Millions of people upload audiovisual content to Instagram every day, including it in their stories that appear at the top. However, what happens when social networks are no longer spaces just for people?
Nowadays, companies have made an effort to penetrate these platforms and use them as spaces to promote products and/or services. This practice has grown since Instagram allowed companies to create profiles and will continue to grow even more, thanks to its new update for online shopping: Instagram Shopping .
In this sense, Instagram is the social network that is managing to awaken the greatest interest among brands, not only because of its wide popularity among Internet users, but also because of the various tools it offers to companies, such as: knowing the statistics of their followers (gender, country of residence, level of interaction), the KPIs of the publications (number of likes, followers, comments, etc.) and now, adding price tags to the publications .
What is Instagram Shopping?
Instagram Shopping is a new way for advertisers (companies that make a living on this platform) to promote and market their products, while offering users an interactive platform for online shopping.
From now on, some brands will be able to tag several of their products within a photograph, as if it were a catalogue with prices. With this feature, the Facebook subsidiary will turn Instagram users into potential buyers. In other words, it will facilitate the conversion process on which the inbound marketing methodology is based to materialize successful purchases.
A new update?
On March 20, 2018, Instagram announced that the function for users to make purchases through this social network is now available. In this global effort to monetize content and interactions in digital media, Instagram has taken the opportunity to launch its new update.
It is worth noting that this feature is currently only available to approved businesses in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.
If your company operates in these countries and you want to take advantage of this feature starting today, it is important that you first know some mandatory requirements to activate Instagram Shopping :
Your business must sell physical products that comply with the merchant agreement and cellphone number philippines commerce policies .
You must convert your Instagram account into a business profile.
You must have the latest version of the Instagram app.
Your business profile must be connected to a Facebook listing, which you can create and manage in Business Manager through the Shopify and BigCommerce platforms, or directly on your business's Facebook page.
For more details on these steps, we invite you to read: Guide to activate Instagram Shopping
Once you meet the above requirements, Instagram will review your account to make it eligible for this feature. This process usually takes a few days, but sometimes the Instagram team may need to review your account in more detail, which could make the process longer.
Finally, if your account is approved, you will receive a message from Instagram notifying you that you can now activate product tagging in your account settings.
The great advantage that Instagram Shopping offers you is that you can tag products that are in both new and existing posts. You can tag up to five products, if the post has a single image, or up to 20 products, if the post has multiple images. Here are some examples:
instagram-shopping-product-label
What will the user experience be like with this update?
In order for Instagram users to view your price tags, they must tap on the bottom left of your post. Instantly, a small window will appear (something similar to what happens when you tag profiles) identifying the products in the image, information regarding the name of each item and its price.
Once a particular tag is selected, a new detailed view of the product is displayed. This way, your followers can click on the “Buy Now” link (which acts as a call to action ) to go directly to your e-commerce or virtual store where your product is located.
To test this new experience, Instagram is counting on the participation of major US-based retail brands such as: Abercrombie & Fitch, BaubleBar, Chubbies, Coach, Hollister, J.Crew, JackThreads, Kate Spade New York, Levi's Brand, Lulus, Macy's, Michael Kors, Tory Burch, Warby Parker and Shopbop.
It is also important to note that Instagram will not generate revenue directly from this new feature, but rather will do so through its status as an advertiser, offering paid advertising to brands that wish to promote particular content.
By displaying your products in the news feeds of both users who already follow you and those who don't. In other words, this company will not take a percentage of your sales, but will charge the corresponding cost of advertising your post.
Instagram is also planning to complement these features with a button to save products that will allow users to purchase them at a later time, along with the possibility of adding these Instagram Shopping tags to videos as well.
In short, Instagram Shopping will become a key ally for those business profiles whose growth in followers can translate into growth in their sales.
The simplicity and speed that this tool offers generates a much more successful shopping experience for Instagram users, who in fact, already use this social network as a space to find out what brands are currently offering on the market.