How B2B Marketers Can Use Instagram

Instagram gives B2B businesses an opportunity to market their products or services to a targeted audience without spending a large amount of money on paid advertising. Instagram also inherits Facebook’s incredible targeting options, allowing you to pinpoint the most relevant audiences.

How B2B Marketers CAN Benefit From Instagram

• Transparency. Customers and clients appreciate and are even demanding transparency.
• Visual storytelling. People connect to stories and Instagram allows companies to share their story to their target audience in an engaging and memorable way.
• Build trust with your audience: Position your company as a thought leader in your industry to build trust with your audience.
• Drive traffic to your website: With higher levels of engagement than other popular platforms, Instagram can be a powerful driver of traffic. Use the link in your bio to send followers to your home page or a product page.

What To Share On Instagram

Businesses can and should be on Instagram if their customers are on the platform. The key is knowing what to post. Don’t compare your software company to a retailer. You can also look at what other B2B companies are sharing for inspiration.

Some types of content B2B companies share successfully one Instagram include:

• Thought leadership: Converting on social media is all about building a KNOW, LIKE, and TRUST factor with your audience. Positioning yourself as a thought leader in your industry allows you to build that TRUST factor. Provide insights on your industry, comment on news and offer tips and tricks for your customers or potential customers. This type of content creates brand awareness and builds trust among consumers looking to you for answers.
• Corporate culture: Everyone loves to peek behind the curtain and see how other people do business. This type of content builds the KNOW and LIKE factor with your audience. This is also generally the most engaging content for B2B companies. Not only are you showcasing your company culture with your customers, you are also illustrating what it is like to work at your company for potential employees.
• Announcements: Instagram is a great platform to keep your followers up to date on tradeshows, sales, new hires, and product or service launches, as long as you accompany the announcement with an engaging visual.

POSTING THE RIGHT CONTENT

Photos

There’s no getting around the fact that Instagram relies on visuals. That is often a sticking point for B2B companies. Again, don’t compare your feed to that of a luxury retailer or a travel company. Your product may not feels as cool or sexy as those, but to your buyers who are looking for what you do, it doesn’t have to sexy. To find the right photos and visuals, you have a few options:

• You can invest in a professional photographer to capture product photos and photos of your team.
• You can find royalty free stock photos on websites like Unsplash to use for your content needs
• Create templates in Canva for a consistent look and feel across your feed

Captions

Captions are often underrated. What you write matters and there are strategies to writing copy and captions that convert. Speak to your customers’ pain points and how you solve their problems. Don’t assume they know what you do or what you offer. Spell it out in black and white. We often fall into the trap of the “curse of knowledge”. Meaning that what you do is common sense to you, but it isn’t for your customers. Otherwise, they wouldn’t need you. So make it crystal clear what you do, speak to how you alleviate their pain, and call them to action.

HASTAGS

Hashtags are crucial to growing your following and connecting and getting in front of users interested in what you offer. Instagram groups together all the posts that are tagged with the same hashtag.  Take time to research popular hashtags in your industry, but keep in mind that if you use exclusively high-traffic hashtags, you may get lost in the clutter. You can see how many posts have used any given hashtag, so use a mix of high traffic and lower volume hashtags. You can also create a branded hashtag so that as your audience grows, all of your branded posts can easily be found in one place.

INSTAGRAM STORIES

Use Instagram stories to share timely, behind the scenes content about your company culture. Share client testimonials, and check in live from events.

ENGAGEMENT

Engagement. We all want more engagement, right? Even if you are seeing some engagement, more would always be better. And we want more followers. Here’s the deal—real talk—if you want engagement, you also have to be engaging with others. Are you engaging and connecting with your ideal audience? Sure, you can post amazing content in your feed, but if they aren’t following you, they aren’t going to see it. Actually, even if they are following you, they may not see it.

Stay top of mind and show up, not only in their feed with your content, but also in the comments on their feed and in their DMs with genuine comments and messages.

Are you a B2B marketer? Are you using Instagram for your business? Tell me how you use it in the comments.