There are lots of opportunities available via social media and especially on Facebook/Instagram to capture your audience for them to reach your BigCommerce store, merchants have to be strategic in creating optimizable content that yields conversions. Facebook's Instagram social media has turned into a massive marketplace - the Facebook business allows you to segment and gets to your audience quite efficiently. Aside from the BigCommerce Facebook Integration and linking the BigCommerce Facebook Pixel, there are key steps to take. Here we will go over 5 steps to help you to convert your audience when it comes to Facebook/Instagram as well as bringing them in from a Facebook page.
Prerequisites: You should have already connected your store with BigCommerce Instagram App, be familiar with Facebook Ads for layout/content/presentation as this will be useful for your engaging Instagram posts, and be able to set up Ad campaigns. Understanding and having an appealing Product Catalog can assist in both your Facebook offers Facebook ad accounts and can more easily manage visually in the events manager in setting up automatic ads. Social media marketing can get complicated especially in the ads manager of Facebook inserting itself in the news feed. Instagram on the other hand can be simpler and won't need to go into advanced settings to get it running - see the steps below.
1. Turn ON Checkout on Instagram
Navigate to Channel Manager on Facebook and click the tab for Instagram.
Click Enable Channel. On the next few screens, you’ll select your Instagram "handle" and complete any other required setup steps.
Once completed, your store will be in the queue for review by Instagram. They will let you know your connected accounts are under review and you can return to this page later to check your approval status. Once your account has been reviewed and approved, you can access it by logging into your account: https://www.instagram.com/business/settings/merchant/
2. Apply Product Tags often and consistently
Each month over 130 million (https://about.instagram.com/features/shopping) people click on product tags to learn more about brands and products they see on Instagram. Ensuring that your photography and other media are enticing, adding Product tags allows your products to stand out from your BigCommerce portfolio and show your audience your product features and their benefits.
Setting up your product tags is an essential step for shoppers to identify your brand, all the while it also makes it convenient to purchase. Product tags should be a part of your basic Instagram strategy and you should use them when posting images of products.
Facebook recommends tagging products in your posts to increase engagement at least five times a month. You can also tag products in Instagram Reels and Stories. When your audience clicks on a product tag on a post, they will redirect to a product detail page. A product detail page lays out all relevant information about an item: pricing, descriptions, and relevant media (photos and videos).
The product detail page pulls in all the imagery/video where the product is tagged. Taking the process below tag your products on Instagram:
Enable product tagging. When creating a post, click on “Tag Products”, when the menu appears set the feature to the "ON" position.
To add a "Tag" to your product. Select the photo to which you will be applying product tags and be sure to select your BigCommerce catalog. Make sure you don’t overcrowd your content with tags so that people can see the items clearly.
Review before you publish. Review the product tags you have selected to make sure they are appropriate, then click on “Done” to take you back to the feed post creation page.
To drive conversions, the product tag feature frequently creates a more shoppable post on Instagram with different formats such as Reels, IGTV, captions and Live. Using product tags consistently to create more shoppable posts can then help you reach new shoppers and get the most out of your BigCommerce store.
3. Maintaining Your Catalog to be Current
When you post on Instagram, a strong catalog of products. Always keep the customer at the forefront of your presentation and engagement language. Once your post is in the feed or they uncover it the call to action has to be proportionate and appropriate based on brand, price, promotion, and event. They see the product tag and advance to the product detail page.
Important things to consider when updating your catalog:
Inventory: Your inventory has to be accurate, so only products with inventory can be sold. When products have inventory they will be shown, if they are out of stock, they won't.
Product names/titles: Keeping consistency in product names/titles makes it easier for the audience to identify what they saw allowing them to enquire further about the brand and product.
Product descriptions: Include the item description, attributes, and specifications. With non-US sizes, ensure to include size conversions as appropriate.
Product sizing: For products that need sizing and conversions, give precise dimensions in both inches and cm. If a product has multiple sizes, check that you have inventory for each size.
Product pricing: Make sure the price is accurate for the right promotion, and if the discount codes are appropriate and consistent with your BigCommerce store.
Shipping Fees: You have the option to set different types of shipping fees, including free shipping minimums at various service levels. Put your shipping options in your Commerce Manager settings.
4. Turn Your Content to be Engaging
The targetted audience engages with "shoppable posts and videos" throughout the App. Regularly creating engaging and actionable posts about your products across posts, Reels and Stories can help amplify your reach while building shopping behaviors.
Have clear calls to action for the audience engagement using fonts, colors, and button-like imagery.
Update your Instagram profile to let followers know that they can engage with you directly on Instagram. For example, adding phrases like “Start shopping below” or "Subscribe with us now" (to capture an Email address) within your profile will help show your audience your intentions, especially new customers who understand they can shop for your product directly via Instagram or your online store.
5. Plan Your Posts Around Seasonality
Coinciding and planning around the product release date around yearly cultural/seasonal events and creating engaging content relevant to both lifestyle and activity can drive engagement synergy. Adding promotional activities to bring to bear on the announcements, entices the upcoming releases but also helps establish an emotional connection with the audience and build brand affinity.