Everything To Know About Facebook Automated Product Tags

On June 17th, 2024, Facebook (Meta) announced that they were introducing automated product tags to Instagram, one of their subsidiary companies. If you feed photos, carousels, and videos to the Instagram Marketing API, the program will identify instances where your product is displayed and automatically tag it with the appropriate product tag. 

In this article, we’ll go over the specifics of API’s, what product tags are, why they matter, and how to use them in your advertising.

Wait… What’s an API?

We mentioned that this new feature from Facebook utilizes Instagram's Marketing API, and you might be wondering what API even means. 

API stands for Application Programming Interface. Essentially, it’s a set of protocols that tell different pieces of software how to talk to each other and send data back and forth. API’s are everywhere, allowing different applications to communicate with each other, somewhat like a tunnel connecting two buildings. An API gives you the flexibility and complexity to meet the needs of users.

In this case, the Instagram Marketing API takes the data from the advertising media you’ve produced – whether that’s pictures, videos, or otherwise – and matches instances your products appear with what it already knows about your product. Then the API returns the media back with the right product tag. 

There are two ways this new auto tag system detects matches: 

1. Images in your catalog: Features from the ad match product images already in your catalog
2. Website URL in ad destination: The URL that you enter in the “destination section” of your ad matches items in your catalog.

If either of those match, then Facebook will automatically label your ad with the appropriate product tag. 

Product Tags: An Explanation

Before we go any further with automated product tagging, it’s important to discuss what other tagging options are available with Facebook’s products. Social media marketing is on the rise, and learning how to advertise through mega-platforms like Facebook and Instagram is crucial for success. 

Product tags are an excellent way to do this. Simply put, product tags are icons or pop-ups that appear over media of your products that customers can click on, redirecting them to an online shop where they can buy your product. These are available for both Facebook and Instagram. 

‍Facebook recommends that you use less than 5 product tags per image, so that customers can focus on the most important products and your image doesn’t get overly cluttered.

While tags are primarily for businesses, Instagram has recently made it possible for any U.S. user to tag products from businesses that sell through Instagram Shopping. This creates a great opportunity for organic growth, as enthusiastic customers can help you advertise your products to their network. 

Product Tag Examples 

You might be wondering what exactly this looks like. Take a look at the example below.

This company, which sells hats, leveraged product tags to help them advertise their popular hat being restocked. By posting a picture of someone wearing their hat, it entices customers to want one for themselves when they see it looks great in the wild. 

The tag in this case displays the name of the product and the price. When a customer clicks on the tag, they are taken to a product page and can easily check out. The whole process is streamlined, giving customers little room for doubt or hesitation. At no point does it ever leave the Instagram platform. 

Why Are Facebook’s Product Tags Helpful?

The goal of the automated product tagging is to improve your ad performance, helping customers discover your products easier. People are able to see shoppable products in your catalog with details like the name and price of the product, through the product tag in your ad.

There are a couple different ways that the product tag may appear, depending on the ad placement. 

• If the ad is an image, it could appear as a tooltip, revealing the product name when the customer taps on the image. 
• If the ad is an Instagram Story, then the product tag will appear as a sticker. 
• The product tag could also show up as a miniature picture of your product underneath the ad. 

As you can see, Facebook’s automated product tagging system is versatile and can be used for a variety of media on Instagram.

Not only that, but these tags help you in a few key ways:

• They shorten the buying journey, taking the customer from seeing the product to buying it in just a few clicks
• They up your conversion rate, as it reaches interested customers and lets them buy the product immediately after the impulse to have it. 
• They improve your customer service by easing the process of shopping, increasing the chances that people will come back for more. 

How to Use Automated Tagging

The good news is that using Instagram’s automated tagging system is easy as can be. In fact, as long as you’re an eligible advertiser and have “traffic” or “sales” as your ad objective, then automated tagging will already be activated for you. 

How to Add Tags on Facebook

If you’re looking to manually add product tags on Facebook, follow these steps:

1. First, make sure that you have items in your Facebook shop. If the checkout method is not on Facebook, then the shop will not be supported. 
2. Go to your Facebook Page and select “Create post” (PC) or “Image” (mobile). 
3. Upload your post, photo, or video. 
4. Tap “Continue” (mobile). 
5. Tap the photo (mobile) or look next to “Add to your post” (PC) to find the icon that looks like a handbag 
6. Click “Upload photos or video” (PC). 
7. Click or tap the product in your photo that you want to tag and then enter the product’s name. 
8. Click “Finished tagging and save” (PC) OR Tap “Next,” finish writing your post, and tap “Publish” when you’re done (mobile). 

How to Add Tags on Instagram 

The process of adding product tags on Instagram is similar to Facebook, but definitely not the same. This method works for both companies and individuals, although it’s important to note that you won’t earn a commission of sales for referring your network to a brand’s products. 

1. Create a post by selecting or taking a photo/video, adding effects and captions as desired. Tap an arrow.
2. Tap “Tag People.” First find an eligible brand, then you can search for the individual product you’re looking for. 
3. There will be options listed under “People and Products.” Hit “Products.” 
4. Tap the photo where you want to add tags, and then use descriptions to match those tags with the appropriate products. 
5. Hit “share.” The post will now show up with the product tags. 

How This Helps You Optimize Your Marketing

Now that you know about Facebook product tags, there are a few ways you can improve your social media marketing strategy in light of these features. 

Create a Catalog

As we mentioned in step 1 of adding tags, before you can do anything fancy with product tags, you need something to tag! 

While it may seem like a hassle to set up a whole shop within Facebook or Instagram, it’s absolutely worth it. More people now than ever before are shopping through social media because of convenience. Marketers who have social media strategy skills are in high demand. 

Because of the nature of social media, it’s crucial that your shop is vibrant, enticing, and easy to use. There are a million products vying for users’ attention, and you want yours to win out.

Use Quality Images

You want to show your product in the best light possible, so making sure that your images are high resolution and pleasing to look at is imperative. 

Another important strategy is to share images that show people using your product in the real world. If you’re a furniture store, then people want to see how your pieces would fit in their living rooms. Clothing brand? People want to see how your product looks at a social event, not on a hanger. 

Use Multimedia 

Images aren’t where you have to stop, however. Facebook and Instagram, but Instagram especially, allow you to use many types of media. Make full use of these to advertise your products! Whether that’s videos, reels, stories, or otherwise, they all can show off your products in different ways. 

Wield Influencers to Market Your Stuff 

Another way that Facebook product tags can influence your strategy is by who reps your brand. With everybody being allowed to tag products on Instagram, it might be in your company’s best interest to recruit influencers to show off your products. 

When you hear the word “influencer,” you’re probably thinking of something with north of a million followers. While that certainly is true, it’s an unnecessarily narrow scope. Everyone is an influencer to an extent – everyone has a ring of people that they influence and a network that they reach. 

Just as important as weaponizing the big names is finding the smaller niches. If you’re selling jackets, then finding the person whose hobby is collecting nice jackets and figuring out how to have them show off your product to their 1,000 followers can be a very successful strategy. 

Tag! You’re “It”

Now that you know about Facebook’s new automatic tagging feature, and how product tagging works in general, you can be on the lookout for ways to implement this into your social media strategy. Social media shopping is only going to increase in usage, so investing there now could pay off big later.