Instagram is one of the most popular social networks in the world, especially among youths. As of July 2019, there are 5.6M Instagram users in Nigeria, most of which are are aged 18-44 and 80% of all Instagram accounts follow a business profile. Furthermore, 60% of Instagram users find new products through this platform, and 75% users take an action after viewing a post – either they visit the brand’s website or send a DM to make a purchase. With all of this in mind, it’s your e-commerce business’s best interest to use this platform to your advantage because your current and prospective customers are not only active on this platform but also willing to engage with your brand. So, today we’ll give you some tips on how to increase brand visibility and boost sales with Instagram.

First thing you need to do is set up your Instagram profile.

Put your brand name, logo, and description in place. Your call to action is very important, what do you want users to do when they get to your page? How do they contact you – Do you want them to send a DM, email, call or visit your website? You don’t want them to leave your page without taking a decisive action.

Know your audience

Who are you trying to sell to? What demography of people is interested in your brand? Remember that people aged 25 to 34 are the largest user group (2,160,000) out of the 5.6M Instagram users in Nigeria. Knowing who your market is will help focus your content creation to appeal to the right people so that you don’t end up creating generic content that does not strike a chord with people who come across it.

Create great content

Now that you know the people you want to appeal to with your posts, invest in creating quality content that your ideal audience will love. Getting people to pay attention to your content on Instagram can be tough – and having mediocre content won’t help. Start to think of your Instagram page as the new “Shop Now” button on your website and high-quality is the currency for getting engagement with your target audience on Instagram.

People love visuals, so invest in quality photos and videos to pass your message across but keep it simple. Canva and Pablo are two free tools to create stunning images and graphics for your posts. It is important to note that the recommended image size for Instagram photos is 1080 x 1080 pixel and your captions can be 2,200 characters long (including your Instagram handle).

Don’t forget to include hashtags that are relevant to your products. For instance, if you’re selling heels, identify four to five community hashtags that heels lovers use, such as #heels #heelshoes, #weddingheels, #highheels, #instaheels or #iloveheels, and then like and leave comments on about 100 to 200 images underneath these hashtags every day. This will draw organic traffic to your page, which is needed to turn your fresh new Instagram feed into a lead- and revenue-generating machine.

Leverage Influencers

In addition to creating engaging posts, use Instagram influencers to maximize your brand exposure. Do some research on influencers in your product, follow them and tag them to your posts once in a while. The truth is, customers will always trust an individual’s recommendation over yours. So, recruit those influential folks to promote your product whenever you have some funds. It not only gives credibility in the eyes of your customers, but it also increases your brand visibility, letting more people see your products.

Protect your sales

Now that you have people asking to know more about your product and want to buy, you need to protect your sales. As a relatively new brand, you’ll meet different kinds of customers – genuine buyers who are interested in your product, scammers and those who still do not trust your brand enough to pay upfront for your product and would prefer Pay-On-Delivery. For those kinds of customers, you need to protect your sales using a digital escrow service that ensures you get paid when you deliver the product. This way, you can secure all your payments from untrusted clients. 

Vesicash Escrow protects both you and your buyers in any transaction so that you can do business with anyone, anywhere in complete confidence. All you have to do is create an escrow transaction, copy the transaction link and paste it on each product or Instagram post description you create.

Conclusion

Although it’s tough for e-commerce shops to stay relevant in such a competitive space like Instagram – it’s also not impossible. As more and more Nigerians get used to this exciting new shopping frontier, it’s up to you to begin maximizing your potential and generating sales through Instagram. I am however certain that following the five tips above will certainly give you a solid foundation to start.

For more information, please send an email to info@vesicash.com or visit our FAQ page.