Shopify Instagram Tutorial: 5 Easy Steps to Sell (Updated 2024)

As a merchant, if someone asked you whether you’d like to have an additional storefront in another location for free, you’d likely grab it with both hands.

Well, that’s exactly what Shopify and Instagram are offering to ecommerce merchants. While your online store may be doing well on its own, there’s absolutely no doubt that an additional Instagram business will help grow your sales.

It’s 100% free, simple to set up, and a no-brainer if you want to expand your channels. Here’s how to connect Shopify and Instagram, and why you should (Updated 2024).

I. How Does Shopify Instagram Shopping Work?

The Shopify Instagram love story started in 2018 when Instagram launched Instagram Shopping. This was Instagram’s big move into the world of ecommerce and it basically works like this:

1. Online merchants and influencers use product tagging feature to tag products. This can be in the Instagram feed or in the stories function above.
2. Viewers of the picture click on the products they want to find out more about. This brings them to the Instagram storefront for the store selling the product.
3. Those interested viewers buy directly from Instagram without leaving the app. Please note that, currently, this only works for U.S users; your users outside the States will have to click the ‘view on website’ button when looking at the product on your Instagram storefront.

Image credit: mobilemarketingmagazine.com

Customers who are looking for your Instagram store directly can also find it on your page, either through the ‘view shop’ button or the shop icon.

Take an in-depth look into Instagram’s product tagging tools here.  

II. The Potential of Shopify Instagram Integration

In short, to increase sales across both platforms.

We’re not talking about two separate online stores here. We’re talking about two traffic-driving, profit-generating sales channels that work really well together in reaching more customers and reducing the friction it takes for them to make a purchase.

Let’s take a look specifically at how Shopify Instagram integration are becoming the Mo Salah and Sadio Mané of ecommerce partnerships.

2.1. Instagram on your Shopify Page

If you’re experiencing a bit of an Instagram following, one of the best elements you can have on your store is an Instagram feed.

This is an element that displays your store’s mentions in posts on Instagram. The pictures are laid out in a gallery that showcases your product and its happy buyers in a real-life context, which is absolutely amazing for social proof.

VIBE Shoppable Instagram Feed app helps you create beautiful shoppable Instagram feeds for your Shopify store to increase store visual and boost conversion rate. You can tag products in your photos and reels and let your customers shop directly from your Instagram content. Get started with the Free plan and unlock the selling power of your Instagram feeds.

A great Instagram feed by Mexicali Blues, with the hashtag that allows content customers to upload their own content.

Check out this article’s entire section devoted to adding Instagram feeds to your Shopify store below. 

2.2. Shopify on your Instagram Page

Instagram Shopping essentially lets you migrate your product catalog from your Shopify store to your Instagram business profile. Also, if customers have already bought something on your online store, or if they’ve abandoned a cart there, your Instagram page can help reel them back in for another visit.

• Your Shopify Store on Instagram - By linking your Shopify store, Facebook Business account and Instagram Business account (we’ll show you how to do this later), all the products of your Shopify store will automatically be shown on your Instagram storefront. There’s also no need to design the storefront as Instagram has a set template that every store follows.
• Retargeting Customers - If a customer visits your Shopify store and abandons a cart, you can set up a retargeting campaign on their Instagram that will try to attract them back. This is also the case for customers who have already bought on your store, as return buyers are much more likely to spend again and spend high.

There are some great apps to help you retarget customers on Instagram, such as Ako Retargeting and Flightplan.

Read more: How To Run Facebook Ads For Your Shopify Store

III. Shopify And Instagram: 05 Reasons Whys

You may still be wondering exactly why you should subscribe to the Shopify and Instagram partnership. Sure they work well together, but what’s in it for me?

Well, here are 5 additional reasons to get yourself and your store behind Shopify and Instagram.

3.1. A Whole New Audience

 Image credit: www.entrepreneurshiplife.com/

One of the big pluses of this beautiful ecommerce alliance is its potential to expand your customer reach.

You may have done a lot of the legwork for your store: established your goals, created a great buyer persona and figured out where your customers are hanging out the most. But customers can surprise you.

