Nowadays, B2B Marketing on Instagram can be a powerful weapon for marketers with the right techniques to utilize it. Although this channel seems to be more about snapshots and selfies, it is a goldmine for businesses to exploit and build a brand, promote products… whatever your purpose might be.
However, if you haven’t started your B2B Instagram Marketing or feel like you don’t quite “get” it, you are not alone. It’s not an easy task to catch up with Instagram marketing, especially on the B2B side. No worries! We are here to help you with the best pieces of advice and actual data from experts who have gained quite a success on this channel.
START B2B Marketing journey by understanding a successful B2B Marketing strategy and types of B2B Marketing.
Why you should plan on B2B Instagram Marketing?
Table of Contents
Instagram is a modern way for B2B marketing on social media since the Business Profile on this platform has just been released in 2016. Noted that even when you have already run your business accounts on other channels like Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest… you may still want to give Instagram a try due to its specific and unique benefits.
Building trust with the audience
Different from a professional website, Instagram is more about behind-the-scenes fun. When someone checks you out on Instagram, they are more likely to seek personal information about your company’s culture than about your business.
That’s why, even though you go on “the ‘gram” to do business, the tip is to share casual images of your organization or simplify your business content. This way, you can naturally interact with the audience and promote transparency.
Pro Tip: In case your goal for B2B Marketing on Instagram is different and more academic, you may consider creating another account page to share about your community.
Increasing traffic to your site
With higher levels of engagement compared to other platforms, Instagram is an ideal way to convert leads and customers.
It’s a common misconception that the engagement level on Instagram is not as high as on other social channels, especially after this platform removed the like button. Nevertheless, the data speaks for itself and the result seems to be opposite to the common norm.
According to Databox, almost 20% of its respondents claim that this social channel is responsible for as much as 50% of their site traffic each month.
Now that there’s no doubt about Instagram’s potential in business, what you need are clear steps to reach your target. Follow the instructions below for a step-by-step tutorial to success for B2B Marketing on Instagram.
Moreover, consider Magento 2 social login extensions to improve the customer login experience.
4 steps to start B2B Marketing on Instagram
If your business still hasn’t been on Instagram yet, it’s time to change the situation and catch up with the Marketing community.
Determine Specific Goals & Strategies
Source: Databox
In any marketing strategy, it is important to define a clear goal: whether you are trying to increase traffic, drive leads, or push sales… will certainly affect your way of connecting with the audience and designing content.
For instance, you are building your Instagram business account with the purpose of raising awareness of your brand. In this case, think of your company’s image and slogan, also how you want your brand to be known as. That would be the core of your B2B Instagram strategy on which all of your content should be focusing.
Essentially, keep up with the data number to ensure your development is on the right track. If you are behind the target result, find out the issues and solutions as soon as possible.
Target on Your Buyer Persona
You know who your buyer persona is and they will be the crucial target in your marketing plan. Take this step as one of the principal techniques for B2B Marketing on any social media channel, because only by targeting the right audience can you make the strategy effective.
On the ‘gram, followers don’t just come from advertising. You can be proactive in gaining new audiences by checking them out first. There are tools that will help you spot your target audience by collecting data from different sources. Find more about these useful tools in the last section.
Pro Tip: If you have already own business accounts on other platforms, cross-promote your Instagram account on these channels to notify your followers about your new page.
Plan Grid Content
First impression is the last impression. That’s why creating your first content in an absorbing and informative way is the key to Instagram marketing tips.
One recommendation from Gloria Lafont (Action Marketing Co) is that “planning ahead and creating your first nine posts as a grid. Then, post them all at the same time – before you start following others and promoting your page.”
When planning your grid, keep in mind your purpose of how you want your brand to be remembered as on Instagram. The grid content should stick with this idea of promotion.
Take a look at some of the 9-post grids on business accounts to see what others are doing with their first posts:
Mailchimp
Durex_usa
Pro Tip: Add hashtags to your content can help increase your brand signature as well as reach to strangers who share the same interests.
Prepare great content
It is obvious that you need appealing content to attract the audience, but things are not that easy on this channel, especially with B2B Marketing on Instagram. This platform is all about visual content, so the first thing that draws someone’s attention is the image. Besides photos, make sure you have a captivating caption and switch to videos/ IGTV sometimes to update your news feed.
EXPLORE NOW 10 tips for Instagram Captions in E-commerce to encourage followers to connect with you on an emotional level.
Listed here are some types of Instagram’s posts that will make your page diverse:
- Behind-the-scene Posts
These posts are the number one choice if you are planning to humanize your organization and show the audience the hidden parts of the business.
One great example from Aeronaut Brewing:
- Educational Posts
On Instagram, simplicity is the key. These posts often offer snackable tips and quick instructions to do or make something. Remember: the content is simple but still needs to be detailed enough to complete the instruction.
