Social commerce on

Instagram
Boost sales by leveraging
Instagram’s powerful
social commerce capabilities.
Table of contents

Introduction

Organic content on Instagram

Ads on Instagram

Instagram Shopping 5

The next 5 big things

on Instagam

Tips & hacks

Product catalogs and Instagram

Productsup’s Instagram
solutions

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Instagram at a glance

Instragram beat TikTok

to most-downloaded
app in Q4 2021 78% of marketers use
Instagram (2nd after
Facebook)

The platform has 1.5 billion

monthly active users

70% of users visit

Instagram to shop Most popular app for
Gen Z and Millenials
(18-34)

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Introduction
Meta has been at the vanguard of social commerce development over
the past years as they constantly tweak and develop the products
that drive shopping on their platforms. Although Instagram Shopping
is managed through the Facebook Commerce Manager, the similari-
ties between the platforms end there.

For example, the user experience offered by both platforms is com-

pletely different. These are different channels and each requires its
own strategy and solutions because both the technical capabilities
and the demographics vary widely.

The following guide will explore the unique features of Instagram’s

advertising and shopping capabilities and will share best practices for
driving growth on this powerful social commerce platform.

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Organic content
on Instagram
Organic content on Instagram doesn’t
necessarily mean that sellers have to
spend large budgets creating unique
content. There are a number of ways
that your profile can be used for both
branding and performance marketing
while reinforcing the trust your
customers placed in your brand.

Business page Partnerships with creators User-generated content

Much like a personal Instagram profile, your business
page is where you host your organic content. Here,
you can fill your feed with posts that reflect your
brand identity and tell your brand story - for free!
Instagram is still limiting organic reach within the
platform, which means partnering with influencers
or creators is one of the best ways to extend your
brand’s reach on the platform. Creators excel in
building communities that trust what they say, so find
those who align with your brand and create meaning-
ful relationships that will benefit both parties.
To maintain consumer trust, businesses can also post
popular user-generated content like reviews or
images/videos which feature their product(s) on their
business pages. Once the owner gives permission,
these authentic-feeling posts become useful brand-
ing and marketing tools.

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Ads on
Instagram
Unless your brand or one of your top products goes viral with
the help of an influencer or some amazing content, Instagram
ads are where your business needs to look to build awareness
and grow. There are several different types of ads, and they all
come with their own benefits and drawbacks.

Paid advertising is still not as popular on Instagram as it is on

Facebook. But note, as organic reach continues to decline on
Instagram, ads will be intrinsic to success in the future

Exactly how ad pricing works remains a mystery as companies

keep silent on their recent spending and segmentation methods.
Costs are generated by both CPC and CPM metrics, but
Instagram’s ad market is also influenced by audience feedback
on ads and other factors such as the audience type.

