The Small Business Guide to Instagram eCommerce

Small business owners often wonder about the reasons to use Instagram for their business. The best and peculiar reason to use Instagram for business is that the platform has over 2.3 billion global users and thousands of new users are joining each day.

At least 500 million users on the platform use Instagram stories daily. Hence creating video content and marketing for your business is the demand of this decade.

Global surveys say that 80 out of 100 Instagram accounts follow at least one business on their platform and at least 70 out of the 100 users prefer to shop from mobile.

Now if you manage your content and business strategically it could be one of your products that could be in demand in the Instagram eCommerce market.

In this article, we will enlighten you about taking advantage of Instagram eCommerce.

So that sales and revenue of your business can increase.

1. Setting up Instagram Shopping

Before moving on to the product catalogue you must check your eligibility and complete the account set up. Make sure that your business sells physical goods, is located in a supported market, and complies with Instagram eCommerce policies.

After the successful setup of your Instagram business account, you must connect it to your Facebook business page.

A) Create and Connect your Catalog
Your Facebook catalogue must now be synced with up your business Instagram profile. There are two methods to do so and you can choose the one that suits you.

The first method is through the Catalog manager where you yourself will have to do it.

When starting from scratch it is recommended that you head over to Facebook’s catalogue manager and choose the eCommerce catalogue option. For more details visit the setup details in the help section.

The second method is by adding your Facebook business account (already connected with the Instagram eCommerce business account) to either Shopify or which are Facebook’s certified partners.

After adding your account it will be sent for review and once it is accepted you will be notified in the Instagram app.

2. Engaging the Audience

Engaging your community with more than just business content is important. Paid promotion is one of the best methods but we still recommend using organic posts so you can establish a community with your customers and build trust.

A) Focus on user generated content

Involve your community by posting user-generated content. It will expand your reach and also boost sales. If you are just beginning reach out to customers ask them for reviews.

You can share their reviews on your profile and tag them. This will promote user engagement and brand interaction.

B) Experiment with Instagram Ads

Organic reach has certain limits but by investing small amount in Instagram Ads can help you in attaining more visibility. It is an effective method to reach a target audience based on their interests, demographics, and behavior.

3. Learning to measure the success of Instagram eCommerce

It is essential to know that all the efforts made by you are baring fruits. Visit your Instagram business account and click on your profile.

To check the Instagram analytics including comments, likes, and purchases visit Insight Tab option. On obtaining such information you can obtain valuable data and analyze the posts and products which have received considerable traffic.

This will help you in focusing on posts that the users like so that you can stock up on similar kind of inventory.
In addition to these insights, you can also learn about the users that interact with your posts through this area. You can view the geographical details, gender, and age range.

If you are running Instagram Ads you can also view activity based on impressions and reach. The Facebook Ads manager reporting will display all this information on the computer but even without a computer, you can access this information from the insights tab.

4. Checkout

Instagram checkout was launched earlier this year in March and is still in a closed beta program.

Their posts appear like organic posts but they do not redirect the users to other websites and keep them on the Instagram platform which results in a faster and seamless shopping experience for users.

The posts can appear in the stories, feed, and also in the explore tab. There is an undisclosed selling fee that charges the merchants instead of users which will increase the conversion rates for your business. The fee is expected to be affordable for the eCommerce brands.

5. Branded Content

One of the excellent ways to maximize product exposure to potential customers is by using posts from other brands that tag you. When other established business tags your products and page in their posts it receives exposure and definite hits.

This feature is functioning prominently with Facebook and this year Instagram has rolled out this to influencers for testing.

Recently they have invited more accounts for testing it. So keep checking and utilize these features as soon as you get a chance.

6. Product Tagging

A shoppable photo tag is one of the most impactful Instagram eCommerce profile features. It has now extended support to a total of 45 countries. It enables businesses to include special discounts and tag item prices during the publication of photos.

It also allows adding a unique description to every appropriate tagged product and it can differ from the main context of the post.

This appears as soon as a user taps on the price. It is possible to add up to 20 prices on a carousel post and up to five prices in one photo. The best part is that the shop section appears directly on the Instagram homepage.
With the written permission of Facebook, agencies can offer services like ticket booking, cleaning, and other promotional services.

The Instagram eCommerce platform is gaining popularity from the ‘One Tap Show’ feature and also from the ‘Now More’ function in promotional posts and stories. They are also working dedicatedly on enabling a payment system and native booking facility.

Instagram allows users to adapt their accounts into user-friendly websites. With the combined efforts of creative marketing agencies and social media specialists, the popularity of Instagram is growing and it can bring real revenues to the business of any scales.