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Do you have a good Instagram B2B strategy? If not, it’s time to jump on top of the Instagram trends and start marketing your business on Instagram! 33% of B2B brands are on Instagram. The platform is an effective lead generation tool, giving brands 20 times more engagement than LinkedIn. What’s more, B2B brands see 22.53 interactions per 1,000 followers per post on Instagram — a number that’s higher than Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
It’s clear that Instagram is an opportunity B2B brands can’t afford to ignore. But if you aren’t sure where to start with creating an Instagram B2B strategy, you’re not alone. Let’s break down the best ways to market your brand on the platform and look at some brands that are doing it right.
Top 5 Instagram B2B Strategies in 2021
Uplevel your Instagram B2B strategy by following these top trends from 2021.
#1. Create A Business Profile
Before you do anything else, you need to create a business profile on Instagram. Business profiles offer a lot of benefits to brands trying to succeed on the platform. You have access to analytics to keep an eye on account performance. You can optimize your profile and posts with features like adding a contact button or creating shoppable posts. Having a business profile also helps Instagram attract the right customers for your brand.
Switching your IG profile to a business profile is simple. Go to your profile and tap the three lines in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Tap “Settings,” then select “Account” from the next list.
Scroll to the bottom of the “Account” page and you’ll see blue text offering the option to “Switch to Professional Account.” Tap the text. Instagram will prompt you to choose a category from a list of options. After that, you can officially switch to a professional account.
Creating a business Instagram account will prepare you to implement the rest of your Instagram B2B strategy.
#2. Form An Instagram Business Strategy
The next step in your Instagram B2B strategy is to actually outline the strategy. Setting goals for your social media efforts will help you be more successful — you’re more likely to succeed when you go into social media marketing with a plan instead of just shooting in the dark.
Conduct an audit of your current social media efforts to determine what’s going well and which areas could be better. You’ll also want to think about what metrics are most important to you. Are you using social media to drive website traffic? Do you want to up your engagement and brand awareness? Answering these questions will help you decide what to focus on as you get started.
To finish out your Instagram B2B strategy, research your target audience to create an audience persona. Analyzing your competitors will also help you figure out what content you want to post to resonate with your audience.
#3. Plan Your Content Ahead of Time
Plan out your Instagram content ahead of time so you can make sure it aligns with your overall social media strategy and goals. Use a scheduling tool that lets you lay out your grid in advance, getting a preview of what your feed will look like under your Instagram bio. This will help you create a curated feed — which, in turn, will boost your following and engagement as your posts are visually attractive and on-brand.
When you schedule your content ahead of time, this also gives you the ability to post at the best times of day and remain consistent with your posting schedule. This is important because it helps as many people as possible see your content. Use Instagram Insights to see when your audience is most active and figure out when to post.
#4. Encourage Engagement
It’s great to see a high number of followers on your account. But it’s essential to make sure you’re attracting real followers who are going to engage with your content.
There are several things you can do to boost your engagement rate on Instagram. Here are a few ideas:
- User-generated content. User-generated content (UGC) is content that your followers or customers have created and you repost. It helps build trust and relationships with your audience.
- Contests and giveaways. Everybody loves free stuff! Increase engagement by offering a prize through a contest or giveaway for your followers.
- Instagram Story polls. Interactive features on Instagram Stories, such as polls, provide an important opportunity for your followers to engage with your brand.
- Q&A’s. Foster a sense of authenticity by answering questions submitted by your Instagram followers.
Don’t be afraid to engage with other brands, too! This may open the door for brand-on-brand collaborations in the future that will benefit you both.
#5. Conduct Regular Instagram Audits
Continue to do Instagram audits on a regular basis. This will give you valuable information on how well your account is performing — information you can use to tweak your Instagram strategy moving forward.
HypeAuditor is one of the best tools available that you can use for Instagram audits. HypeAuditor will evaluate your account based on your followers, engagement, and other parameters. It’s fast and free to run an audit on your account. For a more in-depth analysis, most audit tools also provide a paid option that comes with a comprehensive report.
10 B2B Brands Killing It on Instagram
Need a little inspiration to kickstart your Instagram B2B strategy? Take a look at ten B2B brands who are doing it right.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp has 144K followers on Instagram and posts on its feed multiple times a week. Each post is carefully curated with a certain color scheme; several repeating posts, such as Small Business Spotlights, follow the same visual template. Mailchimp also shares Instagram Stories with advice on growing your business on social media. Here, Mailchimp used its Instagram to advertise a blog post that shared a list of must-read marketing books.
HubSpot
It should come as no surprise that HubSpot has an excellent Instagram B2B strategy — and the company’s 406K followers would agree. When you navigate to HubSpot’s Instagram profile, a line of Instagram Story highlights explains what products the company sells. Then you can look through an abundance of posts, Reels, IGTV videos, and guides. HubSpot does a great job of regularly sharing information that’s valuable to its target audience, such as this recent statistic.
