SHOPLINE's "Instagram post sales" feature allows merchants to apply SHOPLINE "comment keywords + quantity order" function to Instagram posts!
*Note: This feature supports Reels, yet currently does not support Stories.
After the customer leaves a comment in the post, the system will detect the keywords set up by the merchants, then send the shopping cart link via direct messages, so that the customer can directly complete the checkout.
The article will cover the following:
- Add a new Instagram Sale Post
- Link Instagram post sales to an Instagram post
- Disconnecting Instagram post sales and Instagram post
- Enable Instagram post sales
- Instagram post sales comment management
- Copy, end, or remove Instagram post sales
- Customer's view after making comments on Instagram post
1. Add a new Instagram Sale Post
Step 1
Go to the Admin Panel > [Social Commerce] > [Post sales] and click Add New Sale Post.
Select Instagram and click Create.
Step 2
Enter the name for the Instagram post sales event. Click Create to complete.
*Note: This name is only for internal use.
Step 3
Select Choose goods or Add Products to your Instagram post sales.
A. Choose goods
Click the Choose goods button and a pop-up window will appear. At the upper right of the pop-up you can select the following to display in the window:
- "All products" in the store
- Products that "Include Keywords" in the store (All products with set keywords from [Social Commerce] > [Product Keywords]. For more information, please refer to this article)
*Note:
- Hidden price products and unpublished products cannot be selected.
- You can select multiple products for sale in a post sale at the same time. The upper limit is 500 products.
In addition to selecting store products individually, you can also select products in bulk by category.
After the product selection is complete, enter the product keyword. You can choose to quickly apply system-generated keywords, or add keywords in bulk or individually.
After the setting is complete, click Save and you can successfully add the product.
B. Add Products
You can customize Product Image, Name, Keywords, Price, Quantity, and Product SKU. Once you have completed editing, click Continue to successfully add the products to the livestream.
- Click create new line to add new products.
- Add Quick Import to add multiple products.
Supports adding multiple variant products into the livestream
Besides Product Image, Product Name, Keywords, Price, Quantity, and Product SKU, you can also customize product variants by clicking Add variant to open the setup window.
*Note: You can add variants in the "Product Keywords" tab, yet quick import is currently not supported. To learn more about creating product keywords, please refer to this article.
The system presets two variations: color, and size, you can also customize the variation name.
Click Add product variation to add more variations. The system currently supports adding a maximum of two variations. Click the bin icon on the right to remove a variation.
*Note:
- If the price of each product variant is the same, after entering the price of any variant, click Bulk Sync Price to automatically sync all the prices.
- If one of the product variants has a set quantity, the other variants will also need to be set with a quantity.
Supports editing header
Click Edit header on the right of the "Create product" pop-up window to select whether to display the "Image", "Product SKU" and "Variant" fields.
Uncheck to not display a field.
Step 4
Products that have been added to the Instagram post sales event will appear in the "Post Products and Keywords" list. Click Add Products to add more items for sale in the post.
Click the icon on the right of the products to edit their product keywords or remove them.
If you want to edit product keywords in bulk, click the Bulk edit button, select the products you want to edit, and then click Edit keywords.
Step 5
Scroll down to the "Settings" section to complete the relevant Instagram post sales settings.
1. Schedule
Set the start and end time for this Instagram post sales event. If you want this post sales event to take effect permanently, you can tick "Never expire".
For example, if the start time is set to 31 May 2022 at 19:00:00, and the end time is 2 June 2022 at 10:00:00, the customer can only place an order successfully by leaving a message at this time period.
Synchronize schedule according to the time the post sales is enabled/ ends
Scenario 1:
If you set the scheduled start time as 16 June, but you only enable the post sales on 22 June, the post sales scheduled start time will be displayed as 22 June.
Scenario 2:
If you set the scheduled end time as 28 June, but you end the post sales early on 22 June, the end time of the post sales schedule will be displayed as 22 June.
Once the post sales end, a prompt will display indicating "the stop time will be synchronized to the scheduled end time".
2. Commodity Order Rules
A. Keyword Order Setting
Click Edit to set the keyword ordering rules.
There are three order rule options:
- Comments containing keywords or keywords + quantity (e.g. I want A1 / Hello A1+1)
- Comments containing keywords + quantity. Entering keywords only is not valid. (e.g. I want A1+1, A1+1)
- Comments only consist of keywords or keywords + quantity. No other text is allowed. (e.g. A1, A1+1)
B. Reserved Inventory
Switch the toggle on the right to turn on the reserve inventory function, and you need to set the time to reserve inventory.
When a customer places an order with a keyword, the product inventory will be automatically locked, and the product will be reserved for the customer until the specified time. For details on how to reserve inventory, please refer to this article.
3. Comments and message settings
Click Order message settings to edit the contents of "Reply by private message" and "Reply by comment".
Switch on the "Reply by private message" toggle to edit the private message content. Customers will receive the message after leaving comments with keywords. Switch off the toggle and customers will no longer receive the message.
To apply parameters in a customized message, you can click the "Available Parameters" drop-down arrow, and click the icon next to the parameter to copy it. Paste them in the message field to apply.
*Note: Private message has a shopping cart link by default, which can not be removed.
Switch on the "Reply by comment" toggle to edit the comment content. Customers will be replied with this comment reply after leaving comments with keywords. Switch off the toggle and the system will no longer reply to customers' comments.
2. Link Instagram post sales to an Instagram post
1. Created Instagram post
Step 1: Click Select post which needs to be connected under the "Connect post" section. 
Step 2: Select the Instagram account, then select a released post. Click Connect this post to complete.
