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6 Instagram Marketing Mistakes You Don’t Want Your B2B Company to Make

ThinkClever

News

Sep 26, 2017

When you set out to equip yourself with endless information on successful B2B marketing tactics for your business, you naturally tend to focus on all of the right things to do. However, it is important to also spend a fair bit of time brushing up on your knowledge of what not to do when it comes to marketing your B2B entity…especially when dealing with social media marketing on Instagram. There are plenty of mistakes that have been made by other business owners in the past and it is always better to learn from their mistakes instead of making those mistakes yourself. In this post, we will take a look at six common B2B marketing mistakes that have commonly been made on Instagram by others so you don’t have to make those mistakes yourself.

1. Underestimating the Power of Your Bio

Sure, the Instagram bio section doesn’t give you a ton to work with since the character count caps out at 150 characters. But instead of seeing this as an obstacle, look at it as an opportunity. Your Instagram bio is like an elevator pitch and obviously, an elevator pitch is designed to get the point across in a matter of seconds. Since there is a character limit for the Instagram bio, it forces you to keep the message short and sweet and in turn, making it more effective at capturing the attention of your target audience. Just fill in the basics: who you are, what you do, and something else that sets you apart from your competitors. In your Instagram bio, you are also able to link to something such as your latest product or service or a marketing video.

2. Neglecting to Engage Your Followers

The primary point of having an Instagram account for your B2B entity is to build a following—your target audience—and ultimately convince as many of those followers as possible to turn into paying customers. That won’t happen if you can’t even keep your followers engaged and interested in who you are and what you have to offer. And the only way you are going to be able to maintain engagement with your Instagram account is by producing fresh, relevant, and intriguing content. Keep in mind that the frequency of content matters just as much as the quality of your content. There is no need to post several new Instagram photos every day. If you post too many too often, it will just fill up your followers’ feeds and essentially come across as spam. Posting a new Instagram photo once a day is plenty. In addition to regularly uploading new content, that content actually has to be interesting and useful. Post eye-catching, relevant photos with useful text content in the caption section. Whenever someone comments on your photo, engage that person with a reply comment. Don’t forget to use relevant hashtags to reach more of your target audience.

Young blonde woman using Instagram on a smartphone in her creative office space.

3. Not Providing Pertinent Information in Your Bio

As we mentioned above, you only have so many words you can work with when crafting your bio. Many businesses, both B2C and B2B, will include contact information in the bio section. This is a good idea since there is an increased chance of your Instagram account viewers contacting you directly through the information you provided on Instagram rather than searching for your business name in Google and looking for your contact information there. In addition to contact information, Instagram allows businesses to provide a link to their website outside of the bio section. Don’t forget to include your website’s link. This sounds simple enough, but you would be surprised by how many businesses fail to do this.

4. Not Being in the Know on Latest Instagram Changes

Social media is constantly evolving and adding new features. For example, the Instagram story option was added to Instagram just a few months ago. Inspired by Snap Chat stories, Instagram stories allow you to record short videos that will be uploaded to your account and your followers will have 24 hours to view those stories before they expire. While you might not ever need to use this feature for your B2B company, the point is that it is vital for you to stay in the know on all of the latest changes and updates. Remain ahead of the curve by setting aside some time each week to read up on the latest developments in the social media sphere so you will be able to take advantage of them as soon as they come out.

5. Getting Too Corporate

Of course, there is a certain level of professionalism and decorum that you want to uphold when you run any type of business, especially a business that exists to sell products or services to another professional entity. However, that doesn’t mean that you need to maintain a flawless, 100% corporate image at all times. To market more powerfully, don’t be afraid of getting in touch with your human side. Get personal. After all, those other businesses that you are marketing to are run by other people, not faceless corporations or robots. Make your business entity more approachable by showing off the human side of the business and personalize some aspects of it. For example, people love being let in on a “secret” or getting an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at something. Leverage this by uploading Instagram photos that showcase day-to-day operations or your team of employees working on an exciting new project. Don’t use your Instagram account solely as a platform to market your products or services. People who follow your Instagram account are not interested in being advertised to; they want to know about you and the human element of your business.

6. Focusing on Sales Instead of Experience

As we mentioned, you don’t want to use your Instagram account as a way to strictly advertise to your followers. Frankly, it is annoying to them and that isn’t why they are following you. The point of having an Instagram account as a B2B company and building your following is to create a positive experience for those followers and hope that in turn, those followers decide to become customers. Look at having an Instagram account as a way to build relationships with potential customers rather than solely trying to increase your sales volume. Another important point to remember is that when someone is following your account, there is a high likelihood that they are already considering buying your product or service. Wait for them to make that choice rather than try to force feed sales pitches. Instead of being overly sales-oriented, focus on engaging your following and producing the most attractive, resourceful content possible. Take incredible photos that are relevant to your business and awe-inspiring. Fill out your caption section with interesting material for your followers to read. Take your time building your following and nurture the relationships you build. Be slow and methodical and use your Instagram with the intention of being in the game for the long haul rather than diving in head first and expecting immediate results.

Looking for more advice on how to leverage your B2B company’s Instagram account? Or do you have any other marketing questions? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us today with any questions that you might have.

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