If you’re a B2B marketer, it’s time to consider how to add Instagram to your marketing toolbox. Yes, Instagram is still known for its celebrity photos, selfies, food photos and cat photos, but it’s hard to deny how deeply the photo-sharing social network has embedded itself in the daily habits of Internet users. Consider just some of the staggering figures about Instagram:
Instagram, with 500 million users, is now the second most popular social network on the planet, trailing only Facebook, with 1.5 billion users. Of those 500 million users, 300 million are active daily users. And, finally, 34.1% of all mobile phone users use Instagram.
So how do you turn Instagram into a B2B marketing platform?
First of all, think about how you can share your company’s vision, culture or mission on Instagram. The focus here should be on people, not on products. You want to let other people see what makes your company tick. Feel free to add appropriate hashtags that explain what your company does.
Secondly, think about how you can showcase your employees at work. This is perhaps even easier than trying to demonstrate vision or mission – all you need to do is post photos of employees at the whiteboard, or employees making presentations, or employees participating at a conference. Obviously, the more aesthetically pleasing the backdrop, the better. Showcasing your employees in a white cubicle doesn’t have as much pop as showcasing your employees at a fancy Las Vegas hotel.
Thirdly, think about ways to demonstrate thought leadership in the industry. Maybe it’s as simple as posting photos of new books or e-books your company’s leadership has published. Or maybe it’s a photo of your CEO speaking at a major industry conference. The goal, of course, is to highlight how and why your company has better product offerings than its competitor.
Fourth, think about sharing photos of milestone achievements or anniversaries of your company. Every company has a story of how it was founded, and that’s something you can leverage, no matter how old or young your company is. Obviously, it’s more impressive if you can celebrate the 100th or 50th anniversary of your company, but even something as celebrating the 1st anniversary of your company can be a relatively impressive milestone.
Finally, if all else fails, you can share photos of your products or services in action. Since Instagram enables you to share a brief video clip, you can also post a brief product demo. The problem with posting photos of products, of course, is that it can appear a bit sales-y. You need to focus on adding filters, angles or effects that make the product photo different from the one you’d post on your website.
Of course, there are plenty of companies that just post everyday photos of their employees on Instagram, and that’s perfectly OK. However, if you want to really tap into the momentum that Instagram can give your B2B marketing efforts, it’s best to focus on achievements, accomplishments, breakthroughs and wins. That’s what can differentiate you from your competitor. By using Instagram effectively, you will have another useful tool in your B2B marketing toolbox.
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Dane
Dane Cobain is a published author, freelance writer, book blogger, poet and (occasional) musician from High Wycombe, UK. Before going freelance, he worked as a social media marker, now specialising in writing about publishing, technology and marketing.