Recently, I was asked:
I want to sell on Instagram. How can I tell if my Instagram is a business account and if so, what are the steps to set up clickable shopping? I found some confusing instructions online. They mention having a “Shop Tab” but I don’t see one. HELP?…
This is a GREAT question and I know there are many others who will love getting the help as well!
The answer is kinda long… eeps. Please watch the 7 minute video above and read the whole note below.
The key to selling on Instagram is to set up your products on FACEBOOK before heading over to Instagram… and then Insta has to APPROVE you before you’ll be able to sell products (and see the products tab). SIGH….
Here’s the current info you need to be approved to sell on Instagram:
- First, confirm you have a BUSINESS PROFILE, and not a personal one. From your phone, go to your Instagram account. Tap on your profile pic in bottom right corner, then click on “Edit profile”. Scroll down and confirm you see “Business Information.”
- Yes? great. You’re a business.
- No? You need to convert to a business profile, and you should see an option to do so.
- You need to confirm you have the latest version of Instagram. Go your phone’s APP MANAGER, and confirm you don’t have any updates. If you do, do ’em.
- You need to set up your shop on your business’ Facebook Page. Remember, Facebook owns Instagram now, so they need to talk to each other. Setting up your shop with products is how you will tag them over at Insta. On left hand side of your FB page, you should see menu item “SHOP.” If you’ve never set this up, take the time to set it up and add a few products. You will be led through a process to add products. LET ME KNOW IF YOU GET STUCK HERE.
An important note about services and products…
Facebook and Instagram currently must approve all products, and they don’t sell services on Instagram (I’ve tried to finagle mine to ‘fit’)… and they don’t offer selling products to all countries. Be sure to assign your FB products a catalog.
A helpful tip to import products to Facebook…
If you have a lot of products on your website, and use a platform like Shopify, or WooCommerce, do a quick Google search for how to INTEGRATE your products with your FACEBOOK SHOP. This is a fast way to automatically import your products. There are a few great apps that you can use for this step.
- Next, we need to link your Facebook Shop and Instagram. Thankfully, this is pretty easy from either Facebook OR Instagram. From your FB Page, go to SETTINGS and look for the Instagram menu item on lefthand side. Or, you can also do this from Instagram settings > LINKED ACCOUNTS.
- Now, you wait… to get approved… fingers crossed. Nothing more to do… sigh. Should just take a few days at most. When you are approved, you’ll receive a notification to “Get Started with Product Tagging”. This step should finally produce the coveted “Shop” tab on your business profile, where you can confirm you are pulling products from the correct FB page (in case you have more than one).
Still with me? LOL. Need help? Let me know!
- When ALL OF THE ABOVE is complete, now from Instagram you should proceed as you would normally (most likely with a compelling photo of your product). When you progress to the Share screen, you’ll see the added “Tag Products” options (next to “Tag People”). Tag the photo to activate your product catalog > select your product and SHARE.
Note about tagging people or products…
For whatever reason, Insta makes you choose tagging products OR people – you can’t do both. No biggie.
Once you have shoppable posts, you’ll see a handy “SHOP” option on your main Instagram page so people can filter and sort through all of your shop posts.
For more nuance tips, watch the video…
Again, please watch the quick video above to see a few nuance considerations, like sexy bio links and workarounds for us service folks.
While not an affiliate, I like these two companies for bio links:
Later (super affordable for individuals and solopreneurs)
Dash Hudson LikeShop (more expensive)
Cheers,
Greta Rose
p.s. Not a G.P.S. member? Why not? Join us here.
p.p.s. You can also add shoppable links to Instagram Stories. Here’s a post about that.
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