If you are a Prestashop store owner, you should know that Instagram allows you to tag your eCommerce products in your publication on this social network. In this way, you will redirect your followers to the products in your store through the in-app browser.
It is essential to show your potential customers your products, especially if you sell clothing, jewelry, cosmetics, or other items such as paintings, decorative items, or graphic arts. In this sense, social networks, especially Instagram, will be of great help, since they allow you to publish your product and make your followers fall in love with a good image, and producing a sense of urgency in buyers.
Instagram makes it easy for the user to access your store without leaving the app, since with a single click on the image they will be redirected to the product file, facilitating the purchase process and avoiding delays when having to enter the bio, and then access the store link and then search for the item in your store.
How to use product tagging on Instagram
To start tagging the products of your store on Instagram, you need to complete some previous steps and have the approval of your account to start using the functionality. Instagram establishes some conditions of use and among them individual validation, although it is not frequent that they deny it.
Here are the steps necessary to activate the service:
Use the Facebook Business Manager
If you have an eCommerce and you advertise, using this tool is essential. If you don’t have a Business Manager account yet, now is the time to create one.
Add to your Business Manager the essential assets such as your Facebook page, your Instagram account, your Facebook Pixel (if you have it, it is not mandatory, but it is convenient), your advertising account (if not owning it you can create a new account and define it as the main account).
In case your Business Manager account has been created with the same email address that you use on Facebook, the assets will be approved immediately, as the owner. If you have problems including the assets, it is recommended that you seek the help of a professional specialized in the area.
Create your product catalog in Facebook Business Manager
The tagging of products on Instagram is not automatic, for this, you must upload your Facebook product catalog, which is considered another asset. The product sheets of the Facebook catalogs interpret the values of your online store such as price, images, and stock. In this sense, it is necessary that the catalog contains the necessary data since these will be the ones that Facebook imports in the respective catalog.
Company Profile
To proceed with the tagging on Instagram it is necessary that the profile of your account be business since it is not possible to do it if you have a personal profile. If you don’t have a business account yet, creating one is very easy.
How to use product tagging on Instagram
This technical step is often difficult to understand. If you do not have the knowledge, it is preferable that you hire a professional who will take care of this complicated process for you. However, we will tell you how it is done for your knowledge.
In principle, it is necessary to install a module that allows generating a catalog file in XML format, which must be imported from the Facebook catalog. This process includes several phases:
Module for Prestashop
It is advisable to use the Prestashop module, although its configuration is much more complicated than other modules.
Module configuration
Facebook’s requirements include uploading a catalog with a minimum of information. It is essential to ensure that the products contain, prior to generating the data feed, the following information:
- EAN-13 barcode
- Reference (If the products lack reference, it is necessary to add them, as well as their combinations)
- Manufacturer (If you do not want to provide the name of the manufacturer, you can create a manufacturer that is your own brand and associate it with your products)
- Price (those products that do not have a price may not be added to the catalog)
- Google Category: You need to set the category of the store according to the standard Google categories. All Google categories are allowed to be used in their corresponding section and then you can select which one corresponds to the categories of your store.
Once the requirements have been met, a first manual verification feed can be generated, which will validate that the file meets Facebook’s specifications. In the event that an error is detected, the system will send you a notification and allow you to review the registry to correct the problem. If there are no errors, you can proceed to the next step.
Importing the data feed to the Facebook catalog
Once the data feed has been generated correctly, the next step is to import it into your Facebook catalog. To do this, fill in the data requested and set the time you want Facebook to automatically retrieve the file in order to keep the data updated.
The frequency with which Facebook imports the data must coincide with the generation of the file by Prestashop. As you can see, the process is complicated, so it is advisable to turn to professionals. The inconsistency in the Prestashop update time with the one established in Facebook could generate conflicts, mainly, if you have scheduled special offers, with limited validity.
Instagram profile approved for purchases on Instagram
If you have carried out the steps correctly, it only remains the approval of the profile for online purchases and the respective labeling of products from your store on Instagram.
The process is not immediate but it is automatic, so you will have to wait a few days for a notification to arrive on your Instagram profile in which they indicate that the account is enabled to tag the products.
The tasks of preparing the labeling of products of an online store on Instagram are generally carried out by professionals at the time of executing Prestashop maintenance. At Initcoms we carry out this service and we have the experience to carry out this type of work without complications.
