Tag products in your Instagram posts

Product tags let you highlight items from your catalog in your Instagram posts, so people can select a tag to learn more. Tags make it easy for potential shoppers to visit your website or buy something as soon as they see your products in their mobile feeds. In Hootsuite, you can create shoppable Instagram posts with up to 10 images or videos. Product tags are not supported for stories.

Before you begin

To create shoppable Instagram posts, you need to have the following:

• An Instagram Business profile added to Hootsuite. How to add an Instagram account.
• An Admin or Editor Page role for the Facebook Page connected to your Instagram profile.
• A Meta Business Manager account. How to create a Business Manager account.
• A shop that’s connected to your Instagram account in Business Manager. How to set up a shop on Instagram.
• A catalog of products added to your shop.

Add to and manage your product catalog in Commerce Manager to update the products you’re able to tag in Hootsuite.

Reconnect your Instagram profile

After you’ve set up Instagram Shopping, reconnect your profile to Hootsuite using the following steps. Reconnecting gives your Business profiles access to adding product tags when creating posts.

1. Go to Account, and then select Social accounts and teams.
2. Select the Instagram profile under Private social accounts, or select Social Networks under the organization it belongs to, and then select the profile from the list.
3. On the Profile Settings tab, select Reconnect with Facebook.
   
4. Enter the Facebook account credentials, and then select Log In.
5. Facebook lists the new permission required to create Instagram product tags in Hootsuite. Select Continue.

Tag products in your Instagram posts

1. Go to Create and select an Instagram Business profile. Currently you can only select one Business profile at a time when creating a post with product tags.
2. Compose your post.
3. In the preview on the right, select Tag products.
   • Images: Select a spot in the image, and then search for and select an item in your product catalog. Repeat for up to 5 tags in the same image. Select Done when you’re finished tagging.
   • Videos: A catalog search appears right away. Search for and select all the products you want to tag in the video.
   If your post contains multiple images or videos, scroll through the media in the preview to tag each one before you select Done. You can add up to 20 tags to the same post. Removing media from a post also removes its product tags.
4. Optional: If your post contains only one image or video, you can select Promote this post and put ad spend behind the post to make sure more people see it.
5. Optional (Business and Enterprise plans): Add tags that you can use to analyze your post's performance in Analytics.
   

   Tip: Shoppable posts aren't identified in Analytics, so we recommend adding a tag to categorize them.

6. Select Post now or Schedule for later.

   Note: Instagram limits Business profiles to 25 posts or reels in any rolling 24-hour period with direct publishing from Hootsuite.

You’ll find your posts in your content calendar, identified with Instagram Shopping icons. Select a scheduled post tile in your content calendar to view its details and make any edits as necessary. To edit a product tag, you’ll need to remove and re-add it.

Important: The Hootsuite mobile app does not support product tagging, so editing a shoppable post on mobile will remove its tags.

Not seeing a product in your catalog?

• If your catalog contains variants, such as different colors of the same item, you can search by SKU to find a specific product. Only one variant is returned per product if you search by name.
• Only approved products will appear in your catalog. Check your product’s status in your Commerce Manager account. Pending products may be under review by Facebook. Learn more about product approvals.
• If you see “It looks like this catalog is empty,” check your Commerce Manager to make sure your catalog and products are all approved by Facebook, and are linked to the correct Instagram account.
• You can only tag products from shops linked to your own account. Tagging shopping partner catalogs is not supported.