Instagram is a  social media platform where users can take photos (on their cellphones), antiquate them by adding camera filters and vintage frames, and share them on Twitter, Facebook, and their own Instagram accounts. As an online marketing platform, Instagram has gained immense popularity among B2B Marketers and savvy individuals and business people.

 

I strongly believe that Instagram Marketing has a greater potential to enhance the human value of your brand.  You can use Instagram to share valuable pictorial information and to connect with other people and business at a personal level. Just in case you haven’t got a hang of Instagram Marketing works, you shouldn’t worry because we shall look at the best practices for using it for Internet marketing and lead generation.

 

B2B Best Practices for Instagram Marketing

 

B2B marketers are now more content-driven than image-driven. The only mistake that they make is that they apply content strategies to photo-sharing which in itself is a costly gamble. When creating images for social media and content marketing, you have to make sure that they are visually appealing so that they can attract and influence your Instagram marketing prospects.  Here are a few things that you should identify before you start snapping and antiquating your photos for Instagram marketing.

 

• your target audience and what exactly they want to see
• the best marketing strategy to engage them with your photos
• things that will inspire people to talk about your business and photos

 

Since Instagram is more of a photo-sharing site, you cannot use it purposely for online video marketing. However, you can still use Instagram marketing to leverage the image of your brand through and to reach out to others. You don’t have to be rigid or dead serious; a bit of humor can go a long way to give your customers something memorable to think about.  You really have to be proactive and highly creative in Instagram marketing so that you can engage your audience and foster a spirit of loyalty.

 

Well, there are quite a number of ways that you can use Instagram Marketing to create personal and emotional connection with consumers who are interested in your brand or products. However, don’t assume that Instagram is just a platform for showcasing your products/services catalog; it is much more than that. The main underlying and inspiration behind using Instagram marketing is to draw the attention and interest of your audience so that they can engage or follow your brand.

 

Take and Share Staff Photos

 

To start off, you should ideally take advantage of group or team activities by capturing staff photos and using them to enhance the value of your Instagram Marketing. Let your audience know what is happening behind the scenes of the company. Remember, any photo that demonstrates team unity and team work will be a strong selling point for your brand image.

 

You don’t have to use high-tech gadgets like you would use for Facebook video Marketing. Portable devices such as iPhones, iPads or even android phones will suffice in capturing and sharing photos in Instagram.

 

Display Your Products

 

If you want to attract more customers then you should use Instagram marketing to showcase the product creation and packaging process. It is not a secret that many companies out there want to find out about your company and the products that you have. So, you will be doing yourself and your company a great disservice if you don’t use Instagram marketing to create and share interesting and educational pictures about your company.

 

Take a Team photo of CSR

 

Corporate Social Responsibility is one of the key strategic pillars that reflect the human side of modern businesses. As a matter of fact, many businesses have CSR programs that motivate employees to give back to the immediate community as they best see.

 

To portray the human face of your brand or business, you should use Instagram Marketing so that consumers can connect and develop a favorable impression about you.  If you are consistent with your CSR activities then it shouldn’t take long to draw interest and even support and loyalty from impressed audience.

 

Like and Comment on Images

 

Though Instagram marketing doesn’t create much room for engagement, you can still increase leads by liking or commenting other company photos.  The decision to integrate and share photos in Instagram marketing rests with you. Seeing its immense benefits, you should not hesitate to share frequently pictorials and photos that will increase the voice and face value of your brand. This is a good content marketing strategy to boost company interaction with other brands.

 

Connect with Businesses Using Geo-tags

 

Another way to promote your business event or your business through Instagram marketing is to tag images of your business. This makes it easier for businesses in your locality to find you when they need your products or services.  Companies like Salesforce have outstanding geo-tags that should inspire you to reach out to your customers.

 

Create a Personal Hashtag

 

The best and most effective marketing strategy in Instagram is to promote your brand or business using a hashtag (#).  It doesn’t matter whether you are using your business name or a targeted keyword, a hashtag gives you an opportunity to interact and monitor prospects and visitors who interact with your business on given issues. If used properly, I believe that a hashtag can be a great PR tool for Instagram marketing as it will inspire people to pick your and share them.

 

Tracking Your ROI

 

B2B Marketers and savyy business people are always keen to track the value and returns on their Instagram marketing efforts. While ROI is a major concern, you should remember that your Instagram promotional efforts are more than numbers. To track your efforts better, you should use Instagram Analytics Tools which gives you an overview of your marketing strengths, weak points, and level of engagement.

 

Without a doubt, Instagram has become the choice social media channel for individuals, B2B Marketers, and businesses to share photos and connect with other businesses and service providers.   I believe that Instagram Marketing has the potential to raise your profile, to boost your lead generation and, increase engagement with your target audience and customers.  It can boost your online content marketing efforts and increase your visibility and brand value immensely.