The new feature means that accounts no longer need to be for businesses or creators to add the links.
Instagram has announced that it has opened its product tagging feature for all users posting in the United States. That means that it isn’t only be business or creator accounts that can use the feature.
According to Instagram, the feature is going to be rolling out to everyone “over the next few months.”
This will turn Instagram into a platform in which every post can be turned into something shoppable and anyone can make a purchase based on whatever product tagging has been included in the post. The platform initially rolled out the feature to businesses and creators in 2016. This was one of the first steps it took to move into e-commerce, later supporting them in video posts, stories and Reels. As the shopping experience on the platform has been in a constant state of evolution. It has since added a native checkout feature, making it possible for products to be purchased directly through the post tags.
To add a tag, a post is created as per usual. Once the adjustments and filters are added, the next page makes it possible to tag an item’s brand under the “Tag People” option. From that point, it will become possible to see a “Tag Products” option. This lets the user tap the appropriate place on the photo or video where the brand’s item can be searched for, and the appropriate tag can be attached.
Once the product tagging is complete, others will be able to see them and use them to make a purchase.
Anyone who sees the tags can tap them to start the process of making a purchase, explained Anne Yeh, Meta spokesperson cited by a report in The Verge.
Currently, anyone creating those tags won’t receive any payments from having driven purchases. That said, the platform is currently testing a creator affiliate program that would make it possible for commissions to be earned whenever a tag leads to a purchase.
There are already 1.6 million people using product tagging on their posts at least once per week, according to Instagram. By broadening this feature, it will broadly expand the potential for the platform to be used for mobile commerce purposes.