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Ads on
Instagram
In-feed ads
Instagram users spend nearly all of their screen
time on their mobile-first feeds. Whether images or
videos, users are confronted with unlimited content
that they either pause on or scroll past. In-feed
ads must be eye-catching and entertaining and
shouldn’t always look like classic ads.
Basic ads
Basic ads just have single images or videos
showing one product image.
Stories ads
Instagram Stories are full-screen images and vid-
eos that users generally post to keep their friend
circles or followers updated on where they are or
what they are doing. The story is live for 24 hours,
which means your ad story needs to be quick,
compelling, and fun. Your stories should look and
feel like the kind of authentic stories that users post
to their networks. Using product tags or interactive
stickers is recommended to move the viewers to
your products or shopping pages.
Collection ads
You can use the collection format in the Insta-
gram feed to make it easier for people to discover,
browse and purchase products and services from
their mobile devices in a visual and immersive way.
A collection ad on Instagram feeds includes a cover
image or video followed by three product images.
When clicked, they direct to a full-screen landing
page called an Instant Experience page. When
creating an Instant Experience with your collection
ad use your shopfront or customer acquisition
templates. You can also build a custom experience.
Reels ads
Reels are Instagram’s version of short-form videos
and they can be accessed from the main navigation
tab. They have only been around since 2020 when
the short form video exploded as the most popular
format for Millenials and Gen Z. These ads should
be entertaining and compelling. Use Product tags
to link to your products from the Reels. To promote
your Reel, put CTAs on your classic Instagram ads
to encourage users to view your videos.
Carousel ads
Carousel ads also appear in the Instagram Feed,
where they showcase up to ten images or videos.
Each image/video can have its own link. Brands use
this ad format to display different products or show
specific details about a single product, service or
promotion. This format is also ideal for storytelling,
where the brand can showcase itself across the ten
images/videos.
Branded content ads
Branded content ads are where creators or in-
fluencers link up with advertisers and work on
creating content together. Instagram uses the same
tools for this advertising as Facebook, so brands
have access to more targeting tools than simply
targeting a creator’s followers. When users see
these ads in their feed or stories, they will also see
“Paid partnership with …” on the post.
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Instagram
Shops
Not yet available globally, Instagram Shopping will soon be available everywhere as
it’s rolled out on an ongoing basis. Instagram Checkout is currently only available to
some businesses in the US, but you can expect this service to be available in more
countries and markets in the near future.

Tip: If you aren’t in one of the countries with these services, don’t use a VPN! Once
detected, Instagram will block your product tags and you won’t be able to link your
ads to your products.

Instagram Shops are where you set up and customize your own storefronts,
where the shoppers can get a feel for your brand. Shopping tags are perhaps
the most important feature of your Shop ads. Apart from CTAs on standard ads,
product shopping tags bring users to your Shop in the US – they have Checkout –
or to your website.

The Shop tab in Explore enables users to look at tagged content from brands and
creators. When users come to your Shop, show them Collections which are sets
of products your business curates to help potential customers find the products
they want to buy.

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Instagram
Shops
The Product detail page (PDP) is just that. It showcases the product details and
descriptions of each product in your Shop. Pricing, variations, size, and avail-
ability are all essential attributes that are fed into the system via your product
information feeds. Leveraging the right technology can help ensure your product
catalog is in the correct format and has the right attributes when you export it to
Instagram.

Businesses in the US Beta testing Instagram’s Checkout function also have the
option to use Product launches. This function enables sellers to announce new
product launches on the platform. Consumers can preview details of the products
and then set reminders to tell them when they can buy the product.

Shopping partner permissions are another exciting Checkout-only feature. The

permissions allow businesses to share their products with their partners on the
platform, thereby increasing their reach. Partners are identified by either linking
up shops from the two companies or sharing product tagging permissions with
the partner.

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 The next 5 big things 4 2
5 on Instagram
1. Digital collectibles
NFTs will soon be displayed on Instagram and will connect to
open blockchains. At the time of writing, only a small select
group of creators had access to this function, but this will be
extended to all creators. Not just art, the commercial power of
NFTs will be seen as Gen Z and Gen Alpha begin buying every-
day fashion items in digital as well as physical forms.

2. Instagram Live Shopping

Live shopping is back with a bang, and Instagram is also getting
1
in on the action. The phenomenon has grown exponentially in
China and is now taking off in the Western Hemisphere. It is
going to be huge.
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3. Instagram Stories AR Filters
With the whole physical world talking about metaverse and
augmented reality, Instagram will keep working on providing
more immersive experiences in their popular Stories content.
For some years, users have been playing with face filters, but
you can expect these filters to become more immersive and
more engaging.

4. Physical pop-up stores

With omnichannel shopping the new normal, Instagram is also
investigating creating brick-and-mortar pop-up stores selling
the top-trending products on the platform.

