update the catalog of your products, and by doing this, as long as a catalog is active, you can get more clients
• You can use storytelling techniques to show your followers interesting content.
• Your brand philosophy should always stay relevant, and your store’s Instagram posts should be related to it.
• Be as creative as you can to post high-quality images. For this, try to spend as much time as possible on them.
• Remember to add descriptions to your products so that when users click on them, they can solve all their doubts.
• As soon as one of your products runs out of stock, be sure to remove them from your catalog.

 

By following these steps, you can increase your sales on Instagram. This tool is a must if you want to improve your conversions. So, if you are into e-commerce, you should use this option to stand out from others and optimize your products quickly.

 

What products do not apply for sales on Instagram?

 

In the same section, you can see the requirements you need to meet to set up an Instagram shop and the products you can’t sell on it. You must pay close attention to these unless you want to be penalized or, even worse, meet the cops.

 

Besides, before selling, you should check on Facebook which products you cannot sell. However, next, we’ll show you a list of some illegal products you can’t sell on Instagram:

 

• Tobacco
• Medicines
• Drugs
• Animals
• Alcohol
• Food Complements.
• Products or services for adults.
• Weapons
• Ammunition and explosives.
• Health products.
• Medical supplies
• Betting with real money.
• Dangerous machinery.

 

There are exceptions in some cases, but they will be at Facebook’s discretion since, for example, food supplements are allowed in some countries. If some of these products are in your business, consider other means of selling them.

 

BluCactus Korea, your ally in Digital Marketing

 

BluCactus is an international marketing agency serving clients worldwide. Our specialty is creating web designs and optimizing for online searches. Our team of experts focuses on helping businesses and brands succeed in one of the most competitive sectors in the market: the digital world.

 

BluCactus Korea will accompany you in every step of your brand’s creation, from branding your business to creating content. Our focus is on supporting you with the creation of your website or the administration of your social media accounts.

 

This online marketing agency, based in South Korea, seeks to strengthen your brand image and take it to the next level. Don’t wait any longer to have the help of the best digital marketing specialists; contact us through our social media or website.

 

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