I attended an International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) luncheon earlier this week to learn about B2B Instagram best practices. I was a bit skeptical that Instagram can show ROI and measurable results with regard to B2B marketing.
In the end, I felt the speaker, Rochelle Coles of Sister Act Media, proved there are ways to utilize Instagram to engage B2C clients, but not as much for B2B clients. Much of her presentation seemed to focus on basic best practices for social media, but she did recommend Iconosquare for Instagram measurement, which was helpful. In all, Rochelle’s shared 5 “proven strategies” for increasing Instagram followers and engagement, website traffic and sales – which can be used for most social media marketing:
- Make the most of every opportunity on your profile. Visuals are incredibly important on Instagram, so be sure you have a profile photo that accurately represents your brand and is attractive to your target audience. The only space you can put a live link on Instagram is in your user bio, so make sure that you have a URL to your website, Facebook page, or LinkedIn profile so that people can find you and make a purchase.
- Post images that reflect what your target clients post. This applies to all social media channels, but it’s a good thing to keep in mind. If your target clients are animal lovers, make sure that you are posting platform-appropriate content that appeals specifically to that interest.
- Leverage your words to establish and reinforce your message. Be sure you’re utilizing the brand voice in all company communication regardless of the platform. Additionally, write like a human. Consumers do not respond well to corporate speak on social media platforms.
- Use video to connect. Digital marketing is becoming more and more about a complete user experience instead of just text or just images. When appropriate, post behind-the-scenes video, clips of ads, etc. on your Instagram feed.
- Invest in current followers and proactively pursue new ones. Like images your followers post that resonate with your brand. A recipe for success is to spend five minutes a few times a day liking five images and commenting on three images for one user so that you come up prominently in that user’s feed. This is a great tactic if you’re trying to empower brand evangelists or get noticed by local media contacts.
