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Instagram seller

Becoming an Instagram seller means establishing an e-shop for various kinds of goods, seeing as Instagram serves as a great virtual display. In recognition of this, Instagram has launched a set of features collectively known as Instagram Shopping to make buying and selling experience as seamless as possible.

How to become an Instagram seller

There are many avenues to becoming an Instagram seller — making a purely display account with checkout done outside of Instagram, setting up native Instagram Shopping, or integrating Instagram Shopping with 3rd party platforms like Shopify or others.

The native Instagram Shopping toolkit, however, is the most easy and straightforward way to start selling on Instagram. Here are the main steps to set it up:

  • Confirm eligibility — the major criteria here are being in a supported location, dealing in physical goods, and having an Instagram business account linked with a Facebook business page (here's how);
  • Go to your profile page, and tap on the three-line button in the top right corner. In the pop-up menu, choose Settings;
  • Navigate to the Business tab, and you'll find the Set Up Instagram Shopping button as the very last option;
  • Upload your product catalogue — this can be done via the native Meta Catalogue Manager or you can choose to upload it through a 3rd party platform (e.g. Shopify, BigCommerce, etc.);
  • Submit for review. The review process will take at least a few days, and you might be asked for additional confirmations during the process;
  • Finally, after getting approved, you'll need to enable your new shopping features. To do that, go to your profile page, and tap on the three-line button in the top right corner. In the pop-up menu, choose Settings, then go to Business tab, and tap Shopping. There, all you need to do is enable the catalogue you've added earlier.

Instagram Shopping best practices for effective selling

After getting access to Instagram Shopping features, you'll be able to tag your products in the main feed posts, stories, and reels. Here's what to keep in mind to ensure they sell:

  • Maintain strong branding — Instagram is a visual platform, as such it is paramount to use uniform visuals in your posts to foster brand awareness and recognition. Doing that will lead to more sales as well;
  • Tag products in your content — tagging the products you're selling directly in the posts, stories, or reels is a powerful tool to drive a sale, so make sure to apply shopping tags wherever applicable;
  • Use the right hashtags — hashtags are key to expanding your reach and funneling more people to your content. Make sure to research which work best for your kind of product and region and add them to your feed posts;
  • Post regularly — be it a sale, a new product launch, or some other manner of update, make sure to announce it in a concise way through your posts. A cover image with a clear announcement should help keep your customers' eyes on your content long enough to get them to the next stage of your funnel.