Ericka Lewis
Social media marketing is making waves in the B2B world, and Instagram is leading the pack. For starters, around 42% B2B researchers rely on information from their mobile devices during the buying process, making Instagram (a powerful visual storytelling platform with over 400 million monthly active users and counting) an increasingly important part of B2B marketing strategies.
Reach is good, but engagement is even better.
Recent data shows Instagram knocking social media titans Facebook and Twitter out of the park when it comes to engagement. Instagram is leading the pack of social media platforms with remarkable engagement levels 58 times higher than Facebook and an astounding 120 times more than Twitter.
Instagram is a great platform for B2B business to build brand awareness and engage in brand "storytelling". Not only this, it's a great tool to encourage your own employees' engagement and give your audience a glimpse of your company culture -- great weapons for influence marketing and thought leadership. Here are eight B2B companies that are definitely benefitting from solid social media marketinng campaigns on Instagram.
1. American Express
Their widespread appeal makes it clear that American Express is expert when it comes to brand development. Not only do they have a reputation for being exclusive – thus amping up their desirability factor considerably – they also show a keen appreciation for brand awareness.
Their latest approach? Setting themselves apart from the competition by capitalizing on members’ desires to have experiences rather than simply to buy things. A scroll through their Instagram feed turns up more than a well-coordinated spread of images: You’ll also see amazing meals, outdoor trips, cozy moments, concerts and buzzwords like “Explore.”
2. MailChimp
When it comes to social media marketing campaigns, MailChimp is on it. Their brightly colored feed is well coordinated and cheerful, and their photos are a combination of branded images, stories from customers and glimpses into their company’s inner workings. Good times had by all.
3. IBM
IBM is running an extremely intelligent marketing campaign over on their feed, and no wonder: They better look like smartypantses, or they’ll be out a job pretty quickly. Accordingly, they showcase engineers at work and at play, their branded THINKLab, company values (“Iterate Iterate Iterate”) and smiling faces.
4. Boeing
Granted, Boeing doesn’t need much help with brand awareness. We already get it: They make big planes and they’re good at it. But they’ve still done a spectacular job reaching out to their clients and customers with excellent photography and a well-coordinated feed.
Plus, it’s fun to note their handle isn’t simply @boeing… It’s @boeinglovers. As soon as you arrive on the page, you become part of an elite group that appreciates quality craftsmanship. That’s how brand development is done, by making people feel like they’re a part of something that actually matters.
5. Intel
Here’s another lesson about how intelligence can form a backbone of brand development. Intel, serving other companies with chips and processors, could conceivably have quite the dry page. Instead, they’ve got a colorful feed showcasing their products in action. Their well-used tag #expertmode helps highlight when something particularly awesome is going on.
6. Maersk
Maersk’s feed is a great example of what a marketing campaign looks like when their isn’t a lot of consumer interest in what you do. The answer? Color coordinate like a boss, slap up a bunch of pics of your coolest ships, and thread a story of excellence, environmental commitment and social responsibility throughout. Boom. Mission accomplished.
7. General Electric
Here’s another company for the history books, in that they really don’t need any help getting brand awareness (GE is riding over a century of success thus far), but are actively going after it anyway. Their approach is impressive not so much because it works, but because they take such pains to craft a great story with their images. Again, their innovations at work forms a major portion of the page, but blasts from the past, incisive quotes and awesome videos also play their part.
8. Staples
Staples is somewhat new on the Instagram scene, but they’re still rocking it this year. Take their holiday campaign, which showcases rad holiday décor using inexpensive supplies and loads of creativity. Office supplies and total adorableness abound. The result? A burgeoning community.
When it comes right down to it, brand awareness is about more that posting pretty pictures on your feed. And that’s what is so impressive about the B2B accounts above. Rather than simply trying to grab attention, they’ve crafted intentional, ongoing, engaging visual stories that their growing user bases love to follow. Perfect some of these tricks and you can do the same.
