importance of Instagram for brand

In recent years,Instagram has proven to be one of the most dominant social networksworldwide. Today, it has 1.3 billion monthly active users. Brands that do not have a company profile on this platform are falling behind in recognition,engagement and conversions. It is difficult to pretendcreate a community of loyal customerswithout being present on one of the most downloaded apps in the world. Keep in mind that Instagram is a good place for customers to share content and to keep track of competitors. Whatever your service or product, you almost certainly need to be on Instagram. 

What is Instagram Shopping?

Most stores that used to sell in person have decided to show up in virtual environments to offer their products. Fortunately, the opportunities for e-commerce go beyond websites or department stores like Amazon.Social networksThey can also be a good showcase for small, medium and large companies. In fact, these platforms are often a more economically accessible resource. Behind them there is an opportunity not only to sell, but also to connect with users and create active communities. 

This is how Instagram Shopping was born, Meta’s south africa phone number list tool forInstagram salesIt was launched in 2017 for the United States market. Later, it expanded to other countries such as India, Mexico and Brazil. Since then, it has positioned itself as a key platform for displaying products.

 

Photo: Dior Instagram Shopping

 

Instagram Shopping is a set of features that allows  handling negative feedback and complaints businesses toe-commerce brandsdesign an attractive showcase for your potential customers. With Instagram shopping , businesses can showcase their products before people’s eyes through videos and images. 

In  Instagram shopping, businesses can select specific posts they have previously published and tag them.products used in the photo. Those objects that you see in the post are likely to be purchased by Instagram users. But it’s not all about photos, now you’ll see that other formats like Stories or Videos can also be used. 

 

Countries where Instagram Shopping is available

Instagram Shopping isn’t available in all markets. Currently, these are the countries where you can tag products to sell: Canada, United States, Brazil, Mexico, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Australia, India, Instagram for brand Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.

Therefore,If you are an influenceror a brand, Instagram Shopping will only work if you are present in one of the countries on the list. You can always review the listin the Instagram help center.

 

How to activate Instagram Shopping

Instagram shopping is a feature that stands out for being intuitive and accessible. It allows brands to sell their products and influencers to market them. It also gives customers the ability to purchase quickly and easily.

But before you start selling through Instagram shopping , you need to set it up. Here’s how to do that. 

Step by step to set up your Instagram store

 

Photo: Mango Instagram Shopping

1. Confirm that your store can sell on Instagram

First of all, you are going to check that your storemeets these requirementsto sell on Instagram Shopping: 

• Your company is located in one of the countries listed above. 
• Your business offers eligible products.
• Your business complies with Instagram’s commerce policies as well as the merchant agreement.

2. Create a business account

Secondly, consider that your store’s Instagram must be a business account. To do this, you must have a Facebook page and associate it with the Instagram account . From the Facebook Business Manager, link the Facebook business page and your Instagram business profile. 

Remember that everything on Facebook must be managed from a personal profile . Make sure that the personal profile that manages these pages has the whatsapp filter necessary administrator permissions.

3. Create your Instagram Shopping store

To activate your Instagram Shopping store , you must startfrom this pagefrom Facebook. Click “Get started,” then “Create a store,” and follow the prompts. If you have a Shopify account oranother affiliate platform, select it to set up your store there. If this is not the case for you, simply click on “I don’t use these platforms” and continue. Then, choose your business account and the catalog you want to use. If you don’t have a catalog, one will be automatically generated for you.

Now, let’s focus on one specific step. It’s the checkout process . When a user sees your video or photo and wants to buy one of your products, they’ll have to complete the payment somewhere. Meta offers you three options: 

• Complete the purchase on another website
• Checkout on Instagram (US only). 
• Finalize the purchase with a message

 

 

Ideally, the client canfinish the purchaseon Instagram , but this option is only available in the United States. Stay tuned for the latest updates from Instagram, it’s likely that other countries will be able to use the second option in the future as well . “ Checkout on another website” is a good option if you want to drive traffic to your website. And if you don’t have a website to checkout on, Instagram offers you the option to checkout with a direct message or WhatsApp.

Finally, review your store details, accept theAgreement for Sellersand finish the setup. You will see something like this: 

 

4. Customize your store

After you’ve activated Instagram Shopping, you Instagram for brand can manage theproduct catalogyou’re going to offer. Add photos and control which items you want to display in your store. 

You can also design collections based on themes , which will make the consumer experience easier. You simply have to go to theSales Manager, select your account, “Stores,” “Edit Store,” “Add,” and choose “Collection.” You’ll be able to choose a cover image or a product grid. It’s important to know that every time you add a new collection, Meta will review your store to ensure it complies with their commerce policies. Don’t worry, they usually don’t take more than 1 day to review them. 

5. Activate the shopping feature on Instagram

Finally, we recommend that you activate the shopping feature on Instagram. This way, you can tag products in your posts and stories that you upload from any device.

• Go to “Settings” in your Instagram profile.
• Select “Business” and then “Shopping.”
• Choose the product catalog you want to link.
• Done! You can now tag products in your posts.