Post to Instagram
Marketing → Instagram Feed → Publish posts to your connected Instagram account from your store: a single photo, a carousel or a reel. You can post straight away, schedule a post for later, or keep it as a draft. Nothing is posted until you choose Post now and confirm, or until the time you scheduled.
You need the Manage promotions permission to post. Admins who only view promotions see the list of posts, without the composer.
Before you start: allow posting
Posting and insights need two permissions that Instagram asks for when you connect. If your account was connected before they were available, the Publish and Analytics tabs show Reconnect to allow posting and insights. Choose Reconnect, sign in on Instagram and allow the new permissions. Your imported posts stay as they are.
Make a post
- Open Marketing → Instagram Feed and go to the Publish tab.
- Under Post type, choose Single image (one photo), Carousel (2 to 10 photos) or Reel (one video).
- Pick what to post:
- Product photos: under Find a product, type at least 2 letters of a product name and choose Add. That product's own photos show below, main photo first. A post can be about up to 10 products.
- Media library: search your media library by file name and pick from it. Picked items show a number: their order in the post. Under In this post, move an item earlier or later, or remove it.
- Write the Caption, or choose Write with AI (see below).
- Check the Hashtags. A new post starts with your store's default hashtags (set them on the Display tab, under Posting and analytics); they are added after the caption.
- Choose when it goes out (see below), then choose Post now, Schedule post or Save draft.
The Preview on the right (below the form on a phone) shows your account, the photos (use the arrows to go through a carousel) and the caption cut where Instagram's feed cuts it before "more".
Photos are converted to the JPEG size Instagram needs when the post goes out, so any product photo or photo in your media library can be used. Videos come from the media library and can only go in a reel.
Captions and hashtags
- A caption, with its hashtags, can be up to 2,200 characters. The counter under the hashtags shows how many you have used; it turns red when you go over, and the post can't be saved until you shorten it.
- Instagram allows at most 30 hashtags in a caption.
- Instagram shows about the first 125 characters in the feed, then "more".
Write with AI
Add at least one product, choose a Tone (Friendly, Premium or Playful), then choose Write with AI. The AI writes a short social caption (up to about 300 characters, in the same style as Marketing → Social posts) and suggests hashtags from the products in the post. If you already wrote a caption, the page asks before replacing it; your hashtags are kept and the suggested ones are added.
The draft is only a draft: read it and change anything before you post. If writing with AI isn't available for your store, the page says so and you write the caption yourself.
The tracked shop link
Links in Instagram captions can't be tapped. Switch on Create a tracked shop link and your store makes a link, in Marketing → Links, to the product (when the post is about one product) or to your store. Once the post is saved, the link shows at the top of the Publish tab with a copy button, and in the post's row under Your posts.
Put the link in your Instagram bio and say "link in bio" in the caption. Visits and orders that come through it show under Analytics → Sales from Instagram.
When it goes out
| Choice | What happens |
|---|---|
| Post now | The page asks you to confirm, then sends it to Instagram straight away. It can take a minute to appear. |
| Schedule | Choose a Date and Time. It is posted then. The time can't be in the past. |
| Save as draft | It is kept under Your posts to finish later. Nothing is posted. A draft can be unfinished, for example with no photo yet or a carousel with one photo. |
Times are in your store's time zone, which the page names under the date and time.
Instagram limits how many posts an account can publish in 24 hours. The line under the preview shows how many have gone out in the last 24 hours and how many more can. When the limit is reached, Post now is turned off; schedule the post for later instead.
Your posts
Your posts, under the composer, lists every post made here. Filter it by Scheduled, Drafts, Published or Failed.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Saved, not scheduled. |
| Scheduled | Waiting for its date and time. |
| Publishing | Being sent to Instagram now. The list checks again by itself. |
| Published | On Instagram. View on Instagram opens it. It also appears on the Posts tab after the next sync. |
| Failed | It couldn't be posted. The row says why and what to do. |
| Cancelled | You cancelled it. |
- Edit opens a draft or a scheduled post in the composer. You can change the photos, caption, products and time, but not the post type, and choose Post now, Schedule or Save as draft again.
- The ⋮ menu on a row has the quicker actions:
- on a draft, Schedule… (choose a date and time) and Post now (after you confirm);
- on a scheduled post, Move to drafts;
- on both, Cancel post, after you confirm. It can't be undone.
Drafts and scheduled posts can be changed until publishing starts. A scheduled post that Instagram held back (for example because the 24-hour limit is used up) says Trying again and why; it goes out by itself once it can.
Why a post failed
| The row says | What to do |
|---|---|
| Instagram couldn't process the photo or video, or refused it | Check the file (or pick another), then post it again. |
| A photo or video in the post was deleted | Pick it again, then post it again. |
| Instagram refused the caption | Shorten it, or use fewer hashtags or @mentions. |
| Instagram has restricted the account | Check the Instagram app. |
| Instagram took too long to prepare the post | Post it again. |
| Instagram's limit of posts for 24 hours was reached | Schedule it again for later. |
| Instagram couldn't fetch the photo or video from your store | Try again in a few minutes. |
| Instagram had a problem and didn't post it | Try again later. |
| Instagram ended the connection | Reconnect Instagram, then post it again. |
Share a product from its page
In Products, open a product and choose Share on Instagram at the top. The Publish tab opens with that product added and its first photo picked. The button shows only while the Instagram Feed module is on and you have the Manage promotions permission.
Instagram doesn't allow shopping tags through posts made by apps, so a post made here carries no product tags on Instagram. On your store's Instagram feed you can still tag products on it from the Posts tab once it has synced.