Instagram ; Mapping out your digital marketing approach for the upcoming holiday season?

In-stream shopping should, at the least, be a consideration, and with a recent survey of 4500 Instagram users finding that nearly half of them use Instagram to shop weekly, IG shopping should also be on your radar as a potential opportunity, both for product discovery and purchase.

Because as the numbers show, the way that people use Instagram, and other social media apps, is changing in this respect. The addition of Shop tabs and store displays gives consumers more ways to immediately connect with products that are highlighted in each app. And as more businesses adopt such processes, user expectations around such also shift, which is why it’s worth considering whether an Instagram store, or other product highlight options in the app, are worth the effort for your brand.

And if you are considering your IG options, this will help – Instagram recently published a 10 page guide to setting up an Instagram shop, and using product tags in the app.

You can download the full guide here, but in this post, we’ll take a look at some of the highlights.

First off, the guide looks at how to set-up your product catalog in IG, which is the backbone of your in-stream product listings.

It’s a handy overview of all the key steps, which will then enable you to link back to your products, while also ensuring that the product detail is always up to date.

The guide then highlights how to use each Instagram surface within your marketing process:

With Reels getting its own, dedicated display:

That makes sense, given Reels is the fastest growing element of the platform, and is quickly becoming the best way to maximize reach and engagement. By using product tags in Reels, that could be a key way to boost brand and product awareness this shopping season.

The guide also includes a range of tips and guidance notes, including pointers on product tagging:

It’s a good overview – it’s fairly brief, but it packs in all the info you’ll need to get started with product tags on Instagram, and ensure that you’re covering all bases, and where you need to focus to improve your performance.

And again, with so many people now seeking out product info in the app, it’s worth considering.

You can download the full ‘How to Start Reaching Customers with Your Shop’ guide here.