How Instagram Shoppable Tags Can Benefit Your Brand
It is no secret that Instagram has changed the way we shop and changed the way marketers reach their target audience. Instagram shopping posts are no different; they allow consumers to have a simple and efficient in-app experience without having to navigate outside of the app. In turn, this gives companies who correctly utilize IG shopping posts an advantage over their competition. Making the purchasing process as simple and efficient as possible will generate more purchases because of how streamlined the process is.
Related: Instagram Updates for Brands in 2018
Let’s start at step one. If this sounds appealing to you and you want to utilize IG shopping posts there a few preliminary steps that must be taken. First, you must have a business page set up. Once that is taken care of the process of setting up your IG catalog is pretty simple. In your business manager settings, click on Data Sources, then Catalogs in your account. In this catalogs manager, you will be able to create product sets, add filters, and gain valuable insight on how specific products have performed over time.
Utilizing the shopping posts feature gives your brand’s customers a more unique shopping experience. This allows you to provide more in-depth information about your products or services in a visually appealing way. That way potential customers could be familiar with your brand before they ever even make it to your website. As explained by Facebook, shoppable posts are “like tagging a person in a post, Once you’re set up for product tagging, it’s a one-click solution to highlight new items for viewers to purchase.” Sounds simple enough, right? We have seen people put their own spin on this, from fashion brands and personal care products to lifestyle brands.
We have seen a few different creative strategies from brands who are currently using this approach. Some companies have stuck to a more direct approach where they simply show the product like you would see it in a catalog. Another strategy we have seen used; brands making their pages very lifestyle oriented, where they show their product being used in the real world, but with the shoppable tag. This is a creative way to relate to your target audience. Not only does it give your brand a chance to produce entertaining content but you can even utilize your loyal customer’s images. The focus of these posts will be on the lifestyle of your target audience. For example, let’s say you sell camping equipment. Your posts show beautiful mountain ranges and people using your product. This puts people in the situation that they would be in when using your products, and in turn, enticing them to purchase.
One of the biggest critiques about brands advertising on Instagram is that feeds have become saturated with sponsored posts. Shoppable posts have the ability to reach your audience organically. Think about it, the implementation of shoppable photos won’t visually intrude with your feed. Photos would simply contain product tags, the only indicator will be a small white button in the lower left-hand corner that states “View Products.” Clicking on that reveals the tags, each of which can be clicked on to view more information about the product and a link to buy the product.
A brand that is doing a great job with shoppable tags, and really everything they do creatively, is Adidas. This gives you an idea of how a brand is successfully using shoppable tags. As you can see you have the original post, that then leads to an in-app experience, kind of like Facebook’s “canvas ads” which has the price, general product info, and other posts where the product has been tagged. This gives customers a more complete and informational purchase experience, and not to mention, a much simpler process of purchasing.
At the end of the day, you want to differentiate your brand from competitors and make it the most appealing. Utilizing shoppable tags on Instagram is just one way to do that, making your brand stand out and really show your customers the purpose for your brand’s existence. Adding shoppable tags to your post will provide a more simple and aesthetically appealing customer journey.
