[As of April 2022, Instagram expanded its product tagging feature in Feed posts to everyone in the United States. The key word is everyone. So, step aside, creators and brands, now everyone is welcome at the Instagram product tagging table. This update isn’t anything to roll your eyes at either, as companies worldwide have had success with Instagram product tags. Native Union, a tech accessories company, experienced a 2,662% increase in Instagram traffic, and Magnolia Boutique, an eCommerce women’s clothing store, noticed a 20% increase in Instagram revenue due to these magic-infused product tags. So, what is this new tagging on Instagram, and how do you tag products on Instagram? We’ll tell you this and more.
Table of Contents
Tag Instagram Products like a pro.
With the right Instagram product tagging strategy in place, you can drastically increase followers and traffic to your Instagram.
Review: What is Instagram product tagging?
Instagram product tags are also known as shoppable Instagram tags. Historically, they were an Instagram business feature allowing content creators and brands to tag their products on their image. The tags link back to the product’s sales page, allowing users to purchase an item in less than a few minutes.
Similar to the Swipe Up Instagram Stories feature, product tags encourage further engagement and propel potential customers down the sales funnel.
This means you’ll see tags more and more in your Instagram feed. Instagram said,
“Today, we’re expanding the ability to add product tags in Feed posts to everyone in the US. Creators and brands have been sharing how they use and style their favorite products on Instagram and inspiring their communities. Now we’re giving access to everyone to inspire those closest to them by enabling product tagging in posts. From supporting brands you love to helping your friends and family discover new products they may like, sharing products on Instagram just got easier.”
Product tagging has been a long-time coming for Instagram, which has been improving its shopping UX by adding of the shop tab, Shops, and live-stream shopping. Instagram has an incentive for users to stay in their app. Providing this feature prompts users to interact with links by clicking through them and ideally, buying items through the app interface.
Now, before you can tag products, you’ll need to open up an Instagram shop account.
How to Create a Shop on Instagram
Setting up the shop is the trickiest part of tagging products on Instagram because Instagram needs to approve your shop before you can post anything.
Note: the tagging feature only works on public accounts.
1. Review Instagram’s Criteria
Before creating your shop, you must read Instagram’s new eCommerce eligibility requirements and agree to the terms. Some of the criteria include:
- Living in an eligible country. Not sure if your country is one of them? Check the list.
- Selling physical products.
- Having a business profile on Instagram. Not sure if you have one? Learn to set it up here.
Once you determine your eligibility, you need to connect your Facebook page.
2. Connect your Facebook account
Connecting your Instagram to your Facebook account isn’t necessary but has a host of benefits including the ability to:
- Run an Instagram and a Facebook ad simultaneously. You can increase your ad reach because Facebook ads can run on Instagram.
- Sync your posts on both platforms.
- Manage your Facebook and Instagram messages from one inbox.
- Access additional tools like donation stickers, camera effects, and appointment booking buttons.
- Sync your business contact information.
Syncing allows you to keep up with all of the activity on both networks. Just make sure you set the same privacy settings between both platforms, so you don’t share anything unintentionally.
3. Sign up for a Facebook Business Manager account and set up your shop
Next, you must sign up for a Facebook Business Manager account to set up your shop in Facebook’s Commerce Manager. This way, you can manage your ads, pages, and individuals who maintain the accounts.
After you sign up, you can set up your shop. Select the checkout method and which sales channels you want to host your shop whether Instagram or Facebook.
If you host your store on an Instagram eCommerce integration partner site like Shopify or BigCommerce, you can connect your catalog through them to sync your product listing automatically. We recommend doing this as it improves inventory management and order fulfillment.
4. Add products to your Instagram shop
After setting up your shop account through the Commerce Manager, you’re ready to add products.
During the setup process in Commerce Manager, you need to choose whether to connect to an existing catalog or to create a new one. Then, you can add a catalog and your products.
To do this,
- Go to www.facebook.com/products.
- Click on Add Catalog.
- Select the inventory type you want.
- Click Next.
- Choose how to upload your products.
- Select the Facebook Business Manager account associated with the catalog.
- Optional: Assign permissions for others to work on the catalog.
- Enter a name for the catalog.
- Click Create.
