Instagram product tagging is an effective way to turn posts into a mobile sales channel.  These tips will get you started so you can turn your Instagram posts into mini-advertisements.

If your product line offers the types of things people buy with their eyes, like clothes, jewelry, or home decor, then Instagram is a great social media channel to use.

Instagram is an image-based social media platform that is a mobile app.  Its social, in the moment content tied to taking images with phone cameras is what distinguishes it from Pinterest, where the content is more permanent and the platform desktop friendly.

Instagram is perhaps the ultimate platform for creating a feed of product hero shots.  The images are real people using your products in their lives – it doesn’t get any better than that…or does it?

It does now.  Because now you can tag your products so they provide descriptions and pricing info and link to your eCommerce website where you can get the sale.

For those new to this, here is how it works:

See…tap…explore…and buy.  If you have the right product line and a strong Instagram following, you need to get started.

How to Get Started With Instagram Shopping

Instagram shopping is synced with Facebook Shop, so you’ll already need to be set up with a product catalog on Facebook.  You also have to be approved for Instagram Shopping.  Once this is done, set up on Instagram is straightforward.

To enable Instagram product tagging:

1. Tap  to go to your profile
2. Tap the Get Started alert at the top of your profile
3. If you don’t see the alert in the image above, tap 
4. Tap Shopping
5. Tap Continue
6. Select a product catalog to connect to your business profile
7. Tap Done

Once this is set up, you can start getting images that show your products and tag them in your posts.

Notes and Tips

• You have to use the mobile Instagram app to manage shopping features.  You can’t manage any of this or see the shopping icon from a desktop or laptop computer.
• Because you have to add tags to shoppable posts from the mobile app, you have to do this on a post by post basis.  This means (at this time) you can’t use social media management tools like Hootsuite to create shoppable Instagram posts.
• This is a fairly new feature with metrics being added all the time.  Right now you can get data on how many people tapped on the product, explored the description and clicked through to your website.  Analytics data will show conversions as a referral from Instagram.
• As you get data on the types of images, products, and posts which get more engagement and conversions, use it to create more convertible content.  Keep in mind the power the image has to sell your product.  Well composed hero shots that show real people enjoying the product are effective motivators.  Influencer images are a must for product tagging.  Here are suggestions for creating sharable images on Instagram.
• At this time you can’t tag products in Instagram stories or videos.

Keep in mind that Instagram is a social media platform, not just another place for you to publish your product catalog.  You want to create shareable content that will engage the Instagram audience.  That’s the first goal.  Product tagging is a way to extend this connection to your brand and products.  You’ll get more sales if your content gets likes and comments, so don’t be too promotional.

We’ll update this post as more features come out.  Give this a try!