Liz Papagni — February 7, 2018 — February 7, 2018
For years, Instagram has been the darling of B2C brands, as the image-friendly platform provides the perfect setting to show off products and share video tutorials. Businesses that sell to other businesses, however, have struggled to find a good use for Instagram as a social marketing tool.
Since Instagram has over 800 million monthly users, it may be time to reconsider this platform for your B2B needs—especially since Facebook has made clear that company page posts will be less than accessible in news feeds for the near future.
So, how can you go about harnessing the power of a platform that’s historically been used for personal posts or B2C marketing? Let’s consider your options.
Use Your Bio
Let people know up front what your business is all about. Believe it or not, someone on Instagram is looking for you. With nearly a billion monthly users, it’s absolutely guaranteed that your customers—both current and future—are on Instagram. You just need to let them know you’ve arrived.
The bio section of your profile is the only place where a hyperlink can be used. You can paste links into individual posts, but they won’t be clickable. Be sure you keep the link in your bio up to date, and refer to it any time you want to drive traffic from your posts to your website.
Go Natural
It’s tempting to use stock photography for your Instagram posts, especially since you don’t have products to sell. Your buyers won’t find stock photos interesting, so be sure to use as many proprietary images as you can.
You can show off your staff members, your business space, or even share videos about your business. If you think outside the box, you’ll find there’s really no need for stock photos at all. If you do use stock photography, be sure to jazz them up with your own quotes or some inspirational content.
Find Your Niche
Like we said, nearly one billion people use Instagram on a monthly basis. Your niche is out there; you just have to find it. Search hashtags that match your business and start using them on a regular basis. This will help to drive the traffic you’re looking for to your Instagram profile.
You can also seek out some other businesses that complement yours and follow for some new connections. You don’t have to be shy about following your competitors here, either. If nothing else, you’ll get some good ideas about how to market to your own followers.
Engage with Influencers
While you’ll certainly bring in your own share of followers, the real power on Instagram is with influencers. Seek out people in your niche that will use your services and work out influencer deals with them.
For example, if you’re marketing your online invoicing software, a marketing company that uses your product could be persuaded to share some posts about how easy your product is to use. If you sell business computing solutions—think IBM, or maybe something smaller—then you could work with some of your customers to develop posts of your equipment being used in the office space.
If you’re not sure how to go about creating an influencer campaign, that’s okay. That’s actually what we’re here for. We can help you develop something relevant and powerful.
As with every marketing tool out there, Instagram may be exactly what you need—or it may still be more work than it’s worth.
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