How to Link Products on Instagram

Ready to turn your Instagram followers into customers? Linking products directly in your posts, Stories, and Reels is the simplest, most effective way to create a frictionless path from product discovery to checkout. This guide walks you through every method available, from the foundational setup of Instagram Shopping to clever workarounds anyone can use to drive sales.

Before You Start: Setting Up Instagram Shopping

To unlock the most powerful sales features, like tagging products directly in your content, you first need to set up Instagram Shopping. Think of this as the foundation for your social commerce strategy. It connects your product catalog to your Instagram profile, making your feed instantly shoppable.

Before you begin, make sure your business meets Instagram's eligibility requirements:

• Your business is located in a supported market.
• You sell eligible physical goods (services are not currently supported for product tagging).
• Your business complies with Instagram’s commerce policies.
• Your Instagram account is a Business or Creator account.
• Your profile is connected to a single Facebook Business Page.

If you check all those boxes, you’re ready to get started. Here’s the step-by-step process.

Step 1: Convert to a Business or Creator Account

If you’re still using a personal account, you’ll need to switch. Most brands should choose a Business Account for its access to deeper analytics and advertising tools. To make the switch, go to your Settings >, Account >, Switch to Professional Account and follow the on-screen prompts.

Step 2: Connect Your Facebook Page

Instagram is owned by Meta, so its commerce tools are deeply integrated with Facebook. You’ll need to connect your Instagram account to your Facebook Business Page. You can typically do this when you’re setting up your Business Account, but if you need to do it later, head to your Edit Profile >, Page and select your corresponding Facebook Page.

Step 3: Upload Your Product Catalog

This is where you give Instagram the list of products you want to sell. A catalog is a data file containing all your product information, including names, descriptions, pricing, and images. You have two primary ways to create one:

• Use the Commerce Manager: This is Meta's native tool for managing your catalog. You can manually add products one by one or upload a spreadsheet containing all your product data. This is a good option if you have a smaller number of products.
• Connect a Partner Platform: This is the easiest and most popular method. If you use an e-commerce platform like Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, or Magento, you can use their built-in integrations to automatically sync your entire product catalog with Facebook and Instagram. This keeps your inventory and pricing updated in real-time, which is a massive time-saver. Simply search your e-commerce platform's app store for their Facebook & Instagram integration.

Step 4: Submit Your Account for Review

Once your catalog is connected, you need to submit your account for approval. Instagram reviews every account to ensure it complies with its policies. Go to your Settings >, Business/Creator >, Set Up Instagram Shopping. Follow the prompts, select your product catalog, and submit it. The review process can take a few days, so be a little patient.

Step 5: Turn On Shopping Features

After your account gets approved, you’ll receive a notification. The final step is to officially enable the commerce functionality. Head back to Settings >, Business/Creator >, Shopping. Here, you can select the product catalog you want to link to your account. Once you’ve done this, you’re ready to start linking products everywhere!

The Best Ways to Link Products on Your Instagram Profile

With an approved Instagram Shop, you can now seamlessly integrate products into your daily content. These methods are native, intuitive, and highly effective at driving conversions because they allow customers to shop without feeling like they are being aggressively sold to.

1. Taggable Products in Feed Posts & Reels

This is the most common and powerful way to make your content shoppable. Just like you’d tag a person in a photo, you can now tag products from your catalog. When you do, a small shopping bag icon appears on your post. Viewers can tap the image or video to see the product name and price, and one more tap takes them directly to your product detail page where they can purchase.

How to Tag Products in a Post or Reel:

1. Start by creating a new Feed post or Reel as you normally would. Upload your photo or video, write your caption, and add your hashtags.
2. On the final screen before publishing, tap on "Tag Products."
3. Tap anywhere on the photo or video. A search bar will pop up allowing you to search for products from your connected catalog.
4. Select the product(s) you want to feature. You can tag up to five products per single image or video post, and up to 20 products in a carousel post.
5. Drag the tags to the correct position on the image so they point to the respective products. Tap "Done," and then share your post.

Pro Tip: Use high-quality lifestyle imagery where the product is shown in a real-world setting. A photo of someone wearing your brand’s jacket is much more compelling than a static product shot on a white background. It helps customers visualize themselves using the product.

