The Instagram Guide for Shopify

The Instagram Guide for Shopify

Here is the Instagram guide for Shopify. Let’s look into it.

As far as we talk about social media marketing channels, Instagram has been a major power player for a while. People across the world have different opinions about Instagram for Shopify. Some people say that Instagram is the most powerful sales channel that an e-commerce business can have. Yet some others have opinion that with the Instagram Shopify integration, e-commerce owners can really outperform their competition.

Instagram is now the 6th most popular social media network with very high engagement rates. Also, more than 80% of all users follow at least one business page. The platform loves branded content.

Instagram gives Shopify stores a “full” social media exposure and experience. It allows Shopify store owners to sell in multiple places giving your customers a true “Omni-channel experience.” Hence, once you have your Instagram shop online on Shopify, it’s a winning combination.

Well if you are also wondering how to sell on Instagram then you are at the right place.

What are Shopify and Instagram integration options?

Shopify and Instagram integration will help you sell more successfully on both platforms. This increases the selling power and potential of both platforms and helps you reach more customers where they’re most active.

Moreover, the best part is that Shopify and Instagram integration options are all free through Shopify, and some of them (particularly the Shoppable Instagram) offer features that aren’t available to all non-Shopify users yet, giving you a huge and distinct edge.

Let’s peek into some advantages of the Instagram Shopify integration:

• Shoppable Instagram allows you to sell directly from your post’s images in a format native to Instagram.
• The Instagram Galleries on your Shopify store allow you to bank on great user-generated content and build social following, which drives sales.
• Instagram Follow buttons on your Shopify store again increase your social following, giving you a better way to market your products to prospective customers.
• By installing the tracking pixel on your Shopify store, you can run retargeting campaigns on Instagram for your products.
• Because of the combined effect of UGC and shoppable Instagram, Shopify stores can drive more sales onsite.
• Instagram Shoppable posts allow brands to tag products within a post. With a couple of clicks, a prospective customer can now go from that post to the brand’s Add to Cart section on their website.
• The Shoppable Stories Stickers enable you to shop for your favorite products directly from stories.

How to add the Instagram sales channel to Shopify?

• From your Shopify admin screen, click the “+” button next to the Sales channels heading.

• On the Add sales channel dialog, click Instagram to learn more about the sales channel.
• On the Add sales channel dialog box, click on Instagram.
• Click Add sales channel.

• Log in to your Facebook account page to authenticate your Instagram account in the sales channel.

Once you’ve added your Instagram business profile, the same will be reviewed by Instagram. Afterwards, you’ll see a notification in your Instagram business profile enabling you to tag products.

What is an Instagram Shop?

An Instagram Shop lets you integrate your product catalog with your Instagram profile. Also, this allows you to promote your products directly to Instagram users through posts, Stories, in the Explore tab, and in a special Shop tab on your profile.

Let’s look at some examples of how Instagram Shops work.

The image below features watch brand MVMT and shows the Instagram Shop tab in action. This allows users visiting their profile to see all of their products without leaving the Instagram app.

You can also tag Instagram Shop products in your posts in the same way you would tag a friend. This also adds a little shopping bag icon to your image.

Then, when users tap the photo, they can view the prices of the products featured and tap the product labels to view product pages.

Additionally you can promote your products in Instagram stories too. Instagram Shop product pages feature everything a user might want to know before purchasing an item, including:

• The name of the product
• Product images
• A product description
• The price of the product
• A link to view the product on your website
• Related products

How to add “shop” button on Instagram?

Once you have added Instagram for Shopify, then the next step is to figure out how to add the shopbutton on your Instagram account.

First you need to enable product tagging. Tagging facilitate discoverability and help customers buy through posts. Below are the steps taken by consumers during the product tag experience. For this, follow the steps mentioned below:

1. Go to your profile.
2. Tap the Get Started alert at the top of your profile.
3. If you don’t see the alert in the image above, tap options or the gear wheel.
4. Tap Products.
5. Tap Continue.
6. Select a product catalog to connect to your business profile.
7. Tap Done.

Note: If these options aren’t available to you yet, then your Instagram shop hasn’t been approved.