5. Submit your store for approval
Creating your store doesn’t mean you’re in the clear just yet. Instagram needs to review your shop and approve it before it goes live. So, you need to submit it for approval.
- Log into your business Instagram account.
- Tap the … for the menu.
- Select Settings.
- Sign up for shopping.
- Follow the steps to submit your account for review.
- To check your status, go to Shopping in Settings.
The review process takes several days, and sometimes, businesses must provide additional information to verify the account. If you receive a notification about this, you must complete the verification process to continue.
6. Turn on shopping
If Instagram approved your account, you can turn on the Instagram shopping feature.
- Tap the … for the menu.
- Select Settings.
- Select Business.
- Then, Shopping.
- Choose the Product Catalog to connect.
- Select Done.
How to Tag Products on Instagram
1. Upload your photos
Uploading a photo to your business account is the same process as uploading a photo to your personal account.
- At the top of your Instagram app, tap +, then scroll to Post at the bottom.
- To upload a photo from the phone library, select the photo(s) you want to post.
- To take a new photo, tap the camera icon above your phone’s library. Then tap the circle icon
to switch between front and rear-facing cameras and then tap
to use flash.
- Select Next on the iPhone or
on an Android.
- Once done, tap Share on the iPhone or
on an Android.
2. Add Instagram shoppable tags
The time you’ve been waiting for! You’re ready to add Instagram shoppable tags. Type the names of the products you want to dag. Note: the names must relate to the product name in the catalog.
- Tap Add photo.
- Add a caption.
- Click on Tag Products.
- Click on a photo.
- Search for a product.
- Click the product your want to add from the catalog.
- Select Done.
- Click Share.
Instagram Product Tag Examples
Allbirds is an online Shopify retailer dedicated to providing customers with the highest quality, most sustainable, and organic apparel. Allbirds was founded by ex-New Zealand soccer players Tim Brown, and Joey Zwillinger. Scott and Sarah’s goal is to inspire people to live a healthier lifestyle by offering products that are comfortable, simplistic, and good for the environment. They use sustainable materials and methods whenever possible, from using recycled polyester in their t-shirts to hand-washing all of the items they sell. To grow to a billion-dollar sneaker brand, Brown and Zwillinger used every technique imaginable including Instagram shopping. Here’s an example of a product tag in action:
See that small purse icon in the bottom lefthand corner? When you tap it, the products in the photo appear as shoppable links.
As you can see, you can view the sliders featured in the photo, but Allbirds also gives shoppers the opportunity to shop for other sneakers as well (both a cross-selling and upselling technique).
Let’s look at Modcloth’s product tags.
ModCloth is an online retailer that sells clothing, accessories, and home goods for women, exclusively. They have a vast inventory of merchandise available for purchase. As their name implies, ModCloth emphasizes comfort and style. Their products typically feature feminine silhouettes and modern cuts. The website allows customers to browse collections based on style, color, and price. Customers can also filter items by size and occasion. To diversify their shopping experience, Modcloth has stores on its website, Facebook, and Instagram.
Their Instagram features colorful photos of their clothing options.
Customers can purchase any item shown in the photo through the Instagram app (as long as they’re in stock), creating a seamless experience. 5 Tips to Use Instagram Product Tags That Engage and Convert
You can create as many posts as you want but unless you create posts customers and users want to see, you won’t convert. Luckily, there are a few ways to use product tags that increase your chances of success.
Keep a consistent posting schedule
Did you know that the Instagram algorithm displays posts of users with regular engagement and follower interaction? That’s right! So the more often you engage and the more consistently you engage, the more likely Instagram is to display your images on the Explore page.
Posting consistently doesn’t come easy to you? We have a solution for you.
MeetEdgar is a social media management tool that helps you keep track of what you post, how often you post, and when you post.
MeetEdgar helps you maintain a high level of control over your online presence. It’s designed to help you schedule posts, monitor engagement, and keep track of your analytics. Edgar has two main features:
- Scheduling: You can create posts in advance, or “schedule” them to be published at a future date and time.
- Monitoring: You can view real-time statistics using Edgar’s Advanced Analytics on the number of likes, comments, and shares for each post. This can help you identify trends, spot problematic content, and make adjustments.