Example: One simple video from Tasty showing steps to make a batch of Bellinis:
- Influencer Posts
The image content of these posts is often about a celebrity or public figure using or interacting with your product. This is how you can take advantage of the fame of that influencer to promote your brand. In a B2B Marketing on Instagram strategy, this kind of content mainly aims to advocate your product rather than sharing personal content.
Make sure your brand is tagged and mentioned in the post. This way, you can promote your name to those who don’t know about the brand as well as make it easier for those who want to check the products out.
A typical example here is Chloe Moretz with Coach’s fragrance.
- Motivational Posts
This kind of content is simple with an overlaid quote or uplifting message, which encourages the audience and also amplifies your brand values. The tip when creating these posts is to avoid being cheesy.
Take a look at this mood-boosting message from Foundr Magazine:
Effective Tips for B2B Marketing on Instagram
Taken from the best marketers, here are some tips to help you achieve your goal in your B2B Instagram strategy.
Interact with Your Followers and Other Brands
Everyone is putting a focal point on followers’ quantity but forgetting to interact with them. A marketer needs to keep in mind that interaction is vital if you don’t want your audience to pass over your brand. Respond to comments and direct messages as soon as you can to show authenticity and show that you care.
Additionally, to business accounts aiming to sell products and services on this channel, the in-time response should be emphasized. It is important that you interact with customers to provide them with the necessary information when their interest in the products hasn’t gone unnoticed.
Besides the audience, try looking for other pages with the same products and visions with you. Follow, like, or comment – interact with them and you can get initial with their audience – who are also your target customers.
Take Advantage of Instagram Story
Source: Netbase
Story is an updated function of Instagram which is not only always on the top of the feed but also creates an opportunity to provide news and advertisement in an interactive way.
It is impressive that the number of people using Instagram Story each day reached 500 million in 2019. With this level of engagement, you may want to keep your account updated to remind your audience about your organization.
The stories’ content should be constantly changing because nobody is excited to watch the same thing over and over. Set up a detailed schedule for story topics so that you will not panic and run out of ideas for the day. Remember the golden rule for B2B Instagram Marketing: be funny and casual.
Pro Tip: When posting a story about your product, you can link the post to your website so that interested customers just need to swipe up to visit the product page.
Source: BeFunky
Post during peak days and hours
This tip is to help you find the best schedule to publish your posts – regularly but not overwhelmingly.
In terms of the days, a study from SimplyMeasured tells us that Monday and Thursday are the best days to pop up on your followers’ news feed. The reason is that everyone is experiencing quite an engagement with their work on these days. Meanwhile, Wednesday and Sundays are the days you should avoid posting about business matters.
In terms of peak hours, CoSchedule’s research indicates that the time between 8:00 AM and 9:00 AM is the best time to post on Instagram. You can also consider 2:00 AM so that your posts will show up first on news feed at the beginning of the day. This result based on people’s daily routine of checking the phone right when they wake up.
However, there’s no fixed recipe for any meal. Examing other post timing yourself until you find the best schedule that matches with your audiences and the industry you are in.
Free tools – why not?
If you say marketers are soldiers and Instagram is their weapon, then using tools is a way to horn this weapon to work at its best. Of course, there are both paid and free options for you to choose from. In this section, we will recommend some of the choices which are economical in investing but bring back quite economic gains in the B2B Instagram marketing.
- Crowdfire: As promised, the first tool recommended is the one that would help you manage your followers. Crowdfire provides a helping hand in managing your audiences by showing who follow and unfollow you, automatically unfollow those who don’t follow you and other tasks. Interestingly, this app can copy followers from another account – works best on your competitors’ accounts sharing the same product type.
- Latergram.me: This free advertising tool advances your B2B Instagram Strategy by letting you set up your post to be published at a specific time. Of course, it will ask for your approval when the time comes. It also allows you to look up for online content from the internet and publish them. This is one of the most effective tools for managing Instagram content.
- Soldsie: Another tool for e-commerce accounts you should not miss is here. With Soldsie, you can optimize your bio link and link your photos to the content that the audience seeks. Moreover, the function to create a “Shopping Basket” automatically synchronized with your Instagram product posts will surely be helpful in pushing sales and increasing conversions.
- Iconosquare: This brilliantly designed tool allows you to view all of your account’s statistics in graphs: number of likes or comments in total or per posts, photos with the highest interaction, follower growth, etc. This is especially useful in managing your account in general.
CHECK OUT 7+ Magento 2 Instagram Extensions for more beneficial implements to optimize your management.
Wrap it up
B2B Marketing on Instagram is a fresh and potent way to do business. This platform helps to provide the audience with a friendly glimpse of your organization while still achieve business goals. Make sure your company is not outdated in the marketing world by taking action today!
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