Tagging products on Instagram by Meta
You can sell your products on Instagram by tagging them in posts and stories. As a part of the Meta ecosystem, Instagram uses your Facebook Shop catalog to tag products, so you need to connect your online store with Facebook first.
Once your products are tagged, they have a bag icon that shoppers can tap to see the item’s name, pricing, description, and photos. Customers can purchase a product directly on Instagram or from your website.
Requirements for selling on Instagram
To start selling on Instagram, you need to meet the following requirements:
- Your business is located in the following countries: America: Brazil, Canada, Mexico, United States. Europe: Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, Ukraine. APAC: Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand.
If your business is not from the countries above, try Linkup—a tool to list all your shoppable links in your Instagram profile.
- You are on one of the paid Ecwid plans and have an Ecwid online store.
- Your products meet the product requirements for selling on the Facebook channel (since Instagram is the part of Facebook). Your catalog needs to be eligible according to Facebook's Commerce Policy and comply with the merchant agreement.
- Your Facebook account, Facebook Page and your Instagram professional account meet the Commerce Eligibility Requirements (this may include having a sufficient follower base).
- Your Facebook page can’t have any age or country restrictions. Instagram uses your Facebook Shop catalog to find and tag products.
- Your website domain is verified to confirm that you own and represent your domain.
- Your Instagram profile is converted to a Professional Account. You can choose either a Creator or Business account to tag your products.
- You have the latest version of the Instagram app.
Setting up Shopping on Instagram in Ecwid
To set up Shopping on Instagram, you first need to connect your online store to Facebook. After connecting, products from your Ecwid online catalog appear in the Facebook Shop catalog. Since Instagram along with Facebook is part of the Meta ecosystem, Instagram uses your Facebook Shop catalog to find and tag your products. With Ecwid, you connect your Facebook Page, Facebook Pixel, and your Instagram account to your online store at once.
To connect your Instagram Business page along with your Facebook page to your Ecwid store:
- From your Ecwid admin, go to Instagram and click + Connect to Get Your Instagram Shop.
- In the popup, log into your Facebook account or continue with your account if you are already logged in.
- Follow the wizard. Make sure to tick the Instagram Shopping checkbox to be able to tag your products on Instagram.
- Once you complete the wizard and are redirected to Ecwid admin, go to the Instagram page and click Set Category to assign a marketplace category to your catalog.
- From the Marketplace Category dropdown, choose your category. From the Product condition dropdown, choose what products do you sell — new, refurbished, or used.
If you sell products from different categories, like coffee beans and mugs, assign different categories to different products.
- Click Save.
- Verify your domain on Facebook to meet Meta requirements for businesses.
- (for new sellers) You need to verify your store on Facebook, even if you want to sell only on Instagram.
- (for the US stores) Enable Checkout on Facebook and Instagram to comply with Meta requirements.
- In the Ecwid app, go to Store → Sales Channels and tap Instagram Shopping.
- In the popup, log into your Facebook account or continue with your account if you are already logged in.
- Follow the wizard. Make sure to tick the Instagram Shopping checkbox to be able to tag your products on Instagram.
- Once you complete the wizard and are redirected to Ecwid admin, go to the Instagram page and click Set Category to assign a marketplace category to your catalog.
- From the Marketplace Category dropdown, choose your category. From the Product condition dropdown, choose what products do you sell — new, refurbished, or used.
If you sell products from different categories, like coffee beans and mugs, assign different categories to different products.
- Click Save.
- Verify your domain on Facebook to meet Meta requirements for businesses.
- (for new sellers) If you have never sold on Meta before, you need to verify your store on Facebook, even if you want to sell only on Instagram.
- (for the US stores) Enable Checkout on Facebook and Instagram to comply with Meta requirements.
- In the Ecwid app, go to Store → Sales Channels and tap Instagram Shopping.
- In the popup, log into your Facebook account or continue with your account if you are already logged in.
- Follow the wizard. Make sure to tick the Instagram Shopping checkbox to be able to tag your products on Instagram.
- Once you complete the wizard and are redirected to Ecwid admin, go to the Instagram page and click Set Category to assign a marketplace category to your catalog.
- From the Marketplace Category dropdown, choose your category. From the Product condition dropdown, choose what products do you sell — new, refurbished, or used.
If you sell products from different categories, like coffee beans and mugs, assign different categories to different products.
- Click Save.
- Verify your domain on Facebook to meet Meta requirements for businesses.