Shopify
Shopify’s Instagram grid is full of colorful graphics sharing inspirational quotes with the company’s 856K followers. Shopify does a great job of getting engagement, such as this recent post that asked IG users about their dream business and got over 700 comments. Shopify regularly posts Reels and video content. The company also has a verified Instagram account.
IBM
IBM’s Instagram feed is full of visuals that evoke an appropriate feel for a computer hardware company: Lots of dark or neutral colors as well as industrial-looking graphs and images take center stage. IBM shares product updates, educational videos, and other content that keeps its 406K followers updated on the company. A recent post with a GIF shared information about IBM’s first PC. IBM is active on Instagram Stories, too.
Slack
Slack posts on Instagram multiple times a week, sharing colorful graphics in the brand’s colors along with witty captions. Most of the company’s in-feed posts talk about Slack features or share longform content, directing followers to click the link in Slack’s bio for more. This is a great way to not only promote the platform but also demystify the process of using it. Here, Slack explains how to use a new feature on the platform. The image used is a screenshot from within the Slack app placed against a background that matches with Slack’s brand colors.
Dribbble
Dribbble is a design portfolio platform created for digital designers and creatives to share their work online. The company has 781K followers on Instagram. Many of Dribbble’s posts center around sharing work from designers who use the platform. Others aim to create engagement by asking questions like “What made you decide to be a designer?” In this example, Dribbble shared a list of golden rules for UI design. Dribbble also occasionally shares Instagram Stories with tips from designers. At the end of the day, all of the content Dribbble posts is highly relevant to the company’s target audience of designers — with plenty of advice and community to be found.
LinkedIn has 573K Instagram followers and a clean blue-and-white feed. LinkedIn doesn’t share video content, such as Reels or IGTV videos, on the platform. But LinkedIn does regularly post in-feed images designed to get engagement from followers (like this relatable chain of events leading up to a job interview). The images are well-designed and on-brand, and they’re highly relevant to LinkedIn’s target audience — LinkedIn also shares advice and reminders such as burnout not being a badge of honor. This is timely advice for an audience that’s likely made up of focused, motivated job seekers.
WeWork
WeWork provides shared workspaces for technology startups and other companies. These physical and virtual shared spaces and office services are ideal for both entrepreneurs and enterprises. And WeWork knows what it’s doing on Instagram. The company includes a branded hashtag, #wework, in its bio for its 630,000 followers to use. A row of Instagram Story highlights boosts interactive content such as This or That polls (based around WeWork spaces), takeovers that give tours of WeWork companies, and even adorable videos of dogs who have joined in the coworking fun. On its feed, WeWork regularly posts user-generated content (#dogsofwework is another popular hashtag) and shares photos of workspaces from around the world — plus the occasional motivational quote. Overall, this Instagram account definitely does its job of convincing you to utilize WeWork spaces.
FedEx
Transportation company FedEx is well-known across the country, and it wouldn’t be an understatement to say that a large part of the company’s brand awareness is due to its social media strategy. FedEx has 213,000 followers on Instagram, where its feed is full of stunning travel vistas — featuring FedEx vans, planes, and other vehicles in front of mountains, sunsets, or other scenery. FedEx has two branded hashtags (#FedEx and #MadePossibleBy) in its bio so users can share their own images. The company is also active on Instagram Stories with testimonials and employee highlights. And you’ll find several IGTV videos highlighting how FedEx supports small businesses, focuses on sustainability, prioritizes entrepreneurs, and other endeavors. Plus, the company regularly shares photos of dogs who get excited about the FedEx delivery truck — and every marketer worth his or her salt knows dog photos are never bad for engagement.
Wells Fargo
You might think a business like Wells Fargo wouldn’t have much to share on a visual platform like Instagram. But when faced with Wells Fargo’s Instagram account, you’d have to think again. At 100,000 followers, Wells Fargo is still building its platform. But the company has a robust social media strategy. Its Instagram feed is full of faces — sharing the stories of small business owners, or creating timely content for celebrations such as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Wells Fargo often points its IG followers to the link in its bio where they can find longform content. You’ll also find motivational quotes here and there as well as other seasonal content such as holiday decor ideas. While Wells Fargo isn’t often active on Instagram Stories, the company does post Stories with tips and advice, or highlighting community events and ways Wells Fargo is giving back.
Get Started With Your Instagram B2B Strategy
Now that you’ve seen how Instagram works for B2B brands, it’s time to get started! Craft your Instagram B2B strategy by thinking about your target audience and the content they want to see. Then create a business account, find a scheduler tool and an audit tool, and begin posting. Using Instagram for social media marketing is one of the best ways to help your B2B business grow.
