Why Instagram Shopping is the powerful feature your brand needs

 

By Shifa Sarguru, SOCIATE’s Copywriting Intern

 

The ideal customer journey is like a waterslide. As a brand, your attention is stretched between keeping viewers engaged, maintaining a speedy site load time, and keeping your site mobile-friendly. All in the name of a seamless customer journey! Make it easier with Instagram Shop.

 

Capturing your audience’s attention and creating a seamless buyer experience is easy with Instagram. With 90% of Instagram users following at least one business profile, the multimedia app has entered a new era. 

 

Set up an Instagram shop to reduce the time between thinking and buying

 

Instagram Shop is a feature that lets you showcase your product catalogue on your profile. You can promote your products directly through Instagram posts, stories, and a dedicated shop tab on your profile.

 

Why is it so beneficial?

 

– With hashtags and creating engaging content and Instagram pictures, you can end up on the Explore tab where 200 million accounts visit daily. 

 

– Instagram Shopping feature lets you tag your products in your posts like you would tag your friends. 

 

This feature is a game-changer for brands

 

You can now promote your newly launched products in posts and tag them!  

 

Viewers can easily tap, get extra information such as price and save your product for later. 

Why should your brand set up shop on Instagram?

 

– Instagram does not allow external working links in a post’s description. The only way to add a link is in the profile bio. This problem is easily solved through product tags. Now every product can be linked to your shop in the post itself. You no longer have to type “link in the bio” in every post description.

 

According to a 2019 Facebook study, 54% of Instagram users purchased items after seeing them on Instagram Shop.

 

Instagram shopping is a real-time interactive shopping experience that reduces the need for the customer to click on additional links for more information. 

 

How does it help? Customers can access product information and complete payment on one single app – making for a more seamless shopping experience.

 

Make use of the Explore Tab 

 

– Users scrolling through the Explore Tab tend to have a higher purchase intent than a casual browser. 

 

– By optimising your Instagram page and increasing your engagement, your products can appear in the Shopping Explore tab. 

 

– Your target audience will be shown your products based on their past engagement and interests.

 

Laura Dover, Global Digital Communication Manager at Barbour comments, “Since we started to use the feature, our sales from Instagram have increased by 42% and traffic to our website from Instagram is up 98%”.

 

The basics of setting up your shop:

 

– Remember that you can’t use Instagram Shop to sell services, only physical products.

 

– Check whether the Instagram Shop feature is available in your country here.

 

– Your business must be in line with Instagram’s e-commerce qualifications and needs to have its own website domain with a functional shop.

 

– Make sure your brand has a business manager account. 

 

Introduce your product catalogue

 

– You can import your product listings from Instagram-supported platforms or you can start by filling out your shop information in Instagram’s commerce manager.

 

Wait for Instagram’s approval

 

– Review your shop and then submit it for Instagram to approve. 

 

– The process may take some time. Once your account is good to go, Instagram will send you a notification. 

 

Tag your products in your posts, add product stickers to your stories, engage with your customers, and take your business to the next level by setting up an Instagram Shop. Too busy to do it? Leave it in the hands of our social media mavens and we’ll set up shop for you. Get in touch with us at [email protected].