While I am of the thinking you can’t be everywhere on social media, unless you have both resource and time, I do think it can be easy to overlook platforms that could have a significant impact in marketing our businesses by claiming our audience doesn’t use it.
This is often the case for companies who target other businesses. Instagram, in particular, gets pushed down the list of platforms to be present on. But could you be missing out?
If you target small businesses, with the social media managed by the business owner and the business having selling to consumers rather than other businesses, Instagram could have huge potential for you.
It is also a great platform to elevate personal brands within businesses, such as the owner or other key people within the business.
And, don’t forget, when targeting businesses, it is the people within the business you want to bring in to your audience. With over a billion monthly users worldwide, there is a high chance some of that audience will be on Instagram.
According to TrackMaven’s research, B2B business experience their highest engagement ratio on Instagram than on any other platform.
So, how could you be using Instagram to market your business to other businesses?
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Go Behind The Scenes
Where your LinkedIn approach may be more ‘professionally-focused’, Instagram could offer the opportunity to take your audience behind the scenes of your business. What happens day-to-day? Who are the people within the business? This helps to showcase what the business does and helps to build relationships with those people in it. Instagram stories offers a great way to do this, building a story of what goes on in your business.
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Share Your Knowledge, Thoughts and Opinions
This is particularly important for thought leadership. It helps show your expertise, and audiences love to learn, so will help you attract new followers too. While you do need to include a photo or video (up to 1 minute long) with each post, the text of your post matters too. You can share tips and advice in the text, and open up discussions, allowing others to comment and build conversation with you. Short video posts are also a great opportunity to share your knowledge.
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Take Pictures/Videos On Your Phone
Just because Instagram is visually focused, doesn’t mean you need expensive camera equipment. Your phone is all the kit you need to build your Instagram presence. Take pictures when you’re out visiting clients. Take pictures round the office and in the local area. Take selfies and pictures of your team. Try different angles to get different perspectives. Use apps like ‘Clips’ to quickly create square video with subtitles on your phone. For longer videos (between 1 and 10 minutes) you can use IGTV to share video content.
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use Hashtags, Location Tags and Mentions
Use hashtags to reach your ideal audience. For example, if you target small businesses in the UK, you can add #smallbusinessuk, #uksmallbusiness, #smallbizuk, #uksmallbiz, #businessowneruk, #ukbusinessowner, #entrepreneuruk, #ukentrepreneur…and I think you get the gist! Don’t forget to tag your location and tag any other businesses worth a mention in your post, where relevant.
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Use Instagram Ads
You can target your Instagram Ads at businesses and owners of businesses. For example, you could target home workers, small business owners, self-employed, etc. This is an opportunity to reach out to a cold audience, so warm them up with an interesting video or post and encourage their engagement. You can then target the warmer leads, who have engaged with your advert, with a lead capture or possibly a sell.
If you want to achieve Instagram Success but still feel you need a bit more know-how, join me for my LIVE online course INSTAGRAM SUCCESS on Thursday 5th September. You can find all the details by clicking HERE!
