Instagram is a huge part of our online lives, the platform has 500 million active daily users and, when you take into consideration that 50% of them follow a business page, setting up an Instagram Shop is definitely something you should be considering for your dive business.
So, what is Instagram Shop and why is it beneficial to your dive business?
Instagram Shop allows you to list your online product catalogue on your Instagram profile letting users shop your inventory via tagged products that link back to your website. Once integrated, you will be able to promote your products to users directly from your Instagram feed, stories, and via the new Shop tab that has been implemented on the ‘Explore page’ by the app. Selling PADI courses, scuba equipment and dive trips has never been so easy!
Customers are able to access and identify with your products more easily
Instagram as a photo/video sharing app is centered on creativity and inspiration allowing you to post images and videos of your incredible dive sites that inspire users to book a course with you. Since the introduction of e-commerce capabilities – including Shopping, you are able to cut through the online noise by using Shopping product tags on your course imagery. This feature allows users to go from course inspiration to course information in only a couple of taps!
Reach beyond your followers to other interested users via the Shopping Explore page
By now you know that the correct use of hashtags across your Instagram posts leads to your posts being discovered by new and interested users on the ‘Explore page’. Well, the same can be said for your shopping posts. Optimizing your captions in your product posts, for example, using the hashtag #LearnToDive in a post advertising your PADI Open Water Diver course may help you reach users with high purchase intent on the ‘Shopping Explore’ page.
By doing this, you will be promoting your courses, equipment or dive trips in two places at once, to a much larger audience. You will promote to followers via your feed, as well as your target market outside of your followers via hashtags and the ‘Shopping Explore’ page.
How can I set it up?
Instagram has five key requirements to determine the eligibility of those looking to set up Instagram Shopping. These are as follows:
- Check that you are in an eligible market. For the Asia Pacific region the majority of countries are eligible, however, it is definitely worth heading to Instagram’s help page to confirm your eligibility
- Making sure you sell physical goods. This can be gear in your shop, or a physical course that you conduct as part of your dive business
- Does your inventory comply with Instagram’s commerce policies? Have a read of these policies and ensure you abide by their rules
- Ensure that your Instagram account is a business account
- Is your account connected to a Facebook Page? Linking your Facebook and Instagram accounts is one of the key requirements for setting up Instagram Shopping.
Now that you have ensured your Instagram account is eligible for Shopping, the next step is to upload your inventory to Instagram – also known as connecting to a Catalog. When you connect to a catalogue there are two ways you can do this:
- Create or connect to a catalog with Facebook Catalog Manager.
To begin this process, head to your Facebook Business Manager account that owns the Facebook Page linked to your Instagram Business account. Once here, you will be able to create a new catalog. You can follow Facebook’s easy how-to for information on taking this step.
- Sync your online store with your Facebook Page to create your Catalog.
If you are using Shopify or BigCommerce for your online store, you will be able to import your inventory lists directly into Facebook Business Manager, meaning there’s no need to manually re-create your product listings. With this option you can also track your sales automatically on your e-commerce site.
Once your account and catalogue have been synchronized, you can head to the Instagram app and sign up for Shopping. Head to your profiles settings, click business and select Instagram Shopping. Once there, all you need to do is follow the prompts and submit your account for Instagram to approve.
Getting the Message out Using the Shopping Tags on Your Posts and Stories
Once you are approved you will be able to add Shopping tags to your posts and stories. To do this, you create a post as you always would and tap ‘Tag Products’ to add and advertise a product that you are selling. You are able to add up to five products on one image, up to 20 items on multi-image posts and one product sticker per story. A great example of this would be to create a post or story series targeted at first-time divers. You can have an inspiration engaging image of someone learning to dive on the first image of your post, featuring the ‘PADI Open Water Diver course’, followed by images tagging the key equipment you feel that new divers should invest in.
Instagram has a great feature which also allows you to go back through your old feed posts and add shopping tags to anything relevant!
Adding shopping stickers to your Instagram Stories is a great way to engage with your followers and to communicate that your products are shop-able through the app.
You can add the shopping stickers to your stories by tapping the sticker button on the bottom right hand corner of your stories edit screen as is circled in red above. You then select the product sticker from the sticker tray, select the product from your catalogue that you would like to feature and move it around your story ad you would with any other sticker!
If you would like to learn more about social media best practices that can benefit your dive business check out our ‘Social Media Best Practices – Facebook and Instagram’ webinar. For further marketing resources, head to the ‘PADI Marketing Support Resource’ blog.
If you have any questions, please contact PADI Marketing directly.
The post What Is Instagram Shopping and Why Is It Beneficial to Your Dive Business? appeared first on PADI Pros.
Marketing & Social Media, Instagram Shopping, marketing, Social MediaPADI Pros
