Instagram product tags rolling out to all U.S. users

Instagram will open product tagging to every user in the U.S. The ability to tag products is starting to roll out now and will become available to everyone within the next few months. 

Product tagging debuted on the platform in 2016 as its initial foray into e-commerce. Until now, only businesses and creators could tag products in video posts, stories and reels.

Of its 2 billion monthly active users, Instagram has an estimated 159 million users in the U.S., according to Statistia. 

Why we care. Instagram said that 1.6 million people are already tagging at least one product per week. By making product tagging available to everyone in the U.S., this number will likely skyrocket as users learn of and use this feature. This is yet another way for brands and businesses to be discovered organically on Instagram. So if your brand isn’t set up for Instagram Shopping, there’s no better time than now to test it.

How to tag products. After creating a post, users would tap the Tag People, then search for and tag the brand first. Next, look for People and Products labels at the bottom and tap on Products. Describe the product to find it, specifying any styles and colors. Tap to add the tag. Share it, and the tag is live on Instagram.

Users who see a product tag on Instagram can tap it to buy the product within the app or via the brand’s product detail page.

Control for brands and businesses. Whenever one of your products is tagged, Instagram will notify you on your profile. Want to turn off product tags? You can in your account settings. By default, it is set to Allow all.

Postscript. Instagram officially announced this launch on April 18, here.