When it comes to social media, the clear favorites for B2B marketers are Facebook and LinkedIn. But there’s one rapidly growing social platform that may turn out to be more effective than either of these, and that’s Instagram. That’s because the web is inherently a visual medium these days, rather than a primarily text-based medium as it was just a few years ago. And Instagram is the one social platform that’s best positioned to leverage this trend.
Keep in mind – there are now 500 million active users a month for Instagram, which is more than either Twitter or LinkedIn. And it’s growing faster than either of those social platforms. So there’s a huge, untapped potential here. Here are just a few ideas of how to integrate Instagram into your B2B marketing mix.
#1: Highlight the culture and personality of your company
One popular way to use Instagram is to post photos of the culture and personality of the workplace. This offers a way to create a very personal bond with potential customers who are looking to do businesses that share their common goals, aims and vision.
#2: Showcase popular products
You have several options here. One is to post images of your products and services. Another is to post photos of customers actually using them in real-world environments (i.e. not just doing a product demo at a trade fair or convention). This helps to bring your product mix alive. While static images can work if they are done artistically, visual images that convey a sense of action and dynamism work best.
#3: Create narratives and storylines around events
A relatively new feature of Instagram, called Instagram Stories, allows you to create stories that play out over a 24-hour period. You can add photos to this collection, thereby creating a sort of narrative storyline. This is a great way to bring life to recent events you’ve hosted. Or you could create a story around a new product launch. Stories disappear after 24 hours, so it’s important to make them as timely and relevant as possible.
#4: Post live video
The newest feature of Instagram is the ability to live stream video content from right inside the app. That means you could host a live interview with top executives or conduct a Q&A session to field customer questions. As with any live experience, you’ll need to start building audience in advance so that people will know when to tune in.
The focus of all these Instagram marketing tactics should be to make your company more attractive to potential prospects. Ultimately, people buy from companies that they trust, and ones that they believe have their best interests in mind. Using Instagram, you can help to convert these prospects into customers. In short, Instagram can be a great way to leverage mobile marketing for your company.
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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.