Key Benefits to Setting up an Instagram Shop

As mentioned earlier Instagram is fast becoming an ecommerce powerhouse. Below are some benefits of Instagram shop.

Benefit # 1: It Reduces Friction and Makes Shopping Easier for Consumers

There are many businesses competing for attention, it can be extremely difficult to get customers to leave what they’re doing on social media and make them visit your store.

If they are not coming to your store, you take your store to them!

An Instagram Shop removes friction from the purchasing process by making it easier for shoppers to browse your catalog, check prices, or learn more about a particular product. Plus, once they’re ready to purchase, they can visit the product page on your website with just one tap.

They can even save the product to come back later by tapping the label icon on a product page. Here’s an example:

Benefit # 2: It Allows You to Promote Products Directly

This is the most amazing place to get connected with your targeted audience and customer relations. An Instagram Shop lets you seamlessly integrate all of your Instagram content with your store. 65 percent of top-performing brand posts feature a product of some kind.

Now, you can weave your product promotions into your posts and stories and avoid the annoyance of irritating your followers to “Click the link in our bio!”

Benefit #3: Expose Your Products to Users with a High Purchase Intent

When you tag a product in a post, that post will be included in Instagram’s new Shopping Explore tab. By increasing Instagram engagement through practices like optimizing your hashtags, you can get your products to appear in the Shopping Explore tab.

You’ll also be exposing your products to your target market because these shopping posts are personalized and based on users’ interests and past engagement. This is great because users viewing the Shopping Explore tab tend to have high purchase intent. Instagram Shops are a powerful way to boost your sales.

Instagram product Tagging – Shopify

Instagram Shoppable posts are the posts which allow product tagging. This tagging is done by adding a link to a product or products in your store in the same way you would tag a user on Instagram. If the image or video you post on Instagram features multiple items, you can add more than one tags and more than one links. Max of five link or tags per image can be done. The price of the product/s is visible on the post and users can click through to purchase.

How to appeal Instagram product tagging?

Once your request to add Instagram to your Shopify store has been approved and you have finished the setup for Shopping on Instagram, you’ll need to activate shopping from your Instagram App. After you’ve enabled it in the settings, you’ll be able to feature products in your Instagram stories and posts.

To tag products in your Instagram posts:

• Select a photo, add a caption and effects and filters (if required). Once you have the product feature enabled on your account, you’ll find the option to tag products on the screen where you normally add your caption and other information.
• Now enter the names of the products you want to tag, and then select them as they appear in the search box.
• Tap Done.
• Then Tap Share

If you want to preview the posts before sharing or save a draft of the post, click Preview Tagged Products or Save Draft as applicable.

You can tag your products in both new and existing posts from your Instagram business profile. The feature allows you to tag up to 5 products per single-image post and video posts, or 20 products per multi-image post.

Moreover, with Instagram product tagging Shopify becomes an even powerful sales channel for you. When you tag products on Instagram, Shopify shopkeepers can display item prices, include special offers and also connect these products with the product page on their website.

Another benefit of setting up Shoppable posts and tagging products is that you get a new “Shop” tab on your profile which curates all those posts that include product tags. Hence when your followers visit, they can straight away start shopping if they want to. And since 200 million Instagram users visit at least one business profile every day, you can very well calculate of how much shopping that can convert sales.

Instagram Eligibility – Shopify

To use Instagram for Shopify, you need to:

• Have the Basic Shopify plan or higher and should have opened an online store.
• Set up the Facebook channel with an approved Facebook Shop without any age or country restrictions.
• Connect your Instagram business profile to a Facebook catalog.
• Accept by Facebook’s merchant agreement and commerce policies.
• Sell physical goods.
• Use the latest version of the Instagram app that is available in your country.

Instagram Saved Stories

Instagram does not allow posting links to a website anywhere apart from the bio section. And thanks to this feature, a customer can now visit your site by just swiping up.