- (for new sellers) If you have never sold on Meta before, you need to verify your store on Facebook, even if you want to sell only on Instagram.
- (for the US stores) Enable Checkout on Facebook and Instagram to comply with Meta requirements.
Enabling product tagging on Instagram app
Shopping on Instagram provides access to Instagram’s platform through Facebook, as Instagram uses your Facebook Shop catalog to find and tag your products. Before setting up Shopping on Instagram, make sure you connect your online store with Facebook, verify your website domain and your store meets all the requirements.
After you connect your online store to Facebook, Meta will take time to approve your business to sell on Facebook and Instagram. As soon as Facebook approves your business, you’ll receive a notification in the Instagram app that you can turn on the product tagging feature in your Instagram account.
To enable the feature in Instagram:
- From your Instagram app, go to your business profile options, then go to Settings.
- Tap Shopping, and then confirm your Facebook account.
- Select a product catalog to connect to your business profile.
- Tap Done.
Tagging products on Instagram
After you've been approved and completed setup in Shopping in Settings, you can start tagging products in both new and existing posts and stories. You can tag up to 5 products per single-image post or 20 products per carousel.
If your products have variations like sizes or colors, Instagram counts each product variation (e.g., size or color options) as a separate item. Don’t be alarmed if the total number of products in your Instagram catalog exceeds the number of products in your Facebook Shop.
To tag a product:
- From your Instagram app, select a photo for the post, add filters, and a caption.
- Tap the products in the photo that you want to tag.
- Enter the names of the products you want to tag.
- Select them as they appear in the search box.
- Tap Done and Share your post.
Instagram will review your product tags to ensure they comply with Instagram’s commerce policies. The review process usually takes a few seconds, but sometimes Instagram takes more time to check the product in detail.
Tags under review are marked as Pending. These tags will be visible as soon as they are approved by Instagram.
Tapping the product tag from your post provides the following information for your customers:
- The product’s image from your site
- The product’s description
- The product’s price
- A link to purchase the product on your website
After publishing nine shopping posts, businesses receive a persistent Shop tab on their Instagram business profile. This allows customers to view all posts with tags from your account easily.
See the How do I move or delete products I've tagged on Instagram? article in the Instagram Help Center to learn how to move or delete product tags on Instagram.
Best practices: Preparing your business account for a review
Follow the tips below for your store’s Instagram account to be faster approved for tagging products.
-
Get a business profile for your store’s account. If you already have a personal Instagram account with brand-appropriate content and an established following, you might want to simply convert it to an Instagram business account.
You could also choose to create a brand-new Instagram business account. This is the right choice if you don’t have an existing personal account, or if your personal account does not accurately represent your business.
If you are a business or public figure and sell products, we suggest creating a separate Instagram account for your business. This makes it easy for Instagram to recognize your business. As only Business profiles are allowed for product tagging. You can utilize Creator profiles, which have extended features like statistics about your followers, contact buttons, etc. -
Tweak your bio. We’ve got a full blog post to creating an effective Instagram bio for business, but here are some quick tips:
- Explain in 140-160 characters what your brand is all about.
- Utilize business terms like “Store company”, “Official shop”, etc.
- Be sure to include a clickable link to your website.
- Include a branded hashtag to curate images and videos.
- Make sure you add variable details such as a business address, contact phone, and email using a button area displayed underneath the initial information.
- Assign the right category. Check the category assigned to the Facebook page your Instagram account is connected to. If it’s blank, update it to the appropriate business category. Again, this makes it easy for Instagram to recognize you as a business.
- Use your store logo or mascot in a profile image. This helps people (and the Instagram team) who visit your page to recognize your brand the quickest.
-
Post brand-specific content. Here are some tips on what business should post on Instagram:
- Create high-quality product photos
- Use video to showcase your product
- Reveal behind-the-scenes of creating products
- Educate your audience on using your products
- Entertain and engage your audience: run contests or do a fun quiz
- Showcase your products as part of a lifestyle
- Curate user-generated content
- Post consistently. This can help you maximize engagement without hitting any lulls or stretches without updates. Any Instagram strategy should clearly outline a target post frequency to help keep you on track.
- Add more products to your catalog. If you have a limited catalog (under ten products or so), consider extending. You can enhance your offerings with services or product accessories.
- Consider setting up Facebook Business Manager for your business.
- Make sure your business meets Instagram’s requirements to be approved for product tagging.
It might take a while to get access to product tagging. We get it. We hope this information helps get your store closer to leverage the Instagram sales channel.