Have you ever wanted to become the star of your own shopping channel? This is such good news for you: the new Instagram Live Shopping feature is here to make you a shoppable star, baby!
Live shopping has already made it huge in China over the past few years on platforms like TaoBao — like, $170-billion-market huge. Now, Instagram has launched its own Live Shopping tool, giving Instagram users their own opportunity to take a piece of that delicious e-commerce pie.
With Live Shopping you can:
- Educate your audience: Share recommendations and reviews, do product demos, and answer questions to help shoppers build confidence that this is the best product for them.
- Showcase new products: Live is the perfect way to share the latest products from your brand, with updates that drive real-time demand.
- Collaborate with other creators: Team up with other brands and creators for live streams that drive sales and show off product collaborations.
Continue to read this guide to get started with Live Shopping on Instagram, and tips for maximizing your stream’s success.
What is Instagram Live Shopping?
Instagram Live Shopping helps creators and brands sell products during a live broadcast.
It comes like an update to the old-school TV shopping networks — only more authentic and interactive. With this kind of shopping, you can show your product information. Moreover, you can interact with your fans, and collaborate with other brands and creators.
Live Shopping is available for any Instagram Business accounts that are active and have Checkout capabilities. These users can tag product information from their catalog to appear on the bottom of the screen for buying during a Live broadcast.
Source: Instagram
Instagram introduced Shops earlier this year, which allowed approved accounts to upload a product catalog and create a digital e-commerce storefront right in the app. The Live Shopping feature pulls from that same product catalog to put your best buys front and center during a broadcast.
Who can use Live Shopping?
To broadcast an Instagram Live Shopping experience, your brand must be based in the U.S. . Another condition is that your brand is a creator with access to Instagram Checkout.
To purchasing an Instagram Live Shopping experience, you just need to be a U.S. Instagram user in the mood to give some coin.
If neither of these describes you, hang tight: this feature will likely be rolling out globally in the future. Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest Instagram features here so you don’t miss when the news drops.
How to set up Live Shopping
Before starting your stream on Instagram Live Shopping, you should already have your online Shop and product catalog set up. You can’t tag products if you don’t have products, after all. (We’re pretty sure that’s e-commerce rule number one.)
Need some help building your catalog? Check our step-by-step guide to set up an Instagram Shop here. Be informed that you can build collections of up to 30 products within your catalog for easy access to a curated group of goods.
Right when you have your products in the system, here’s how to launch your Instagram Live Shopping experience:
- In the top right of the screen, choose the camera icon
- At the bottom, click Live
- Tap Shopping
- Choose the products or the collection you want to feature
- Tap the broadcast button to go live!
- Once you’re rolling, you can pin on the screen one product at a time
As they watch, fans can tap on feature products to see the product detail page, or keep making a purchase. Let the shopping spree begin!