While Instagram is immensely popular, much of what the platform’s users post focuses on vacations, fitness, celebrities, entertainment, food, pets and other lifestyle content. This ethos makes it ideal for reaching B2C audiences, but B2B companies may not consider Instagram an option as a potential marketing channel for their organizations.
However, B2B companies shouldn’t write this affordable and effective marketing channel off. The truth is, B2B buyers are on Instagram as well, and with the right approach, a digital marketing campaign on this social media platform can be an excellent way to reach them. To learn more about what strategies work best for B2B marketing on Instagram, read the tips below from the members of Forbes Agency Council.
1. Nurture Prospects Along Their Customer Journey
For most B2B companies, sales cycles are long and multiple people are involved in the purchase decision, so social media tools such as Instagram are best used for nurturing and moving prospects along their customer journey. Using it to provide invitations to informational webinars and access to white papers—for free, of course, but tracked—are excellent strategies. – Robert Finlayson, Bold Marketing and Communications
2. Promote Video Content When Participating In Trade Events
One way B2B companies can leverage interactive features on Instagram is to promote highly shareable video content when participating in trade events. For example, you can link video footage of a panel discussion the B2B company is hosting at the event to a white paper that fleshes out points discussed at the event in more detail. A link tracker can then help you attribute and measure the activity. – Azadeh Williams, AZK Media
3. Track Engagement With The Links You Post
B2B brands can benefit from simply tracking link engagements. Whether you’re linking to a blog post on your own website or a news article on a different domain, link clicks can tell you what topics and trends resonate most with your audience. From there, you can tailor your content to fit their taste and cultivate a more engaged audience. – Heather Kelly, Next PR
4. Promote Your Lead Magnets Or PR Stories About Them
Since more people are active on Instagram, B2B companies can use this opportunity to promote their lead magnets or PR stories about them that have been published. Unlike B2C or D2C companies that might have a direct offer you can purchase immediately, B2B companies need to remember to nurture their potential consumers along their journey. – Adrian Falk, Believe Advertising & PR
5. Leverage Product Tags And Instagram’s Collabs Feature
One of the many options available to B2B companies is using product tags and Instagram’s Collabs feature. Collaboration posts appear in both accounts’ feeds, and your content generates more impressions, inspiring subscribers to both accounts to buy. – Dmitrii Kustov, Regex SEO
6. Feature Information Or Countdowns For Online Events
Feature information or countdowns for online events, such as press events or webinars. Stories can be used to provide sneak peeks that let followers “click the link in bio to sign up.” Use your social platforms to highlight speakers, what attendees will learn and promotions that are “only available” to registered attendees. Unlike B2C or D2B, you are not selling a product; you are selling an experience. – Bernard May, National Positions
7. Focus On Calls To Action That Drive Audiences To Landing Pages
B2B audiences need informational content to persuade other decision makers. They generally don’t make purchases directly from an Instagram ad. So, instead of focusing on “buy now” calls to action and one-time discounts that are effective for direct-to-consumer and business-to-consumer audiences, focus on calls to action such as “learn more” and drive audiences to the appropriate landing pages. – Donna Robinson, Collective Measures
8. Provide A Helpful, Personalized And Informative Experience
When it comes to B2B marketing, using Instagram is a great way to ensure that the entire team is able to provide a helpful experience that is also more personalized for the viewer. There are many ways that you can work to ensure that you have a happy audience and are informing them. – Jon James, Ignited Results
9. Sell Time With Your Subject Matter Experts
One thing B2B companies can do is sell their time. In my experience, there’s a wealth of brilliant SMEs in the space who want to add more value. Engineers, marketers, designers and executives can all place value on their time and sell it as a small block of hours in the form of a lunch-and-learn or a larger event. This will likely provide only small, incremental revenue, but it may be the difference in whether or not a sale is made. – John Geletka, Geletka+
10. Focus On A High-Level CX
There is a distinct difference between a B2B business model—which is an upstream, value-chain proposition—and a B2C retailer. While social media can be effective for B2C brand activation, B2B brands are more high-value, high-margin businesses focused on maintaining a clientele base (and with a longer sales cycle). However, focusing on a strong customer experience gives both a pivotal boost when it comes to buyer reach. – Rachel Ooi, Dentsu International
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by Forbes Agency Council
source: Forbes.com