Like2Buy just might be the answer to marketers’ Instagram woes. We are intrigued by its promise and power, so we’re taking a closer look.
What is Like2Buy?
Like2Buy makes any Instagram feed shoppable—a game changer, since currently Instagram does not provide a way to do this unless you advertise on the platform. With Instagram alone, brands can put a link in their profile, but can’t relate that link to any one post. As a result, brands often use a homepage URL, making it difficult for followers to track down a specific item shown in an Instagram post.
Like2Buy changes that by allowing brands to add a link in their profile that brings followers to a shoppable page.
Here is how Like2Buy (which is a product by Curalate) describes it:
“We’ve taken Instgram’s lone link and made it mighty. With Like2Buy, Instgram isn’t just a beautiful feed of images, it’s now a gorgeous gallery of products, available for purchase with just a tap.”
How is it used?
Once you have signed up for Like2Buy, you have access to a Like2Buy dashboard where you can schedule your Instagram posts and tag items within your photos. The process is very straight-forward: click on an item within your photo and tag it with a link to the appropriate product page. You can even tag multiple items within one photo. If your photo has no products, you simply don’t select it as a “featured” item; it will still show on your Instagram page, but not on your Like2Buy page.
The experience for the Instagram user is fairly seamless and straight-forward. They do not have to sign up for the service (as is required with another popular Instagram shopping service, LiketoKnow.it). When they click on the Like2Buy link within your profile, they go to an Instagram-esque photo feed. There, they find the photo they were interested in and click on it. Now they can see the product name(s) and visit the product page on your website. Within the Like2Buy feed, brands can also choose to add an email sign-up bar, making Like2Buy a valuable list-building tool as well.
Who uses it?
Given that it is shopping-related, it makes the most sense for product-based companies (although, with the right approach, it could work for some service-based brands as well). Like2Buy has some pretty impressive clients; among them are Nordstrom, Williams-Sonoma, Forever 21, Lilly Pulitzer, Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, Sephora and Free People.
Our experience
We are currently exploring Like2Buy as an option for one of our clients, so we don’t have hands-on experience to report on yet. However, based on our research and the webinar we attended, we are very excited about Like2Buy. It makes it easier to turn Instagram browsers into shoppers, and that is a game-changer for the Instagram presence of brands.
The overall verdict
If you have a serious Instagram strategy in place and are a product-based brand, it is worth finding out more about Like2Buy to see if it’s right for you . It is not an inexpensive tool and does require a one-year committment, but the potential is huge, and the ROI is trackable.