Last Updated on by Dan S
Originally Published December 17, 2019.
Instagram is a massive channel to market your stores products. Of course, whenever there is a handy feature or tool that a big media company like Facebook Meta (owners of Instagram) are offering, you’d be wise to make use of it.
Shopify have a connection to the Instagram channel but this doesn’t mean you can access this feature straightaway. The ability to tag products on Instagram is determined by Instagrams in-house review team, which typically takes a few days but can sometimes take longer.
Get product tagging on your Instagram Posts
If you find yourself being unable to tag products, there are a couple of techniques that may help with getting approved to sell on Instagram.
Finding tagging options and shop on Instagram
When you first setup the Instagram channel on Shopify through the Facebook and Instagram by Meta app, you will go through the verification process. Bare in mind that Instagram doesn’t allow every shop on the platform to do this. You must have an eligible shop and meet the eligibility requirements.
Tagging products on Instagram
When you see that you’re approved in your Instagram business profile and you have added your Meta product catalog, you can tag your products in Instagram posts and stories. Keep in mind that products need to be available in both your Meta catalog and Shopify online store to be tagged.
- Tap
and toggle to post. - Select a photo or video and add a caption, effects and filters. Tap Next.
- Tap Tag products. Tap the products in the photo or video that you want to tag. You can tag up to 5 products per single image and video post, or 20 products per multi-image carousel post.
- Search for the products that you want to tag, then select them as they appear in the search box.
- Tap Done.
- Tap Share.
Tagging products in Instagram stories
You can tag your products in stories using shopping stickers. You can only tag image-based story posts with this method – video stories do not support product tags.
My Instagram account is approved but I still don’t see tagging options
If you’re approved to sell on Instagram but still can’t see your account, here are a few things that might be wrong.
Business Account
Keep in mind that you can only set up Instagram Shopping if you have a Business or Creator Account. If your account is not a professional account, here’s how to change the settings:
- Tap the three horizontal lines in the upper right corner of your page
- Go to Settings and tap on Account
- Select Switch to Professional Account
- Select Business or Creator
- You can also connect your Instagram business page to your Facebook account in this step. Doing this is important if you want to tag products through Shopify
- After that, you can add other details like contact information, business category, etc
- Tap Done
Join Facebook page
As discussed above, you must connect your Instagram account to a Facebook business page. Your Instagram business profile must be connected to a Facebook Page to use shopping features. Plus, make sure that all products you want to tag on Instagram are available in your Meta catalog and Shopify online store.
Choose Catalog
After this, you can go to Settings in Instagram and tap Shopping. Here, you can choose the catalog you’d like to tag from. This catalog is managed through Meta Commerce Manager.
If you’ve checked all these things and there’s no problem with the setup, you should contact Instagram support or report a problem through your account. The support team will check your account and solve any issues that might be restricting you from creating a shop.
Below are steps to troubleshoot the Instagram Sales Channel. Tagging isn’t the same as selling through Instagram. When you tag products, customers will tap the tag and be redirected to your Shopify store to complete the purchase.
Do you have a genuine problem or connection issue?
Sometimes, tech goes wrong. You can spend hours over something that is literally out of your hands. The first thing to do is simply report an issue to Instagram.
Letting Instagram know that your Shopify Product feed is denied, when you know your store doesn’t violate their commerce policies will trigger Instagram to take a second, deeper look. This can sometimes act like an appeal and cause their initial decision to be changed.
Another tactic is mentioned in a review on the Instagram app’s page. This option is a bit more complicated but is another method that has seen success.
- Remove the Instagram Shopping Channel and clear your Browsers Cache.
- Unlink the connection between your Facebook and Instagram pages in the Instagram App.
- Switch your Instagram account back to Personal
- Delete the Instagram App and reinstall
- Log Back into Instagram
- DON’T relink your Facebook page and DON’T switch to a business profile
- Go to your Facebook page and disconnect your Instagram under accounts
- Go your business page of Facebook, go to settings and make sure you aren’t listed as a “Service“. You are a shop!
- Reconnect your Instagram account to Facebook
- Follow the prompt to switch your Instagram account to a business. If not prompted, manually do it within the app.
- Head back to Shopify, Install the Facebook and Instagram by Meta sales channel and setup.
Provided the steps are followed, you may be approved within 24-48 hours.
The main factors are that your store is actually eligible. If you aren’t eligible then you can’t tag.
If you are eligible, you just need to ensure you have all the accounts, settings and catalogues setup correctly through Meta Commerce Manager. Again, this tech can be complicated and if you had used Facebook Business Manager prior to Shopify, this can add to the confusion.