There are three main benefits to using MeetEdgar:
- It gives you more control over your social media presence. You can control how often (or how little) you post. Edgar keeps you consistent and honest.
- It helps you schedule posts in advance so you don’t have to scramble to post when there are unexpected spikes in activity. Edgar’s automatic posting recycles content so you’ll never run out of things to say.
- It gives you an overview of your audience engagement.
So, if you’ve always wanted to be consistent but have always struggled with this, it’s worth it to try an app like MeetEdgar.
Tag Instagram Products like a pro.
With the right Instagram product tagging strategy in place, you can drastically increase followers and traffic to your Instagram.
Use hashtags strategically so customers can find you
We’ve discussed this previously, but you must use the most descriptive hashtags to ensure searchability for your posts on the Explore page.
Think of hashtags as free advertisement. Many Instagrammers follow certain hashtags and if you use the right ones, your posts will show up in their feed without needing to pay for an ad.
If you’re a fitness coach and you want others to find you, you’re going to want to use the hashtag #fitnesscoach as well as related hashtags.
And because Instagram lets users search by hashtags, you want to use other hashtags related to your niche.
For example, we searched #fitnesscoach and this post came up from @nahorlik_fit:
This is a great example because he not only ranks for the hashtag “fitnesscoach,” but ranks for other hashtags including #fitness, #personaltraining, and more.
Pro tip: instead of crowding your photo’s description text, put your hashtags in a comment. Instagram still counts these as valid hashtags and people can search for those hashtags.
Real estate agents also use Instagram to help potential sellers and buyers find them.
Business coaches also use hashtags to attract people to their business. Without people, they don’t have a job.
We recommend performing competitive research for hashtags. Find your most successful competitor and make a list of hashtags they use. Use these! Research at least 3 competitors. Keep in mind, that you can use a maximum of 30 hashtags per post.
Share user reviews
Customers buy from brands they trust through word of mouth. So, use this to your advantage and share product reviews. Repost customer Reels to your Instagram Story, or turn a customer review into a graphic image.
Whatever your business is, customer testimonials establish authority and convinces customers that your products and services are worth the purchase.
Create an Instagram Carousel
Instead of only featuring one photo, why not share several in a single post? When you want to maximize your Instagram product tagging, Instagram Carousels are the way to go as you can showcase multiple products and add product tags to each photo card.
Osadas, an Argentinian eCommerce store uses Instagram Carousels to feature the same products in different colors in case customers don’t like the first color offering.
Tag a product in your captions
Did you know you can tag products in your captions? These tags display for a few seconds so customers can see the product link and click on it, in case they don’t know how to find the product tag. These tags lead customers to your store directly.
Frequently Asked Questions about Instagram Product Tagging
What is Instagram product tagging?
Instagram product tagging is a feature that allows users to tag specific products in their photos. When someone tags a product in a photo, they’re basically saying, “I like this!” In addition to getting more exposure for your business, tagging products on Instagram can also help you increase sales and visibility.
How does Instagram product tagging work?
There are two different ways you can use Instagram product tagging:
- If you’re selling a physical product, you can create an account for your business and then add the tags of your products to the account’s profile page. This way, anyone who views the page will see which products you have available.
- If you’re selling an online product (like an e-book or course), you can add the tags of your products to your personal Instagram profile post.
Who can tag products on Instagram?
After Instagram’s new tagging feature update, every user can tag products on Instagram.
Can you promote an Instagram post with tags?
Yes, you can. In fact, ads with product tags can maximize your reach.
Can I sell on Instagram without a website?
Yes. You can sell directly on Instagram through your posts, Stories, ads with a Shoppable Instagram page, and live events.
How do you tag products on Instagram in 2022?
When creating a feed post, tap Tag Products. Then, tap on the photo you want to add product tags to. Next, search your catalog to find which products you want to tag. Then, press Done.
Are product tags good for SEO?
Product tags indirectly influence SEO. When users click your product link, they’re directed to your website. Increased traffic to your website shows Google that your website has authority.
Conclusion
Instagram product tagging is now open to all businesses, so there’s no reason not to get started. With the right strategy in place, you could see a significant increase in traffic and revenue from this social media platform.
