What is an Instagram Shop?

Instagram Shop is like a clickable catalogue that businesses can use to show off their products. It allows you to create a list of shoppable products that are accessible right on Instagram without having to leave the app. The shop button lives on your profile and allows visitors to click in and shop your products right where they get their entertainment.

Businesses with an Instagram Shop may also be featured on Instagram’s wider Shop Tab. This is a curated catalogue of items that appear to a user based on the content and products they have previously searched for or engaged with. This feature has the potential to get your business and products in front of a wider customer base. 

Tip: feature your sale items in your Instagram shop, but be sure to include a few regular priced items too. This way, you’re not limiting yourself to your sale items, and can help drive traffic to your website if a customer wants to see more of what you offer. 

Instagram Feed Post Shopping

Instagram feeds have been used by audiences as inspiration for just about everything. Instagram Feed Post Shopping takes it one step further by allowing users to shop the products they love right from their feed.

Once you set up your Instagram Shop, you’ll be able to tag products directly in your posts. When a customer sees your tagged content in their feed, they will be able to click it and will be directed to your Instagram shop. This makes accessing your products easy for potential customers and also allows you to maximize the results and engagement on your content. 

Did you know? Posts with shopping features have a few other advantages. It can give your products more context like styling, sizing and fit. The more you use this feature, the more likely you are to appear in Instagram’s Shop Tab too!

Instagram Story Shopping

When you open your Instagram app, do you start scrolling the feed, or do you head straight to stories? We’re finding that people are tapping through stories as much, if not more than they are scrolling through their feed. That’s what makes Instagram Story Shopping a valuable tool. 

Stories are bite-sized, temporary content, which usually makes them more personal and engaging. Stories can bring a sense of trust and authenticity to your brand, and with people viewing them more and more, there is huge potential to get sales from this user experience. 

Much like Instagram Feed Post Shopping, you can link your products in your stories. This gives you the ability to share multiple products in a short amount of time without overwhelming your customer’s feed. You can also repeat content over the course of your sale to keep it at top of mind without it living on your grid. Another option, if you don’t have Instagram Shop set up, is to use the link sticker to link your stories to the product on your website. 

Tip: Using the link sticker feature helps drive traffic to your website. Even if you have your shop set up, don’t be afraid to use a combination of product tagging and link stickers in your stories. 

Instagram Reels Shopping

How could we give you tips for using Instagram to promote your sale without talking about reels? 

As we’ve heard countless times in the last year, video content is queen, and it’s not going anywhere. If you’re creating reels to promote your content, make sure you take advantage of the product tagging tool. 

Reels have the potential to reach a wider audience, and therefore, a bigger customer base. When someone is watching reels and a product is tagged, they can click the “View Products” button, which will take them right to your Instagram Shop. This feature has the potential to get your brand and products to a new set of customers and can help you reach your sales goals.

Link in Bio

The link in your Instagram Bio is one of the first things a new visitor might see when they go to your profile. It’s accessible to users, clickable, and stands out in your bio. You can utilize it to maximize your sale in a few different ways. The first is to copy and paste the URL to your website sale page as your link in bio. This is easy and straightforward, but has limitations. 

One step up from this is to use a third party app like Linktree. With a Linktree account, you have one host link, that houses and directs to other links including your website, other social media platforms and more. You can maximize your sale by linking your sale page, your entire e-commerce store, and your website to your Linktree, providing 3 potential opportunities for customers to reach your sale in one link. 

A more advanced option would be to use Later’s Linkin.Bio tool. Similar to Linktree, Linkin.Bio allows you to house multiple links in one host link. Where it differs is that any content you share to your Instagram feed can become clickable by back linking each post. This allows you to have a sale link in your bio, but also directly link a post to the product page on your website. 

These tools make it easy and accessible for a customer to see your product on Instagram and head to your website to purchase it. 

Are You Looking for Support?

If you're unsure of the benefits of Instagram shopping, we're here to help. At The Small Social, we have a team of dedicated experts who can support you as you grow your business and your e-commerce profile. We’re proud to offer a comprehensive list of services to support your business growth. 

If you’re interested in growing your e-commerce business, send us an email to hello@thesmallsocial.com to book a discovery call. 

You have big goals, we’ll help you achieve them.