Regardless of who your target audience is, there’s bound to be potential buyers on Instagram that you never would have considered 

By having an Instagram storefront for your Shopify store, you’ll be in the domain of over 1 billion users. Around 30% of this audience are aged 18-24 and around 34% are aged 25-34, meaning there’s a lot of potentials to sell to a buying market.

3.2. Customers Looking to Shop

Image credit: unsplash

And what incredible potential this buying market has.

Instagram has easily the best engagement rate of any social media platform at 1.22% (compare that to Facebook’s at 0.09%). This suggests that Instagram users are thorough users of the platform and heavily active when it comes to shopping.

Well, the fact that 80% of users follow at least one brand and 130 million people click on shopping posts every month definitely supports this.

In short, users want to shop. This is a categorical tick in the box if you’re at all dubious about connecting Shopify and Instagram.

3.3. More Ways to Find your Brand

Image Source: Instagram

We’ve already mentioned the main way that Instagram users find your products is through images, but how do they find those images?

There are plenty of avenues for potential customers to find your posts.

• Instagram ads - These are Instagram’s traditional ads; the ones where you pay money to display a sponsored post on users’ Instagram feeds. 
• Hashtags - These are the tags that you stick to your posts to get it found by people searching for those keywords. Someone searching for a #SuperheroLamp might search for that in the search box. If you’ve got that hashtag on your post, there’s a chance they’ll find it in the search results, which is a great source of organic traffic for your store.
• Influencers - What would Instagram be without influencers? These are the people who’ll shout to the world about your amazing product. They’ll post images of your product either for payment (in the case of professional influencers) or to brag about a recent purchase (in the case of your loyal customers).
• The Shop tab - This is Instagram’s newest feature and one of its biggest moves into the realms of ecommerce. Potential customers can click on the shop tag and find the products of brands they like. The recent posts of the brands will be in one long gallery, while another section below suggests individual products you might like from a range of stores.

Read more: Are you finding hot selling products in 2021. Here you can find top 20 ideas for your ecommerce store. 

3.4. Removing Friction

Image credit: littlehotelier.com

If you’re unfamiliar with friction in ecommerce, it refers to all the steps that a customer has to go through before they can make a purchase. The ideal shopping experience is a seamless slip-n-slide from product interest to product purchase.

And really, there should be as few steps as possible in between.

Connecting Shopify and Instagram is a great way to eradicate much of the friction your Instagram audience experiences.

If they’ve saved their buying and shipping details on the platform, customers looking to buy your product on Instagram Shopping can do so in as little as 3 clicks.

That kind of outrageous efficiency will see your cart abandonment rate plummet. 

3.5. More Links to your Store

Link to your Instagram storefront from multiple places on the platform.

If you’ve been building a following on Instagram for a while now, but are still frustrated with the tiny amount of Shopify traffic it brings, it’s quite possibly down to Instagram’s stringent link policy.

You’re probably all-too-aware that you’re only allowed one link on your Instagram’s business page. Harsh, we know, especially on a platform where users are actively looking to buy.

Well, the good news is that as long as you set up an Instagram Shop, you’ll be able to link to it as many times as you want on Instagram.

Of course, we’re not advocating spamming your followers with products, but a few strategic posts here and there can bring in more traffic than it previously could.

Sounds good? Let’s take a look at how to set it up…

IV. How to Sell on Instagram with Shopify

Check out the guideline of Shopify to know How To Sell On Instagram: Set Up An Instagram Shop In 15 Minutes or Less

V. How to Connect Shopify to Instagram on PageFly with VIBE 

About VIBE Shoppable Instagram Feed

VIBE is a Shopify Instagram app that enables you to create shoppable Instagram feeds. The VIBE Shoppable Instagram Feed helps increase sales by simplifying the purchasing process for users. It enhances the customer experience by making it easier for users to discover and buy the products they desire.

 

How to Connect Shopify to Instagram on PageFly with VIBE 

If you want to get more detail guideline, check out this article: How to use VIBE Shoppable Instagram Feed on PageFly