New Instagram Resources For Small Businesses

Instagram is launching a mini-site full of new resources created to help small businesses get the most out of Instagram Shops.

Instagram Shops is a feature launched back in may that allows businesses to set up an online storefront for free.

Payments are facilitated through a number of e-commerce partners, but transactions can be completed without users leaving the Instagram app.

To help businesses navigate this new tool, and learn how to best utilize it with their Instagram page, a selection of resources are now available.

‘The Season for Shops’ Mini-Site

Instagram’s new mini-site is designed for businesses starting out with the platform’s shopping features for the first time.

Businesses with an intermediate or advanced level of experience may already be familiar with what these resources cover.

But let’s take a look at what’s inside just to be sure.

Setting Up Shop

Instagram provides step-by-step instructions for setting up a storefront.

Businesses will have to use Commerce Manager to complete the setup of their shop. Instructions are provided for that as well.

Help Guides

After setting up a shop on Instagram, businesses can browse a selection of help guides for information on what to do next.

Tagging
One of the basics of Instagram Shopping that businesses should be familiar with is tagging.

Tagging products in feed posts, stories, and live streams makes it easy for people to shop as soon as they discover your products.

Two guides are provided to help businesses learn more about tagging:

• Start tagging: A 19-page guide with detailed information on every type of product tag.
• Tag with purpose: A simple one-pager with the dos and don’ts of tagging.

Collections
Once businesses have tagged a number of their products they can start grouping products together in collections.

Users can browse through collections just like browsing through a product catalog on a website.

To make this especially easy for businesses, an 8-page guide is provided with all the details on creating collections.

Shopping Ads
Businesses looking to invest some money in their Instagram storefront can look into shopping ads.

Again, the storefront itself is free to set up. Shopping ads are something extra businesses can use to reach a bigger audience.

Three guides are provided to assist businesses with Instagram shopping ads:

• Holiday shopping ads strategy: A one-page guide with recommendations specific to the holiday season.
• Set up shopping ads: A 9-page guide with information on what shopping ads are, how to set them up, and how to measure their success.
• Custom shopping audiences: A 7-page guide with information on how to target ads using custom audiences and lookalike audiences.

See all of Instagram’s guides in full in the new ‘Season for Shops’ mini-site.