From the Lab is designed to give our audience an update on tactics, platform changes and additions to channels via social and search. These updates can have huge impacts on strategy and we will strive to keep you up to date on the latest developments.
As the great Pablo Picasso once said, “Good artists copy; great artists steal.” It seems that Instagram is taking leaps to become great by slowly rolling out Shoppable Posts. This isn’t a new concept by any means, it seems that most social platforms want to make it as easy as possible to buy things without leaving the platform, Pinterest did it in 2015 also partnering with Shopify.
What is it?
Shoppable Posts will have a small shopping bag on the bottom left of the post. When clicked on, the user can click the image to view the product details from the post. If a user clicks on a product, it takes them to a new page in the app where they can see more information and have the opportunity to click a Shop Now button.
Why this Matters?
This feature allows the user to quickly identify what products are in photos and be taken to the website on Instagram to learn more and purchase.
Who is Eligible?
Unfortunately, not everyone. Instagram Shoppable Posts initially rolled out in late 2017, available only to certain companies who use Shopify in a testing mode by approval. Currently, Shopify users can sign up to get updates as it is rolled out to more users. In addition to Shopify, Instagram later rolled the service out to those using BigCommerce.
In late January 2018, Salesforce launched a program where users of Salesforce Commerce Cloud are now also able to tag products in Instagram posts through their new integration.
If you currently use Shopify for BigCommerce, we definitely recommend you sign up to stay updated, because this is a huge opportunity for product based companies! If you are wondering what affect the new Facebook algorithm will have on you, check out our blog post about it and stay tuned for future blogs for more information and updates From the Lab.
