In a few short years, Instagram has become a “must do” social platform for brands and businesses of all types. The photo-heavy social media platform boasts the most engaged user base, with 500 million active users, 60 percent of whom log-in daily. About 70 percent of brands are predicted to be on Instagram by 2017, which means they expect the platform to play a crucial role in their digital brand strategies.
Your company Instagram platform, however, will be different than your personal one. If you’re looking to amp your B2B brand on Instagram, here are some tips and best practices.
Be personable.
Rather than focusing on being self-promotional, show who you are as a company by giving your followers a behind-the-scenes sneak peek. Post photos of life at the office or show people interacting with your product in real time. The more relatable you make your brand, the more you’re going to connect with followers.
Be timely.
It’s important to post relevant content surrounding timely topics that your audience will find interesting. For instance, find a way to incorporate the seasons or current events and relate them back to your brand. Just like other social platforms, only posting photos featuring your product or service can actually decrease engagement.
Use your bio.
Because Instagram doesn’t allow clickable URLs in photo captions, your bio is a great place for those links to live. This can be a big traffic driver, whether it’s directing users to a landing page, a product page or an article. Consider implementing tagged URLs in your bio so you have the ability to track clicks and see how much traffic you’re actually directing back to your website.
Collaborate!
Make sure you’re following other industry professionals to grow your network. Using the Repost app, you can actually repost the content from other users, which gives them credit for the photo or video. Sharing the content of others, mentioning other followers and engaging in conversation on the platform is a great way to build strong partnerships with other brands and increase your follower base.
Be original.
Don’t simply recycle content from other platforms. While imagery you post across platforms can be related and consistent, what you post on Instagram should be different than images you’re sharing on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Each platform is its own individual channel. An ad you post in a trade publication shouldn’t look identical to the photos you’re sharing on Instagram. They’re both very different channels that display different parts of your brand.
Create your own community.
Grow your audience by directly interacting with those who engage with your brand. Taking part in industry conversations is one way to market yourself, but an even more effective way to increase your following is to put the spotlight on your clients and customers. For instance, share an image or video of a customer engaging with your product or service. This can help increase brand loyalty and encourage others to share their experiences for a chance to be featured.
Some people may not know that your brand is on Instagram, which is why sharing a few of your Instagram photos on your website is a great way to increase followers.
There are numerous tools available to help you manage your brand on Instagram and analyze how it’s performing. Have questions or want more social media tips? Contact us today!