Marketing Digital
Instagram Shopping is an Instagram feature that allows you to link products, visible in posts and stories, to a virtual store or e-commerce website, such as Shoptify. It was launched in 2018 and only verified businesses in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States could use it.
But in September 2020, that all changed: Instagram expanded its list of markets and now the shopping feature is available in more countries in Europe and Latin America, including Colombia; and in regions across the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Pacific.
In light of this good news, we invite you to learn with us what specific actions you should follow to successfully activate Instagram Shopping within your professional account, especially if you are located in Latin America.
Steps to activate Instagram Shopping
steps-to-set-up-instagram-shopping
1. Confirm that your company meets the requirements
Before you can start an Instagram shop, you must ensure that you meet all the business requirements requested by Facebook Inc.
The company's goal is to ensure that people use its products appropriately and that companies provide real, honest and transparent information.
But… what are these requirements?
Agree to Instagram's Terms of Use
Comply with community standards and the agreement for traders
Sell physical products that comply with the trade and advertising policies . The sale of services or digital products is not accepted.
Have a presence in supported countries . There are penalties for using a VPN or proxy service when setting up Instagram Shopping.
Have an authentic follower base that confirms your reliability.
Own a website domain from which items will be sold.
Install the latest version of Instagram.
Have published at least nine photos on the feed.
Note: We recommend verifying your domain to prevent malicious people from spreading misinformation impersonating your business and to speed up the approval process for your account.
2. Link your business account to Facebook
First of all, you need to make sure you have a business profile on Instagram. If not, activate it as follows: Settings > Account > Switch to business account > Switch to business account > Add business information.
Then, your Instagram business profile must be associated with a Facebook fan page and an advertising account within the ads manager, which you can also create without any problems.
How to link your Instagram account to a fan page? Go to Settings on Instagram > Account > Linked accounts > Facebook > Enter account. Add your Facebook email and password to complete the process.
Please note that you do not need to have a store on your Facebook page or Marketplace. A fan page is sufficient.
3. Create a product catalog
To activate Instagram Shopping , you need to have a product catalog linked to your business profile. There are two ways you can do this:
Manually , through the catalog creator available in the Facebook Ads Manager, where you can upload photographs of your products with their respective descriptions and prices.
Automatically , by integrating any existing catalog within Facebook-certified e-commerce platforms such as Shopify , BigCommerce , WooCommerce , Open Cart and Magneto .
4. Wait for your account to be approved
Once you have completed the previous step, you must submit your Instagram professional account for review by following these steps: Settings > Register to use the “Shopping” feature.
Your account will then automatically undergo a verification process to assess whether you meet all the requested requirements.
According to Instagram, account reviews are usually completed within germany whatsapp number a few days, but sometimes they take longer – there is no exact verification period because it depends on the specifics of each business.
We recommend that you regularly check the “Purchases” option in “Settings” to find out the status of your account review process.
Note: Some businesses may receive a notification asking for additional information to certify that they own the website domain listed in the profile.
Once your account is approved, you can activate the Shopping feature on Instagram by following these steps: Settings > Business > Shopping (cart icon) > Continue. This will show you all the catalogs you created in the Ads Manager, either manually or through Shopify, for example.
So you need to select the product catalog you want to connect to your profile.
Note: Facebook recommends centralizing all your inventory in a single catalog to make the process easier.
6. Label your products
Once the shopping option is active, you can start tagging Instagram posts and stories with products from your catalog. Here's how to do it:
How to add product tags to your feed posts?
Upload a photo to Facebook as you normally would, then look for the “Tag products” option, tap the photo and find the item in the catalog you want to link to and click “Done.” To post the image, press the “Share” option.
instagram-shopping-product-label
If you notice, it's as simple as tagging a person. Keep in mind that you can only link five products per image and up to twenty per carousel in your feed posts.
Now, every time a follower views your post and clicks on the image, they will see the shopping tags with the price and a brief description of the product. The person can select the product of their choice and Instagram will automatically take them to the linked online store. Here's a look: