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Many businesses are hesitant to make the leap to Instagram. But this past March, when Instagram introduced shoppable posts, it made itself a powerful driver of e-commerce sales. What does this mean for your company?

Instagram’s Shoppable Posts

]Eligible business profiles can now tag products in their Instagram posts, sending Instagram users from the feed to the add-to-cart section of your website in only three clicks.

To become eligible, you need

  • to sell physical goods and comply with Instagram’s merchant agreement and commerce policies
  • the latest version of the Instagram app
  • an Instagram business profile, of which you are an admin
  • a product catalog associated with a shop on Facebook or a catalog in Business Manager (if you have a Shopify store, there is an easy integration)

Once you’ve become eligible, you can tag products in your organic posts. They’ll look something like this:

Photo: Shopify

Using hashtags to improve your Instagram reach

Hashtags strengthen the odds that your post will be seen by more Instagram users. Do some experimentation to see which hashtags your target customer uses to navigate the social network and discover content. Your post might even end up on Instagram’s Search and Explore tab, which could lead to huge exposure.

Researching hashtags

What’s the best way to discover Instagram hashtags? Perhaps you’ve Googled hashtags in your niche and created a manual list that you copy and paste into posts. But there’s a smarter way: Tailwind.

Using the Tailwind app, as you type your post’s caption, you get an instant list of hashtag recommendations. These hashtags are constantly updated, so unlike a manual list, it will evolve with trends and new suggestions. The hashtags are also color-coded into categories: Niche, Good, Best, and Competitive. These categories give you a sense of how much exposure you might expect (it’s best to mix up the popularity of the hashtags you use – more competitive hashtags will have more potential traffic, but in an over-crowded field, your post could get drowned out by others). When you hover over any hashtag in Tailwind’s Hashtag Finder, you’ll see how many posts have used that hashtag.

Tailwind's Instagram Hashtag Finder Tool

See the Tailwind Hashtag Finder in action

Saving Hashtag Lists for future use

One of the most useful features Tailwind offers is the ability to save Hashtag Lists. With up to 30 hashtags available to you on any individual post, you can create a list to be easily duplicated in future posts. Tailwind’s software also includes a Smart Scheduler so you can plan your content calendar and post at times when your followers are the most engaged.

Using Tailwind for Instagram and Pinterest

Tailwind’s newly updated Hashtag Finder is just the latest in its useful features. For example:

  • Scheduling: Bulk image upload, drag-and-drop calendar, multi-board pinning on Pinterest, Smart Scheduler to tell you when the audience is most active on Pinterest and Instagram, and Browser Extensions for Chrome, Safari, and Firefox to schedule multiple posts at once
  • Instagram Story scheduling: Instagram stories disappear after 24 hours, so staying on top of when your Story will be active can be challenging, especially when you’re actively running a business. Story scheduling gives you the ability to time your Story posts in advance.
  • Geotags: Automatically add location information about where the photo was taken to your Instagram posts. Geotags are another way to make your posts discoverable. Geotagging is especially useful for brick-and-mortar businesses to attract local patrons or starting conversations with nearby users. For national or global brands, you can customize messages for fans in a certain area.
  • Analytics for Pinterest: Insights to measure what’s working (and what’s not), including repins, likes, comments, traffic, and revenue from each post
  • Content curation for Pinterest: Suggested content based on what you’re sharing

Tailwind starts at only $15/month, but you can take a free trial with no time limit. Your trial enables you to schedule up to 100 pins on Pinterest and up to 30 posts on Instagram for free. No credit card is required to try it. Get started today and see how Tailwind can improve your exposure on Instagram, especially for Shoppable Posts!

Kim Kohatsu
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