2. Product Stickers in Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories are a prime spot for impulse buys. Product stickers are interactive elements that make it incredibly easy for users to shop directly from their daily Story feed. When a viewer taps the sticker, they are taken to the product page on your website, streamlining the path to purchase.

How to Add a Product Sticker to Your Story:

1. Open the Instagram Stories editor and take or upload a photo or video.
2. Tap the sticker icon (the smiley face square) at the top of the screen.
3. Find and select the "Product" sticker from the tray.
4. From the next screen, choose the exact product you want to feature from your catalog.
5. Customize the sticker’s appearance. You can change its color or edit the text to display the product name or a custom call-to-action.
6. Place the sticker anywhere you like on your Story, then share it with your followers.

Pro Tip: Don’t just drop a sticker on a static image. Create a mini-story around the product. For example, post a short video demonstrating how your product works, followed by a slide with the product sticker and a clear text overlay like "Tap to shop this exact look!"

Linking Products Without Instagram Shopping: Smart Workarounds

Not every business is eligible for Instagram Shopping, or perhaps you're just not ready to set one up. Don’t worry - you can still effectively direct traffic and make sales. These methods rely on guiding your followers to the right link through your bio.

The Classic “Link in Bio” Method

This is Instagram's original marketing workaround and still one of its most reliable. Because Instagram doesn’t allow clickable links in post captions, the most common practice is to direct followers to the single URL you are allowed in your profile's bio section.

You can use a strong call-to-action (CTA) in your captions like, "Shop our new collection now! Link in bio to grab yours."

The main drawback is that you have only one link, which can be limiting if you want to promote multiple things at once. You also have to manually update it every time you feature a new product or campaign, which can be tedious.

Supercharge Your Bio with a Link-in-Bio Tool

To overcome the “one link” limitation, many brands and creators use a link-in-bio tool. Services like Linktree, Beacons, Koji, or Later's Linkin.bio give you a single link that directs users to a simple, mobile-friendly landing page. On this landing page, you can host an unlimited number of in-demand links.

This means your single Instagram bio link can lead to:

• Your top-selling products.
• The homepage of your e-commerce store.
• Your latest blog post.
• A sign-up page for your email newsletter.
• Links to your other social media profiles.

Some tools even allow you to create a grid of your Instagram posts on your landing page, where each image links directly to a specific product URL. It effectively makes your entire feed shoppable without needing Instagram Shopping. Setting one up is simple: just sign up for a service, add your links, customize the design, and paste your new landing page URL into your Instagram bio.

Advanced Strategies for Driving Sales on Instagram

Beyond the basics, you can get a little more creative with Instagram's features to build hype and drive more sales conversations.

Using Product Launch & Countdown Stickers

If you're launching a new product, use the Countdown Sticker in your stories to build anticipation. When you add this sticker, your followers can tap it to set a reminder for when the countdown ends. When your product goes live, everyone who opted in gets a notification. This is an incredibly powerful way to get a surge of traffic right at launch. Pair it with a new feed post or a Story featuring the official product tags the moment it drops.

Leverage DMs with Quick Replies

Sometimes, the best way to make a sale is to start a conversation. You can create content - a Reel, a Story, a post - and ask your followers to direct message (DM) you for a link. For example, a caption could say, "Our restock just landed! DM us the word 'JACKET' and we’ll send you the direct link to shop before it sells out again."

This can sound time-consuming, but you can automate it with Instagram's Saved Replies (also known as Quick Replies). In your settings, you can create pre-written responses that include the product link. When someone DMs you the keyword, you can reply in two taps instead of typing the whole message out.

This method works especially well for higher-priced items where a customer might have additional questions. It opens a personal channel for conversation and makes the customer feel seen.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, making sales on Instagram comes down to making it easy for people to buy. By setting up Instagram Shopping and using product tags in posts, Reels, and Stories, you remove friction and turn passive scrollers into active shoppers. And if you're not eligible, a solid link-in-bio strategy provides a reliable path to guide followers to your store.

Driving traffic to your products is one thing, but consistently planning and scheduling compelling content to feature is another challenge. We built Postbase to streamline exactly that. Our visual content calendar helps you strategically map out all your shoppable posts and Reels, while our scheduling tools ensure your content goes live at the perfect time. With all your analytics and DMs in one simple dashboard, we give you back the time to focus on creating great products, not wrestling with your marketing workflow.