Instagram Shoppable Posts was originally launched in 2016, allowing brands to tag multiple products in a single post. Instagram now plans to launch this post unit to businesses in the UK, Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Brazil.
In this article, I’ll quickly cover how Shoppable Posts work and how you can combine them with your current Instagram ad strategy.
How users interact with Shoppable Posts
Shoppable Posts essentially allow you to tag products into a post like you would tag a friend or page. Instagram users will be able to see individual tags for each product; if they click on a tag they will be shown a product description, price, and images.
(If they would like to buy the product, there’s a ‘Shop Now’ call to action which will lead the user to your product page.
Amy Cole, who is the head of business development at Instagram, said:
“Shopping will give a seamless experience for users who want more information on products. They can go through Instagram without having to switch between apps and with a couple of taps, buy the product.”
Shoppable Posts are a way for users to discover new products online. Just like you’d walk into a shopping mall and gaze at various product displays as you stroll around, Shoppable Posts offer the same thing with the only difference being you can do it from the comfort of your own home.
To use Shoppable Posts, you must have a product catalog already. Shoppable posts will sync with your product catalog to pull the relevant information if a user decides to click on a tag.
Since its launch, Instagram claims that some brands have seen an 8% increase in revenue from this format.
Can you run paid ads with Shoppable Posts?
No…not yet.
Currently the only way to serve Shoppable Posts is organically; although, Instagram does have plans to allow brands to use this post as an ad type in the future.
To really make the most of this feature, the more engaged followers you have, the better. Since you cannot promote this format yet, testing various images and products becomes difficult, and the only way you’ll get eyes on your posts is if your followers are connected to your brands.
Shopping for now will be suited for brands with larger followers. UK retailer Marks and Spencer had this to say after testing out Shoppable Posts:
“Instagram Shopping offers us the opportunity to realize the huge potential of our 760,000 followers. Instagram has always been a great platform through which to showcase our products and engage with customers. Shoppable Posts take this to a whole new level. They are simple to create, easy for our customers to use, and enhance the Instagram experience.”
Shoppable works with Instagram Insights to give you some idea on which posts receive the most engagement, and even which product tags receive the most clicks.
Are you using Shoppable Posts?
To use Shoppable Posts to raise awareness or drive sales, you’re going to need a huge following.
But even if you don’t have a huge Instagram following you should still play around with Shoppable Posts. Yes, you might not be able to make full use of them now, but when Instagram begins to let advertisers promote these units, you’ll not only have experience on how to create Shoppable Posts, but also some data from Instagram Insights which will help you too.