Instagram Enables ALL Users to Tag Products In Posts

Earlier this year, Instagram announced it would enable ALL users to tag products in feed posts. It was initially rolled out in the US and is now being rolled out in the UK and beyond.

Back in March 2022, Alexandru Voica, Meta’s Communications Manager, announced on Twitter: “Everyone can now tag products on @instagram. Rolling out in the US over the next few months, product tags make it easier for people to share and discover products from brands and small businesses they love.”

So what does this mean for businesses with an Instagram shop?

Well, is a major leap forward for Instagram as an eCommerce platform. It will result in Instagram shops and products being shared far and wide. The increased exposure will be a real game-changer for many businesses with a keen fanbase.

When a customer buys a product from a business and posts about their new outfit, make-up look, or interior, for instance, they can now tag the exact products they bought/used/love in their posts.

Other users will see this post and be able to shop the look too, amazing right?

Let’s take a look at what this feature is and how it will work:

What Is A Product Tag?

A business selling physical products can apply for an Instagram shop. Once the shop is approved, the business will have the ability to tag products from a catalog. These product tags help customers learn more about the products they are selling by featuring them in their social posts.

Businesses with an approved shop can currently tag their own products in their feed posts, stories, reels etc. When Instagram users tap the product tag featured on a post, they are redirected to a product detail page. You can add more than one shopping tag to a post or story.

A product detail page (PDP) showcases all relevant information about an item, including pricing, descriptions and imagery/video.

How Will This New FeatureWork?

When fully rolled out:

▪️ ANY user (not just the business who sells the product) will be able to add a product tag to their own posts, reels and stories.

▪️ When writing a caption there will be an option to ‘Tag Products’ tap this and you can search for the shop you want to tag.

▪️ When you select the shop you want to tag, a list of the shops products will appear.

▪️ Choose the product featured in your post and a tag will be added to it - see image below.

How to tag products from a shop on Instagram.

Once published, viewers of these tagged posts will be able to click on the tags for more information on this product. If tapped again will be taken to the business's product detail page.

Business owners will receive a notification when someone tags one of their products, while they’ll also be able to view all tagged content on their profile.

You will see this notification when your products have been tagged by a user on Instagram

What Does It Mean For Your Business?

With ALL users being able to tag products in their posts, it means the following:

▪️ Anyone (customers, influencers, fans etc) will be able to tag your products in their posts. This is a real game-changer for businesses and could result in a vast amount of additional exposure for their products and brand as a whole.

▪️ Product tags could also be used in a negative way, in this case, brands will also be able to control who can tag their products, while they’ll be able to remove tags of their items and brand if they choose (see image below).

You can remove your shop and product tag from a negative post

▪️ Most importantly - Product detail pages can pull in all media where the product is tagged on Instagram, so people can see products used in different ways.

Businesses will gain access to a great deal of UGC (user-generated content) which they can add to their product detail pages once requested approval.

This is called Community Content on Instagram. Community Content has lots of benefits including:

▪️ Collating authentic content for your products. Businesses will be able to source content across the whole Instagram community. When a user tags a brand in a post, that brand will have the ability to request permission to feature their products in that post. Increased exposure…YES PLEASE!

▪️ Engage your community. Users that tag your business will likely LOVE that your brand would like to feature its products in their content, it’s flattering. It will also allow their content to surface in brand-owned spaces, such as the product’s PDP or your Instagram Shop.

▪️ Help buyers make informed purchase decisions. Buyers like to discover products from other users and make informed purchase decisions. Community content lets buyers discover your products from other users and see how people are using your products.*

▪️ It’s a great form of social proof.  Receiving tagged posts from your community is the perfect form of social proof. People are talking about your brand and they love your products so much that they are telling the world about them. Testimonials in visual and written form, a business’s marketing dream…non?

Next Steps

If your Instagram shop is already set up, GREAT! You just need to wait for this feature to become available to you.

If not, keep reading ⬇️

🛍 If you sell physical products and haven't set up your Instagram shop yet, please, please, please get it done now so you're ready for this change.

🛍 I have a FREE download Instagram Shop Set-Up Guide on my website. Now is the perfect time to tick it off your To-Do list ✅

🛍️ If you are still struggling to set up your Instagram Shop and need an expert to look over your application then I offer an Instagram Shop Set-Up Service. Head to My Services page and buy the 60-minute session where we will check over how your Commerce account is set up and make tweaks to help steer you towards a successful Shop application.

I hope this was helpful.

If you have any questions about this feature get in touch via my website or DM’s on Instagram

Marielle x

* Information from Instagram’s Community Content page