Eight creative ways B2B brands use Instagram
Instagram has become an effective social network with its appealing visual content and there are many ways a B2B brand can benefit from its usage.
Instagram may be extremely popular among retail brands, but this doesn’t mean that it cannot be effective among B2B companies. In fact, it has been observed even the most “boring” brands can be attractive, provided that they are creative enough.
51% of B2C marketers use Instagram, but only 33% of B2B marketers head to the platform for the promotion of their brand, which means that there’s also less competition for a company that manages to succeed in it.
Source: Social Media Examiner
If you’re still wondering how B2B brands can use Instagram, here are some suggestions to start with:
Instagram can be useful when trying to reach a new audience, helping a B2B brand expand its reach, by even targeting an audience they wouldn’t normally do. Instagram is not always about direct promotion, in fact, it can become even more effective, always depending on the set goals, if used creatively and new followers will appreciate that.
Instagram may not be the first social network a brand may use, but its engagement rate is impressive, and according to TrackMaven, it is coming first in engagement for B2B brands, with Pinterest coming second.
Image: TrackMaven
A B2B company can increase brand awareness by using Instagram creatively to appeal to a new audience and promote its presence without directly focusing on its commercial goals.
This is the stage of “discovery” where new followers can learn about the brand, or even if they already knew about it, the content may be appealing enough to turn them into followers.
There’s no “boring” B2B industry if you are creative enough to create the right visual content. In fact, even a company that wouldn’t normally have enough visual content can succeed in Instagram, provided that it understands the platform and its audience.
Whether it’s user-generated content, creative hashtags, appealing images, or even curated content, there’s always a new way to grab the audience’s attention.
By the time a brand manages to increase its brand awareness, there’s the aim of brand affinity, or else the engagement that is created among the brand and its followers which started from the shared values and interests.
It’s the first step to relationship building and a further bond that can lead to the highly desired customer loyalty.
It’s not always easy for a brand to find the right formula to build brand affinity, but authenticity is appreciated, along with the creative use of branding that will help users associate the brand with a shared interest, a feeling, or even a memory.
Instagram users are eager to be part of a community, based on their tastes, their preferences, or the visual appeal and many brands have managed to use Instagram effectively by relying on their audience and the feeling of inclusion their feed created.
Furthermore, relationship building may also offer the opportunity to focus on other B2B brands and expand the professional opportunities in the least expected way.
More than 8,000 posts have used the hashtag #paypalit, which proves the audience’s willingness to be part of Paypal’s storytelling, creating a stronger relationship with the company.
It has become quite popular for brands to use Instagram to showcase their company culture and it’s even more useful in B2B companies, as this is a quick and effective way to find new content that blends storytelling with branding.
Brand storytelling has become popular in social media, and it can be effective for every industry, whether it’s a fitness brand or a software company.
Storytelling in the B2B industry may be seen as the right opportunity to create a consistent and original message, which can ultimately build trust among the brand and the followers.
What’s more, it can also create a stronger bond between a brand and its followers, by encouraging users to send their own stories and feel closer to the brand.
Microsoft is among the lucky companies to have a diversity of topics and content to cover, but its focus on storytelling allowed the brand to promote its human element, bringing it closer to the audience.
There are many B2B brands that deserve to be featured for their creativity, the integration of branding with engagement and their unique feeds.