*Note:
- Instagram post sales supports connecting to Reels, yet currently does not support connecting to Stories.
- Instagram post sales can only be connected to Instagram posts released in the last 180 days.
Supports connecting to multiple posts
When connecting to post, selecting multiple posts is supported.
Customers can place orders by commenting keywords under all linked posts, and you can view a sales overview for all posts.
Once successfully connected, you can still connect to new posts. Currently, a maximum of 20 posts are supported.
Click the icon on the right to view the original post, disconnect the post, or preview the post.*Note: If a post sale has been enabled, you can still connect to new posts but you cannot disconnect post.
The number of linked posts will be displayed in the Sales Events list. 
*Please note: There are slight differences in your actions when connecting multiple posts to Facebook Pages, Groups, and Instagram Post Sales.
- Facebook Page: You can connect to other posts, create posts directly, and also disconnect posts. For more information, please refer to this article.
- Facebook Group: You can connect to other posts, create posts directly, and also disconnect posts. For more information, please refer to this article.
- Instagram: You can connect to other posts and disconnect posts, but you cannot create posts.
2. Instagram post yet to be created
If you haven't created a corresponding post, you can click Copy text at the top right of the page.
Then click go to create one.
On Instagram, click the + button, upload an image, and paste the copied text to the description section. Click Share to create the post.
After the post is created, follow the steps of Created Instagram Posts above. Click Select post which needs to be connected and link post sales to the Instagram post you just created.
[Coming Soon] Create post
Creating Instagram posts directly from the Post Sales interface will be available soon.
Step 1: In the Connect post section, click the Create Post button.
*Note: If this is your first time using this feature, please proceed to [Channel Integration] > [Facebook] to disconnect the connected Facebook page, then reconnect the Facebook Page and Instagram account in order to obtain related permissions and successfully create posts on the Post Sales interface.
Step 2: Select the Instagram account you would like to create a post for, then enter the post content.
*Note: If you switch the Instagram account of where you want to create a post for during the process of posting, the content and pictures of the created post will be cleared out.
Step 3: A variety of quick inputs to facilitate you in creating posts quickly.
- Product information: You can select to input the information of all the products sold in this post, or select to input the products individually, and click Confirm after the selection is complete.
- Order rules: Click to input the order rules you have set up.
- Custom content:
1. Click Create to enter the title and content.
2. Click the custom content you have just created to immediately input in the post. For future posts, you will be able to directly apply them as well.
Step 4: Click Add Image to add images into the post.
*Note:
- Instagram post requires you to add at least 1 image.
- Currently supports up to 10 images, the image format must be JPEG, PNG, and not exceed 4 MB.
When editing, you can preview on the right.
*Note: Currently does not support enlarging the image in the preview.
Step 5: Once set up is complete, click the Create button on the bottom right to successfully create the post.
And automatically connect the Instagram Post Sales with this post.
You can click the icon on the right to View original post, Disconnect, Preview, create another post or connect another post.
*Note: Currently does not support editing Instagram Post.
3. Disconnecting Instagram post sales with Instagram Post
If you have not enabled the post sales, in the "Connect post" section, click Disconnect to disconnect the link with the Instagram post. You can still reconnect after the disconnection.
*Note: You cannot disconnect the post sales once it is enabled.
If this post sales ends, it will display the end time. Also, this Instagram post will be able to connect with other post sales.
4. Enable Instagram post sales
Click the Enable button at the top right of the page.
*Please double-check:
- The status of the linked Instagram post is published.
- The content of the Instagram post contains the description of product keywords. This ensures that customers can view and place an order successfully.
When this window appears, it means that the Instagram post sales has been successfully created and the status will be updated to "Open".
5. Instagram post sales comment management
Click the "Message Management" icon on the left side of the page to view customer comments and sales performance.
A. Sales Overview
In the "Sales Overview" section, you can view "Total Comment(s)", "Orders(s)", "Total Order Amount", "Unpaid" and "Unpaid Amount" of the Instagram post sales.
B. Comment Management
In the "Comment Management" section, you can view all the comments, keyword order product(s), their current cart product(s), and created order(s) of each customer.
*Note: If the customer left a comment after the post sales has ended, then this comment will not display in the Comment Management section.
You can also filter out comments using the field and drop-down menus above.
On the right side of each comment, there are three feature buttons:
- Instant Chat: Send a private message to the customer.
- Edit Cart: Edit the products in the customer's cart.
- Create Order: Directly create an order for the customer.
6. Copy, end, or remove Instagram post sales
Click the drop-down menu next to the Enter button to select Copy, End, and Remove the post sales.
Bulk copy/ remove Instagram post sales
Check the boxes to the left of the Instagram post sales (check the box on the top to select all), then click Copy or Delete to execute the action in bulk.
*Note:
- If you remove a post sale that is still "Open", customers will still be able to place keyword orders by commenting on the post.
- When you remove an Instagram post sales event, a pop-up window will ask you to double-check before proceeding.
- The copied post will show on the top of the post sales list.
- When you copy a post sales event, the system will only copy the name, product, keyword, order placement rules, comment, and message setup, and scheduled time of the post sales event. The Instagram link will not be included, so you will need to relink the Instagram post.
7. Customer's view after making comments on Instagram post
Customers place an order by leaving comments consisting of a "keyword + quantity" combination to the Instagram post.
Customers will receive a direct message and can tap the Checkout button to go straight to checkout.
Read more
- SHOPLINE Live | Live Stream Shopping with Facebook Live
- SHOPLINE Live | Performance Dashboard & Comment Management
- SHOPLINE Live | Comments Management
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