B2B Instagram Marketing

INTRODUCTION:

Instagram is a social networking site owned by Facebook where people can make connections, share photos and videos. It is only social media site that has reached the highest growth rate in the last 8 years. Instagram came to market on October 6, 2010. At that time, it had only 30 million users and now it has 800 million monthly and 500 million daily active users.

Selfies, Groupies, photography, videos and all used to happen before also but after the launch of Instagram, all these activities went on hype along with the people doing such creative stuff. The best thing about Instagram is that they keep updating the old features and add new features. The most recent feature added to Instagram feed is the IGTV.

Star icons like movie actors/actresses, politicians, sports persons etc. can take complete advantage of Instagram as they have quite entertaining, attractive and informational stuff to influence people. But when it comes to business- fashion, food, e-commerce industry also gets good benefits by Instagramming but B2B marketers still lack behind.

So is it true that Instagram is not the right platform for B2B marketing ？

No, its just that B2B marketers are quite professional in their work and its bit difficult for them to engage with people socially through photos and videos. They provide rare services that face challenges in grabbing attention. Instagram isn’t just for selfies and impressive vacation shots. There is a lot more to know and apply.

Before using any social media platforms, you must know the 

5 metrics to measure social media engagement :

1. Friends, Connection, Followers, Fans, Subscriptions, etc.
2. Visit, Views, Likes, Share, Retweet, Repost, Replies, DMs, etc.
3. Influencer, blogger, etc
4. Download, Lead Generator, Webinar attendees, etc
5. Online sale, Physical sale, etc.

Why Instagram Marketing ？

It is always proved that social media marketing is far better than any other form of marketing. You need to plan and build a strategy accordingly. Marketers opt for Instagram marketing to –

• Spread their business existence to people and let them know about their products and services.
• Increase Brand Awareness, The more you promote your business socially, the more people start discussing and develop a trust factor in your business.
• Know your target audience, your social presence will let you reach to your customers directly and indirectly and you will get to know what their views and needs are.
• Drive Traffic, social engagement is one of the ways to drive traffic to your website or webpage.
• Generate Leads, people make a decision on the basis the basis of your way of presenting the business online. If they find it unique and relevant then its a good compliment for your business.

Here are few valuable points you need to follow for a successful B2B Instagram Marketing :

 

DO’s

      1. Relevant Content and Engaging Caption : Write a unique, relevant and encouraging Caption/content that is related to your topic and will grab the attention of your followers and get more likes and followings.

     2. Regular Update : Keep posting regularly and also give importance to other features like insta stories, insta live, insta videos. The more you keep posting, the more popularity you will get. Stories are the best way of promoting to a large group of the audience in a short time.

 

      3. Know You Audience : Factors like age group, time zone, gender, occasion do affect the popularity of a post. So before posting something keep in mind, you want to reach the maximum number of people. Chose a Correct time, Know the age group and gender of the majority group of your followers, update the location, tag people who may be interested in your post or who are related to it, apply attractive filters and preferably professional pictures.

      4. Use Hashtags : Wise use of trending hashtags will let you reach to more people. Using hashtags makes your post trendy, when people search for that particular hashtag they will see you post too hence you’ll gain popularity if that post amazes them.

5. Write About Your Business : Mention about your business in your Instagram Handle i.e. bio, in selected posts. Mention the offers your business provides in bio, comments, post, insta stories, and videos or you can DM them to your targeted audience.

 

      6. Use Softwares : Applications like Repost, Boomerang, WordSwag, Continual, Video Filters, etc. let you handle your account and posts in a more organized way. They also suggest relevant captions and hashtags that will be appreciated by your followers.

 

     7. Collab With Right Bloggers and Influencers : Connect with bloggers and influencers of Instagram those who are interested in your business and know something about the products and services you offer and can promote your business to a large audience as well as the target audience.

 

     8. Follow-up : After pitching your idea, the most important thing is the follow-up. Ask the bloggers and influencers if they like the idea, what are their views and if they are interested to collaborate with you. Tell them about the benefits they would be getting and provide evidence of past activities. Let them know more about your business and you.

 

    9. Contact Ghost Followers : They are the people who follow you but don’t interact with you or do any activities. Take their views and suggestion and try to engage with them. Most of the users may be inactive or spam but you can get some useful connections.

DONT’s

  1. Buy Followers : Don’t go for these cheap methods for gaining followers as well as likes.  Building up a connection is time taking but worth it. The connection you make with your target audience helps you in promoting your business and creating a brand awareness.

 

   2. Don’t Irritate or Behave Rude With Your Followers : Don’t demand a lot from your followers this might be irritating to them and they end up with unfollowing or blocking you. Be humble, explain politely what you are doing and why you want their help. Answer their questions and reply to their feedback in a positive way.

 

   3. Don’t Use Bots To Post Comments : This is considered as a spamming activity. Be real you and be genuine. It builds a bond of trust between you and your audience. Automatic comments just go out notice or get reported. Promoting links in comments or captions also doesn’t work out and create a disgusting impression. Avoid such short-term activities to increase your sale and concentrate on increasing your connection and building it strong.

 

   4. Generalise Your Approach : When you send an email or DM to bloggers or influencers for collaboration, content promotion, pitching ideas or campaigns personalize your emails and DMs like using the name of the receiver, appreciate their work, comment and like their post, follow them on other social media platforms. This grabs their attention or else hardly you will get any response back because bloggers and influencers are quite busy people they don’t run after generalized mails or approach.

 

   5. Think In A Standard Way : Marketing is all about breaking the rule without getting noticed. Creative ideas and techniques make you stand out from the crowd. Learn from your competitors but don’t follow them. Focus on what different you can do from others that will help your business.

 

  6. Don’t Keep Your Customers In Dark : Always have a clear conversation and outreach with your followers and customers. Bring some excitement in your post. Tell them about future plans,  organize giveaways and contest to keep your Instagram family happily.

 

CONCLUSION :

Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin were the best platform for B2B Marketing and they still are. But Instagram and Snapchat have also taken their position on the internet in these few years. Unlike Instagram, Snapchat Marketing is also quite dynamic and attractive. But, Recently Instagram left Snapchat behind in terms of daily active users. So, start your B2B marketing practices through Instagram in a planned and effective way. Don’t go by rules and also Don’t manipulate the rules.