Instagram also allow users to save their stories into different folders. A vast majority of e-commerce stores have found creative ways to say their stories through this Instagram feature. With the Instagram stories, you can turn any post into an amazing shopping experience for your customers. These are some of the ways in which you can make Instagram Stories for you:

• Demonstrate your brand in a positive light
• Try to bank on the FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) factor through your Stories
• Add a CTA to your Stories for an optimum effect.
• Provide special offers and discounts
• Provide some value continuously
• Create a Story that makes your audience pursue it.
• Explore Hashtags

Best Instagram sales apps for Shopify

Everyone from millennials to seniors are using Instagram to showcase their passions. There are some great Instagram Shopify plugins that make your Instagram on Shopify experience more improved. If you are a Shopify store owner and you are still wondering how to use Instagram for Shopify more effectively, then the following are some sales apps for you:

FlightPlan

Flightplan lets Shopify shopkeepers to easily integrate retargeting advertising into their sales strategy. It is a free Shopify app that boosts sales by retargeting Instagram ads on Shopify and on Facebook. You can customize your ads to suit your current product inventory, target specific audience types, and track your conversions via Flightplan’s real-time data monitoring.

Moreover, Flightplan’s technology gives your store the power to amplify sales hassle-free by retargeting your site visitors with product ads on Facebook and Instagram. You can set it and forget it while growing other areas of your retail business.

Covet.Pics

This awesome app lets you instantly create Instagram galleries for your ecommerce store. You can not only customize the look of your Instagram collections, but also can tag your collections for easier discovery and embed your e-commerce galleries on multiple platforms.

If creating shop-ready Instagram images is on your to-do list this year, Covet.Pics needs to be on your Shopify resource list. This application is available on a 14-day free trial.

Pixelshop

Pixelshop combines visual marketing and influencer marketing into one powerful application. It let customers purchase products directly from your Instagram photos and hashtag images of their purchases for you to use on your website.

Additionally, it creates relationships with influencers who want to promote your Shopify products and grow sales via social proof.

Sprout Social

Sprout Social is a social media management and optimization platform with content scheduling and publishing capabilities. The app also offers in-depth Instagram analytics, with detailed reports on your performance.

Furthermore, with the app you’ll also be able to track engagement and compare the success of your store’s account. It can monitor hashtags and comments allowing you to explore new opportunities for engagement. Try Sprout Social for free with a 30-day trial.

UserGems

UserGems gives you detailed social and professional information about every new customer and notifies you immediately in Slack when someone important (influencer, journalist, investor, etc) purchases your products.

Plus, this app pulls social media information about your customers, by identifying which of them have more than 10,000 followers, or which of them use the word “blogger” or “journalist” in their social media profiles, enabling you to identify your next influencer.

You can connect your Shopify account with one click and you are ready to go. And no technical knowledge is required.

Things to keep in mind:

Remember, keep track of metrics while using this Instagram Shopify strategy to see what effect the platform has on your web traffic and sales. Keep these points in mind:

1. Know your audience: Make sure every piece of content is geared toward your ideal customer.
2. Analyze competitor profiles: Constantly monitor their channels to act as a how-to guide for your Instagram Shopify strategy.
3. Optimize profile: A recognizable profile picture, a compelling and simple bio, and a shoppable link will help customers know exactly what to do on your profile.
4. Be authentic: Avoid the sales pitch and humanize your e-commerce store with genuine content.
5. Stick to an aesthetic: Get creative and craft a cohesive theme for your posts using color, tone, or content.
6. Post consistently with scheduling tools: Use tools like Later to create an Instagram content calendar that will keep your feed on a consistent schedule.
7. Tag every post and product: Use hashtags to gain awareness and product tagging to offer an in-app shopping experience for more conversions.
8. Embed your feed on your website: Get more attention to your Instagram account by embedding it into your store.

Wrapping Up

Integrating your store with Instagram is a powerful way to grow your ecommerce store. It is right to say that the Shopify-Instagram integration is quite straightforward, yet needs a little more input.

Additionally it is pretty clear that Instagram is steadily but continuously building the tools that will eventually make it a wholesome sales app for your products. The app already allows users to buy directly from your Instagram for Shopify feeds; and if you already have an established presence on Instagram that will certainly give you a head start.

Now you know everything you need to get started with Instagram Shopping for your business. Remember, this is a new feature, but early-adopters have already found it a huge success. Shopify’s amazing ease of use makes Instagram Shopify integration to be set up quickly and could be a long term profits. Start selling on Instagram today!