Instagram side hustles are thriving
Small businesses are creatively crafting big things. By
From clothes and books to sauces and leather, selling something can be as easy as creating a new profile, but is it worth it? A plethora of micro-businesses are popping up on Instagram, using the platform as the main avenue to push products and make a modest income on the side or as the start of bigger businesses.
Jason Knoetze, a teacher from Pretoria, was browsing through a leather store when he bought some off-cuts on a whim. During the Covid-19 lockdown and school holidays, he learned how to make wallets and book covers, and started selling them under the bebrave.leather handle on Instagram.
Rather than registering a company or paying for a website, the social media app allowed Knoetze to gauge interest, and to start selling directly to friends and a wider network, while he learns his craft. “It just serves as such a good platform to inspire talking about it and to get knowledge about the product out,” he says.
For professional private chef Tiišetšo Sebola, his Instagram-based business LAPA Artisan Condiments was a way to bring in an income while he was unable to work under lockdown restrictions. “For three months LAPA has been my bread and butter, which offered me enough time to put all the time and energy into it so it can be what it is today,” Sebola says. He hopes to eventually grow the business to international levels.
These small or micro-businesses generally use a simple strategy that is effective at a small scale. The app’s direct messaging service is used to arrange orders, even though some have websites or phone numbers. Products and price lists are displayed as posts, or in Instagram Story highlights. Items are often shipped through commercial parcel services and paid for through EFTs.
Businesses with once-off products, such as thrift items, function on a first-comefirst-serve basis, for instance with ‘sold’ comments on posts.
Kirsten Makin has been running Foxglove Thrift and Foxglove Books for several years. She says the “Insta-businesses” take up more time than her job as a ghostwriter, but make a few thousand rand extra income and stimulate her creativity.
Makin says she no longer actively uses Facebook for the businesses and does not “see the point” of a website, with her business as small as it is. She uses Instagram, with a combined reach of about 2,000 followers, because it is free and “everyone is already on it”. “Instagram is cool because it allows you to build really close relations with your customers,” she says. “There is a wider conversation. It’s like its own community.”
In Durban, Non-Profit Organisation The Seed Fund, recently launched their Abenzi project. Rural-based people are taught crafting skills, and then receive the profits of their products sold through an Instagram profile. “We wanted to start on Instagram to see if there would actually be an interest in our products,” says co-founder Jessica Pretorius. She says they were motivated by the ease of the platform and of bypassing complicated invoicing systems.
Jandre de Beer, managing director at digital marketing agency and social media advertising company V8 Media, says he has seen greater use of the platform for these kinds of small businesses, especially in the apparel space.
De Beer says Instagram is able to convey a more personal touch than other social media platforms. He says that “because of the growth of Stories, consumers can now get a sneak peek at what your brand is like on the inside” and this “creates a strong emotional connection, which can end up being priceless”.
While Makin, Pretorius, and Knoetze rely on the natural growth of their communities, Sebola uses the Instagram ad functionality to promote his visibility. “It’s the best platform for ads,” he says, and “one of the best ways a business can reach a higher customer base”.
According to the South African Social Media Landscape 2020 report, the country has an estimated nine million Instagram users, with about half regularly active on the app. An industry survey of more than 100 of the country’s biggest brands shows 68.6% of large local companies were active on Instagram. Yet, they only used about 11.5% of their social media budget on it.
For small endeavours, grand budgets and large audiences aren’t as important as a small, engaged community and easy trading. Instagram seems to offer those trying out a business idea or building a side income exactly what they need.
As Knoetze says, “I’d love to have the tools that these big businesses have, but I don’t have R30,000 sewing machines. I’ve got a chiselling tool and a hammer, so I’ve got to make the most of what I have now.” DM168
Instagram is cool because it allows you to build really close relations with your customers