During these last two years, there have been many changes in the dynamics and habits of society, especially in the way people and brands relate to each other. Those who were not yet using digital channels had to adapt quickly to a new environment. 

An increasing number of brands are using Instagram as a sales channel. And why wouldn’t they? It allows users to learn more about your brand and buy directly from the content in your feed without ever leaving the app. Did you know that more than 36% of small businesses don’t even have a website? And you don’t need one to start making sales on Instagram.

If your business is not yet making the most out of Instagram Shopping, you will be on your way to creating your online store at the end of this post!

 

Why Should My Brand Be On Instagram Shopping?

Instagram is so popular that it only makes sense to advertise your products there. 50% of Instagram users follow at least one business. Having a presence on Instagram Shopping will not only allow your brand to position itself on the platform, but if successfully configured, it will give you a greater reach of customers that could translate into sales. 

 

Steps Set Up Your Instagram Shopping

1. Define Your Niche: If you are starting your business on Instagram Shopping, figuring out your target audience is the first step. Once you have defined your niche, it will be easier to gather followers. You may want to learn the different ways to reach your buyer persona.

2. Create an Instagram Business Profile: Create or switch your account to an Instagram Business profile. It is free, and it will get you helpful new tools such as products reviews, sponsored posts, ads, scheduled posts, quick replies, branded content, links to Instagram stories, and more.

3. Set Up Your Instagram Shop: Ok, you have established your buyer persona and switched to a Business account. What’s next? Go to Settings, tap on Creator, and click Set Up Instagram Shopping.

From there, you’ll need to follow the steps required by Instagram to activate your Instagram Shopping. You will now have access to a dashboard that will help you create an immersive shopping experience, so be sure to explore all the options to get the most out of this tool.

From now on, users who visit your profile can browse products and shop from your feed, post, or stories.

4. Create Shoppable Posts: Create posts that fuel the desire to buy, with fresh content, stunning photos, and engaging copy. You can also tag your product in your previous posts if you have any.

Recently Instagram added the option to tag products in stories as well! You can do this by swiping up on your story to access the stickers section. Tap on the Shopping sticker and tag your product.

5. Create Regular Posts Too: Nothing in excess is good. We don’t want to overwhelm our followers with sales posts all over the place. One way to calculate this is by following the 80/20 rule, a strategy that ensures a balance in our content. 80% should be regular, non-shoppable posts and 20% should be shoppable.

Of course, this varies depending on different factors, such as what kind of categories you include in your content and how often you post.

6. Get On The Explore Page: This is perhaps the most complicated step because of different variables to consider. The truth is, the intention of every post you make as a seller on Instagram should be to appear on the Explorer page.

The benefits are clear, the more people who see your posts, the more likely you will increase conversions. Creating valuable and engaging content will be the key to fighting for a place in the Explore plage.

We recommend you mix different types of content such as Reels and Stories, fine-tune your posting times, and make content that resonates with your audience.

7. Try Live Shopping: Instagram Live Shopping is an interactive shopping experience, allowing you to sell products directly on your stream. You can do this at any time and promote your products while people are tuning in.

There is a world of possibilities with this tool. For example, you can build hype by scheduling the announcement of a new product and launching it on a live event, giving users the option to buy it while creating awareness in real-time. If you like to interact live with your audience, this is a dream come true.

The only drawback is that it is only available for US-based stores.

8. Use Instagram Checkout: Instagram Checkout allows your customers to buy your products without having to leave the app. Plus, users are more likely to purchase when there are fewer steps between them and what they want.

This feature is available, for now, only for store owners in the United States. But Instagram plans to expand it to more countries later.

Instagram Shopping is a powerful tool that gives you total control over how you choose to display your product on a platform used daily by millions of users. And it’s free. It sounds like a good deal, doesn’t it?

Explore this tool in-depth and start selling to those looking for your product – even those who didn’t know they needed it.