5. Checkout
This exciting social commerce experience will soon be rolled out
globally. It is currently being tested on selected businesses in
the US market. 5 10
Tips
and hacks
Know your audience
With so much secrecy surrounding segmentation and audience targeting
in Instagram, businesses must do their homework on their target groups.
Meta provides some crossover from Facebook for companies advertising
on Instagram. Create User Profiles and test, test, test before committing
large budgets to brand targeting.
Automate as much as possible
Leverage technology – such as a P2C platform – to automate as much
of the feed management and image/video creation as much as possible.
Committing tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of SKUs to a
social commerce platform and then reaping ROAS can no longer be done
efficiently through manual processes. Let machines do the legwork while
you concentrate on the testing, performance, and strategy.
Engage with creators
Mix up your ad formats and try out different things. Authenticity and user
trust are crucial for brands looking to build and maintain a customer base.
Creators offer a hybrid and organic experience for the users which, in
turn, can boost your branding. Combined with classic ad campaigns and
Instagram Shopping, creators can offer an enormous boost to branding.
Leverage different products
Use the full suite of options on Instagram to identify your target
audience. Remember, different products might sell better using other
Instagram ad formats. Don’t be afraid to experiment! With 1.3 billion
monthly users, there are probably multiple targets in multiple formats for
each of your products.
Combine organic with paid content
Keep your business page for organic, creative or even viral content. You
can build your brand with organic traffic and creator marketing but look
to ads for performance. Although Instagram is gradually reducing the im-
pact of organic on performance marketing, it will always remain essential
for branding.
Instagram analytics
Use the analytics to gather as much data and metrics as you can. The
feature allows you to compare different kinds of posts against each other
and much more. For even better performance results, consider using the
Productsup Insights solution, which can boost all social performance
campaigns by giving you real-time data to enable immediate feed and
campaign enhancement.
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Product catalogs
and Instagram
The first step to Instagram is setting up a product catalog filled
with compliant, compelling, and correct product data. For most
businesses, the next step is spending days or weeks preparing the
file for the first export and then spending further weeks trying to
synchronize the order information and optimize products or Catalogs must have
collections in the various formats.
1 All required and recommended attributes
The best step is to use a feed management solution or, better still,
a P2C platform to automate the process. Product catalogs have to 2. High-quality images/video in all required sizes
be refreshed and enhanced rapidly as the millions of trends on the
platform chop and change in hours or even minutes. 3. Up-to-date sale information

4. Accurate pricing and descriptions

5. Correct language, currency, and details on each image/

video

6. The correct Product tags on each product

7. Availability has to be accurate or brands risk damaging

consumer trust

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Productsup’s
Instagram solutions
Productsup is the world’s most powerful product-to-consumer platform because
it has the most comprehensive feed management and social commerce solutions.
We help 900 global businesses advertise and sell on over 2500 channels, includ-
ing Instagram. In fact, we’re a Meta partner, which means we can ensure compa-
nies like yours have the best commerce experience on Facebook and Instagram.

Integration with Commerce Manager

Use our AI Automapper and redefined Instagram templates to build high-
performing product feeds for Instagram in a matter of minutes. Once your
feeds are mapped, you can export to Instagram as many times a day as you
wish. Your data will stay current and its quality and compliance are
guaranteed.

Rich media capabilities

Use the centralized video and image designer functions and automatic rules
to create dynamic and engaging creatives. You can use the rule system to
time certain ads or mention sale events. Rules can also be used to enhance
images or create dynamic videos from a selection of images for each
product.

Feedback loops
P2C strategy is the future because it is the only technology that integrates
customer feedback loops into the feed enhancement process. Consumers
now demand personalized and almost interactive experiences with the
brands where they buy. P2C solutions can collate and integrate consumer
feedback loops from across all touchpoints and channels into the dash-
boards where marketing managers enhance feeds and customer targeting.
We call this 3D commerce.

Performance enhancing functions

With existing features such as the ROI Strategy tool, A/B Testing tabs, and
automatic order synchronization, the Productsup P2C platform will give you 13
all the resources you need to adapt to ever-changing consumer behavior
– whatever comes next.
 Empowering commerce

Get in touch today!