Instagram is one of the most popular social networking sites of the current times and its popularity is growing day by day. The platform is becoming a hub for new and small businesses, and an increasing number of people are already buying from it.
Latest research coming in is showing that 80%* of all online shopping is coming from social media platforms that offer seamless and direct shopping experience.
It is important for businesses to understand why Instagram can be a booster for their business.
Why small business owners must have an Instagram shop?
When it comes to making a digital presence for an e-commerce shop, then one of the leading social networking sites, Instagram, plays a significant role. Currently, it is the most popular visual site that lets you connect with your potential customers personally. Making a place in the feeds of a potential customer will make you stand out from similar brands.
Instagram enables you to put forward your collections, run offers and discounts and campaigns through feeds and stories, which in turn can attract customers and boost sales. Stories on Instagram are a feature that can be used creatively to keep potential customers attracted.
Instagram also lets you collaborate with well-known influencers or brands on the platform. The platform brings your brand to a wider audience and also builds connections with people that can pay you well in the future, by creating a sales funnel. The better reach and higher engagement will make it easier for your brand to reach more people. The 'save' feature of Instagram makes it convenient for customers to save the item for later and use them whenever required.
Instagram can help you build your brand and come up with the face of the brand. The visuals are a great way to keep potential customers interested and updated about your products and services, offers and campaigns and even your company. With an Instagram shop, you don’t miss out on the opportunities coming your way.
Steps for Setting Up Your Instagram Shop
Here are the steps that you can follow to set up your Instagram shop and start earning:
Step 1: The first and foremost step is to check whether your business is eligible to have an Instagram shop. See if your business complies with the Commerce Policy and Merchant Agreement norms of Instagram. Buy a website domain if you don’t already own one.
Step 2: Now start with creating a business account, fill in all the details along with relevant information of the business, including a link of your e-commerce shop, opening hours and contact number.
Step 3: The next step is to add a Facebook page to your Instagram shop. If you don’t have a Facebook page, then create one in the name of your business. Remember that you only need a Facebook Page of your brand and not the Facebook Page shop.
Step 4: Moving on to the next step, you need to upload the catalog of your products and services. You can add a catalog either through the “Do-it-Yourself” option of the business manager of Facebook or by E-commerce partners of the social networking site.
Step 5: Now that you have completed all the above steps, it’s time for you to sit back and wait for Instagram to review your business account. Before you relax, go to the account review option under settings and apply for the review.
Step 6: When your account gets approved, you can move on by turning on the shopping feature on your page. But if you can’t find shopping under your settings, then your account is still under review.
Step 7: After enabling the shopping feature, you can start tagging your products in the feeds and add stickers for your catalog products on stories and share them with everyone.
Setting up your own shop may require some time and effort, and knowledge about Instagram's product selling policies. If you want to get help from experts, do connect with us for complete turnkey Instagram shop set up.
New Business Features being launched by Instagram to support businesses
As the popularity of Instagram is an upward line, Instagram is also putting efforts to come up with features for local vendors and small business owners to help them face challenges amid the coronavirus pandemic. The platform has made it convenient for businesses to show off their products, it also has launched stickers for small businesses. People can easily support such businesses with stickers that let you create shared stories. The latest feature of shared feed posts gives a wider reach for your business.
The growth of Instagram businesses is ticking upwards every year and according to the off-site stats,. In efforts to make the platform brand-friendly, Instagram is rolling out new features with every update. And this is the very reason for the growing popularity of Instagram. The social networking site not only lets you sell your products and become a brand but also provides customer support in every possible way.
**The Author is an ex-Google employee and the co-founder of The-Socializers
*Research taken from LinkedIn Course on Social Media Marketing Trends [https://www.linkedin.com/learning/social-media-marketing-trends/adoption-of-social-shopping-will-increase?autoAdvance=true&autoSkip=false&autoplay=true&resume=false]
The-Socializers.com is a leading digital marketing agency specialising in Google Ads and FB Ads and policy.
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