These rules are relevant not only for B2C companies but also for representatives of the B2B segment. We invite you to learn a little more about using Instagram for business-oriented promotion with B2B Belkins.io experts.
To stay relevant to their customers, modern companies need to:
- offer only quality products and services;
- keep in touch with their clients;
- use modern promotion tools.
Things to Know About Instagram: A Short Review
Instagram is one of the most popular social networks today. It already has 1 billion active users worldwide, and by 2023 this figure could grow to 1.2 billion users worldwide. The social network was created just over a decade ago to share visual content using mobile devices. All photo and video files uploaded through the application can be grouped, hashtags and geotags can be added to them, and and interactive files can be created directly in the application using the Stories and IGTV options.
Here you can not only broadcast content through your own profile but also view photos and videos of other users, like and comment on them. In addition, you can communicate with other users and search for the content you need. The coverage in different countries speaks for itself.
Considering that most users spend at least thirty minutes on Instagram every day, many experts and companies use it as a tool for sales and brand promotion. Moreover, the effectiveness of Instagram in attracting new customers and building brand awareness is the same for companies operating in very different industries.
Why Should a B2B Business Use Instagram for Promotion?
Previously, Instagram was mainly used for business-to-customer collaboration, but lately its use for business-to-business collaboration has been on the rise. There are several reasons why modern businesses use Instagram in their marketing strategies:
- Large audience. Thanks to the huge number of network users around the world, it is easier for companies to find their target audience using relevant hashtags and geotags. The activity of network users also helps your customers to find you faster and learn more about your brand.
- Wide range of possibilities for users. Instagram settings make it possible not only to publish photos and videos about your company and its services, but also to sell the services directly through the application itself. You can also set up ads and notifications about upcoming promotions and sales.
- Ability to maintain live communication with customers. Today, many users and researchers are not just looking for a specific product or service – they are looking for a partner to interact with. On Instagram, you can communicate with users in the messenger, through likes and comments, involving customers in building your brand’s reputation.
- Available analytics tools. The options and settings of Instagram make it possible to track exactly how communication with customers takes place, at what hours or days interest in products or services is highest, which posts receive more views and comments, and so on. Analytics is always available in your profile settings.
This is not a complete list of all the benefits of Instagram for business that are available to every user.
How to Use Instagram for B2B Marketing and Lead Generation?
To make Instagram work for you in B2B lead generation, it is important to have a clear promotion strategy. Here are a few tips from our experts:
- Your account’s design matters. After you have created your Instagram profile and set its status to “Business account“, proceed to the next step – filling it with content. Choose content that fits your brand philosophy and reveals its strengths.
- Show your work from the inside. Besides content that tells about your products or services, show how you create the product or work in your office. This technique will “humanize” the brand and make it more recognizable – a strategy already successfully tested by Etsy and Mailchimp.
- Turn to influencers. Instagram is a social network where influencers set the mood. By getting them to talk about their successful experience of using your products or services, you will quickly attract a new audience and establish B2B lead generation online.
- Don’t forget interactive content. Stories and IGTV can help bring your brand, products, or services to life, even if they are of short duration. Important videos can be saved as Highlights and made available for viewing.
When using Instagram, it is important to remember that interacting with your company’s customers should always come first, including through the use of quality content and advertising.
More Tips for B2B Researchers and Marketing
The following recommendations will help to increase the efficiency of using Instagram for B2B companies:
1. be active on your account to better understand the needs of your customers;
2. regularly study the statistics on views to adjust the promotion strategy and create relevant content;
3. monitor the accounts of competing companies;
4. define your target audience and niche before developing your Instagram promotion strategy;
5. stick to a specific posting schedule based on your account statistics and the specifics of your products or services to get more views, likes and comments;
6. do not forget about hashtags – they are what make your content show up in user queries.
Do not set goals that are too vague or too complicated – they should be clear, understandable for all employees and relevant to the entire company.
When using Instagram for B2B lead generation, you need to use other marketing tools too – in particular, an email spam checker. With its help, you can easily filter out messages from unimportant or potentially dangerous clients. In addition, the spam checker allows you to track whether your emails are classified as spam when sent to specific recipients.
Is Instagram Really Good for B2B Business?
It might seem to you that using Instagram for B2B business is not the best idea, but modern marketers would beg to differ. Instagram is not just a digital medium for brand promotion, it also provides a number of other benefits exclusively for B2B companies:
- you can visualize your brand and tell about it in an accessible and memorable way;
- it increases the engagement not only of ordinary users but also of other companies, contributing to their closer cooperation;
- Instagram promotion strategy can be used as the best B2B lead generation
In matters of digital B2B marketing, it is important to use all the tools that will help build a positive reputation and brand awareness.
If you are not sure how to use Instagram in your promotion strategy, use our B2B lead generation outsourcing services. Just contact us – we’ll do the rest.
