Online retailers are taking their stores to social media, selling on Instagram, or setting up a Facebook shop to expand their reach and offer various shopping experiences which appeal to the visually driven market of 2022.
With Instagram being the global engagement leader (higher than TikTok), Instagram Shopping is a powerful tool for reaching a wider audience and increasing conversions.
What’s even cooler, is that Shopify and Instagram are offering eCommerce merchants this additional store-front absolutely free.
As online shopping becomes more popular on mobile devices, it’s a smart move to allow your prospective customers to shop using easily accessible platforms such as Facebook or Instagram app.
So, if you want to keep up with your target market and connect your Shopify store to your Instagram business profile, then you've come to the right place.
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What Is Instagram Shopping? 🤷♀️
Instagram Shopping is a channel that allows you to effortlessly migrates your product inventory from your Shopify store to your professional Instagram account.
You can then use product tagging so your potential customers can view your products and learn more, or purchase the products you've posted about.
With clickable product tags, purchases can be made directly from the app or by being redirected to your eCommerce store.
Effectively, your Instagram shop functions as a visually rich mini store where you can show off your products for purchase to a wider audience.
Why Sell On Instagram? 🕵️♂️
With Instagram and Facebook joining forces, you're looking at an active user base of around 4.2 billion, and Instagram's share of that is 1.3 billion. On top of that, research shows that roughly 84% of people use Instagram to discover new products.
Here are some of the reasons to sell on Instagram:
- Tap into a new source of traffic that is eager to discover new products and has one of the highest conversion rates (between 1.94% and 3.5%)
- Boost your social proof and increase your conversion rates with shoppable posts, Instagram stories, IG live, and ads, letting your customers buy directly within the app.
- Access a pool of Instagram influencers to reach a wider target audience and boost brand awareness.
- Improve your customer experience by syncing your Shopify store's look and feel across platforms.
- Create a seamless customer journey from product discovery to checkout.
- Save abandoned carts or reel in previous buyers by easily setting up retargeting campaigns on Instagram.
- Easily run visually driven marketing campaigns.
- Get a head start by tapping into Instagrams Reels which are growing in popularity as interest in video content gains traction.
- Look forward to engaging with a large audience across the US, India, Brazil, and Indonesia.
It is worth mentioning that there are a few rules for selling on Facebook and Instagram and that you will not be allowed to sell animals, healthcare products which include "before and after" images, downloadable/digital products, virtual currency, or products with sexual connotation or positioning.
That being said, the largest target market on Instagram is the 25 - 34 age group and is mostly female, so just keep it above board and you’ll be heading for success.
How To Connect Shopify To Instagram 🛒
With Facebook and Instagram merging to form Meta, setting up your Instagram channel has changed a bit. You will now need to have a Facebook business account set up in order to also connect your professional Instagram account.
Here are the accounts you will need to have set up before we dive into the actual channel setup:
- A Shopify account.
- An Instagram Business account.
- A Facebook Business account.
- All the permissions to use Instagram Sales Channel.
Once you have those in place, it’s super easy to get selling on Instagram!
In the menu along the left side of your dashboard, you’ll see a "Sales Channels" section. Click on the little arrow next to "Sales Channels".
A menu will pop up at the top of the screen showing your installed channels, recommended sales channels, and app and sales channel settings.
Click on "Recommended sales channels" to open a pop-up that shows a choice of channels that you can link to your Shopify store.
To connect to the Instagram sales channel you'll need to look for the Facebook channel and click "Add."
Alternatively, you can just visit the Shopify app store and search for the Facebook channel.
You'll now be brought to a page that looks like this:
There will be a lot of information to scroll through, but you can't edit anything yet so just click "Add sales channel."
Now that you’ve added the Facebook and Instagram channel, they will show up on the left-hand side under “Sales channels.”
Click “Start setup” to set up these social media platforms and connect your meta account. Shopify will connect to your personal Facebook profile to access your business pages. Once connected, a list of your business pages will show up.
Select the page you want to connect to Shopify.
Once you've selected an account to connect, you'll need to complete the setup to start selling your products on Facebook and Instagram.
This process is fairly simple, and Shopify guides you through setting up your checkout and data-sharing options, including Facebook Pixel.
Installing the tracking pixel means you can run retargeting campaigns for your products on Instagram.
Once complete, you'll need to click "submit for review."
Add Your Products To Instagram 🎁
All product catalogs will automatically be added to your available sales channels. If you only want to offer certain products on Instagram, you can go to products in the left-hand menu and click on the product you want to remove.
On the right side of the screen, you will see "Sales channels and apps." Click “Show more.”
You should now see Facebook listed underneath. To change which channels the product is sold on, you can simply click "Manage" and uncheck the channels you don't want to use.
How To Add Instagram Feed To Shopify 📲
Now that you have your products on Instagram, why not show off your Instagram feed on your Shopify store?
This is an element that shows off your store mentions (customer reviews) in posts, laid out in a neat gallery showcasing your products and their happy buyers in real-time.
Featuring your Instagram feed is a powerful aspect of social proof and a great way to increase conversions!
You can quickly and easily add this using one of the many apps on the Shopify app store.
Conclusion 🙌
Well done! Connecting Shopify to Instagram will have you increase your sales in no time.
This no-fuss guide is just the beginning of your journey to tapping into the benefits of social media marketing. There is so much you can do on social media when creating and building a brand through Shopify, and the tools are right at your fingertips.
Remember to return to your competitive analysis on a regular basis and track your stats to find out which social media channel will bring in the most conversions for your unique online shop.
If you enjoyed this how-to guide, don’t forget to check out our other posts on setting up the perfect Shopify store!