Did you know, Instagram is a valuable social channel for B2B marketing? Read these tips to learn how B2B companies can use Instagram, and follow Strategic: @strategic_ic
What if we told you that you have access to a platform with over half a billion users; that sees sponsored ad recall at 2.9x higher than the norms for online advertising (Nielsen), and is estimated to achieve $2.81 billion in mobile ad revenue by 2017?
You’d be interested, right?
Now, what if we told you that platform is Instagram?
Instagram for B2B Marketing
Well established as a social network for B2C’s, Instagram is a creative, visual platform - which B2B’s are increasingly recognising as a valuable source of engagement, trust building and brand awareness. Why? Because today, as Moz have detailed, it’s increasingly important to share more insight than just your service offering if you want to build a trusted and meaningful brand.
However, Instagram is by no means a clear channel for B2B marketing. Driving traffic back to your site isn’t straightforward (it’s all about the bio link), and it might not be the first place you’d expect B2B target personas to hang out. But B2B decision makers don’t exclusively live on LinkedIn. When you consider that nearly half of all B2B researchers are millennials (ages 18-34), that 90% Instagram’s user base is under 35, and that 42% of B2B researchers use mobile devices during the B2B purchasing process, having an active brand presence on a range of platforms, especially mobile-focussed ones such as Instagram or Snapchat, seems increasingly wise.
50% of decision makers said they would like to see more impartial and independent commentary being issued by vendors to assist with the purchasing process. - The Drum
Tips For Using Instagram For B2B Marketing
With the average engagement per Instagram post having grown by 416% over two years, Instagram is the ideal platform to share a little of your brand’s story and personality, and build a solid community.
To get started:
Make the most of your bio
Just setting up your account? The first step is to create an easily recognised user handle, and to create your account bio. In your bio text, you want to clearly highlight what you do and who you do it for - all within the 150 character limit.
Next, you need to add a link back to your site. This is the only opportunity Instagram currently gives users to add a link to your profile - links are not clickable in posts. So be sure that link is in place, and that it’s tracked if you want to be able to report on Instagram referrals.
Make the most of hashtags
If you’re new to Instagram, think of it as a little like Twitter, but with a priority on images. Like Twitter, hashtags are a key way to get your content seen. But unlike Twitter, Instagram posts aren’t hampered by a 140 character post limit. Allowing you up to 30 hashtags per post, Instagram has greater flexibility on the topics you tag in your updates, meaning you can build conversation across a range of themes.
Instagram posts with 11 or more hashtags get higher engagement than those with less - Buffer
Posts with at least one hashtag average 12.6% more engagement. - Simply Measured Instagram Study
Share great content
What content should B2B organisations share on Instagram? The key here is to regularly (at least daily) share images and video that is engaging and informative, and not to be afraid to share a little personality and insight into how your business runs.
Throwback to when we last had dogs in the office!! 🐶 #digitalagency #bringyourdogtoworkday #dogs #officedog #horsham #uk #digital #agency #digitalmarketing #marketing #inbound #inboundmarketingagency #inboundagency #creative #design #woof #digitalmarketingagency
For B2B’s without much of a visual aspect to their niche, creating graphics of quotes, tips and advice can be a good way to go. Tools such as WordSwag, or Canva can help with building artwork and creative. If you’re stuck for time, consider having different members of your team ‘takeover’ your business account each week, and have them share tips and images of things that inspire them from their unique position within your business. Grey Advertising are a good example of a brand who do this well. Scheduling tools like later.com or ScheduGram are also starting to appear for Instagram, saving time.
Nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non nurtured leads. #leads #leadnurture #leadgen #leadgeneration #salescycle #buyersjourney #purchase #funnel #statistics #inbound #inboundmarketing #digitalmarketing #digitalagency #dinosaur #rawr
As with any social channel, you want to provide an innovative, unique insight into your industry to build trust and recognition across the right conversations. It’s important to focus on helping and informing, not selling your product. Whatever you do don’t just regurgitate product pictures and think you’re done!
Good examples of B2B organisations with a solid Instagram presence include MailChimp, IBM, and of course HubSpot.
Instagram posts published on Sundays see a slight advantage, with 1.1 times more engagement that the average post - TrackMaven
Fortune 500 Instagram posts published between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. (EST) get the most engagement, with 6.15 percent to 8.78 percent more engagement than average - TrackMaven
Encourage clickthrough
We’ve already mentioned that referring users back to your site isn’t the easiest on Instagram, as links won’t work in post descriptions. But that doesn’t mean it’s not possible. For best results:
- Make sure you have a link in your bio, and make sure it’s tracked
- Ask for engagement! In your post descriptions, specifically ask people to click through to the link in your bio
- Another way to encourage clickthrough is by using your website as the location on your posts. To do this, you’ll need to check in on Facebook, and create a new location (your website, without the https://). You’ll then be able to tag your site as a location on appropriate posts (though the location tag itself will not direct to your site).
Posts tagged with a location receive 79% higher engagement. - Simply Measured Instagram Study
Actively engage
If you want people to comment, follow and like your posts… you’re going to have to start doing the same!
If you’re active in the right places, follow and interact with the types of followers you want more of, you’ll build a relevant audience and start to see engagement grow.
- Mention other users in your posts: On average, posts that include another user handle in the caption net 56 percent more engagement. - Simply Measured
- Search for relevant accounts: Who are your ideal client targets? Search (with keywords or hashtags) for those relevant accounts, follow them, and engage to develop a good following.
- Actively comment and like other people's posts
- Link up with other similar accounts (both sector wise and fan base size wise) and consider doing 'shares for shares' to build your network
On average, Instagram posts that include another user handle in the caption net 56 percent more engagement - Simply Measured
Consider sponsored posts
Like other social platforms, Instagram also offers a business advertising solution. Instagram is owned by Facebook, meaning Instagram ads can be created via Facebook Ads Manager and Power Editor.
For B2B’s this means access to a community of more than 500M Instagram users, making it one of the world's largest mobile ad platforms.
Instagram sponsored ad recall is 2.9x higher than the norms for online advertising - Nielsen
Follow @strategic_ic on Instagram
Want more Instagram tips and advice? Follow Strategic on Instagram - @strategic_ic - to watch us practice what we preach.
This post first appeared on B2B Inbound Marketing & Web Design Blog By Strateg, please read the originial post: here
