Five Best Practices of Instagram Ads for B2B Companies

Guest post by Val Razo.

With a community of two billion monthly users, 90% of whom are used to communicating with brands in-app, Instagram has become one of the most effective marketing channels for B2C companies.

At the same time, practically every B2B marketer has been wondering about the best social media platforms. For “dry, boring” B2B companies unsure of how to create eye-grabbing visual content, a photo-sharing app like Instagram isn’t the most obvious social media platform.

But the situation is changing.

In the last few years, an increasing number of B2B marketers have realized the power of Instagram. According to the Social Media Marketing Report, Instagram is now the third most-used social media platform for B2B marketing behind LinkedIn and Facebook, and 52% of B2B marketers plan to increase Instagram organic activities.

With the growing popularity of Instagram B2B marketing, using Instagram ads can be an effective solution for business-to-business companies that want to stand out from their competitors and grab the attention of their audience on the platform.

The Potential of Instagram Ads for B2B Companies

Large, well-known B2B companies have built solid followings on Instagram and engagement through following the best Instagram tips and tricks. As of March 2024, Microsoft (4.3M), Intel (1.7M), and Shopify (1.3M) are three of the most popular B2B companies on Instagram, with their posts garnering thousands of likes and comments.

But if you’re not at one of the largest B2B companies, you may have trouble attracting engaged followers to your profile unless you invest in Instagram ads—paid ad campaigns on the platform that allow you to cut through the noise and achieve your business goals faster.

Moreover, one report says that Instagram advertising has potential reach of 1.63 billion users, attracting more B2B marketers.

Here are three more reasons for B2B companies to invest in Instagram ads:

• Stand out from the crowd. Instagram’s algorithm prioritizes content from friends and family, so it’s hard for B2B companies to cut through the noise and hope for the attention of their audience unless they invest in paid ads. Moreover, Instagram ads help you stay ahead of your competitors.
• Reach the right audience. B2B buyers are regular people who use Instagram for product discovery. However, it can be difficult to target the right potential buyers for your B2B company. When you create audiences for Instagram ads, you add specific characteristics that help to reach the right people.
• Increase B2B sales. Instagram advertising has all tools and features to focus on the right ad objective for your business. Ads also support a long buyer journey and encourage viewers to make a B2B purchase decision faster which results in more B2B sales.

If you already realize the potential of Instagram ads, that’s great. But if you want to make the most out of paid ad campaigns on Instagram, it’s important to take a look at the following five best practices of Instagram ads for B2B companies.

1. Merintis: Leverage Influencer Partnership Marketing

Merintis is an Indonesian business accelerator that helps startup businesses. To raise awareness about one of its projects and attract more resellers to it, Merintis partnered with local Instagram content creators to spread the word about the grocery chain Spencers Indonesia and the benefits of working with them.

The company worked with a range of influencers, and all of the Reel ads linked back to Spencer’s websites where people could get in touch with a  representative and sign up for its  reseller program. Not only did it boost traffic with Instagram, but it also helped to get more leads.

What were the ad results?

• 99% lower cost per incremental lead.
• 31% lower cost per 1,000 impressions.
• 58% lower cost per click.

What worked?

• Influencer marketing has always been a powerful marketing tactic, so branded content Reel ads worked well even for the B2B sector.
• Vertical Instagram videos grab the attention.

What could be improved?

• It would be better to assign content briefs to the B2B influencers so that they could make better videos, not just add layers.
• The ad has the caption and the CTA that encourages viewers to learn more about the offer, but viewers can’t see the whole caption which makes it difficult for them to focus on the message.

2. Appsee: Offer a Free Trial of Your Tool

Appsee is a B2B company that offers qualitative app analytics for mobile product managers and app developers, which has been experimenting with Instagram ads to interact with its B2B audience.

It’s no secret B2B buyers are real people who also use social media for research. According to one report, 90% of B2B buyers do online research before making a purchase, and social media is the second-best source for getting qualified leads after referrals.

Appsee decided to offer a free trial of its tool to convert more leads in its Story ads, and achieved great results.

What were the ad results?

• 4X higher click-through rate.
• 2X lower cost per click.
• 25% lower cost per qualified lead.

What worked?

• People spend a lot of time watching Stories these days, so using the Story ad format was a great choice.
• Offering a free trial in the ad grabbed the attention of the right audience and increased the number of potential leads.
• The video quickly showed the functions behind the app, pointing at how it can solve B2B buyers’ problems.

What could be improved?

• Promoting a limited-time offer for the free trial could create a sense of urgency and attract more leads.
• The company could invest in making eye-grabbing Instagram ad as the current version is quite simple.

3. Bliss: Implement Short and Simple Lead Gen Forms

Bliss is a B2B coffee company that has been using Instagram for lead generation. However, the company has decided to launch a new campaign that keeps up with the trends—a storytelling video that offers short lead gen forms.

With the popularity of Instagram videos, when 91% of people watch videos in-app weekly, B2B video marketing is taking the world by storm, too. Thus, Bliss was able to grab the attention of its audience and using short, simple lead gen forms resulted in more leads, as it required little time or effort for  interested B2B buyers to share their contacts.

What were the ad results?

• 40% lower cost per lead.
• 5X higher conversion rate.

What worked?

• The company implemented video storytelling in the ad to hook the attention of its audience.
• The CTA with a clickable link to a short instant form resulted in more leads.
• Using text overlays in the video was a good idea for people to understand the message when watching videos without sound.

What could be improved?

• It would be great to implement dynamic QR codes that encourage viewers to participate in the ad, learning more about updated information.

4. HP: Encourage B2B Buyers to Engage with Interactive Ads

HP is a large, established technology company, but it still fights for its B2B audience on Instagram. The company has a solid in-house team of advertisers and marketers, so they constantly seek out new creative ways to stand out from the crowd. This ad campaign was aimed at engaging potential B2B buyers in the conversation, so the company made the most out of the poll sticker to add interactivity.

Not only did HP use the interactive poll, but they also included a clickable link with the call to action “Learn more” that redirected interested viewers to the landing page where they could leave their contact information to get product updates.

What is more, the ad showed a person working on the laptop. What were the ad results?

• 12-point lift in ad recall.
• 9 points higher lift in ad recall.
• 5-point lift in message agreement.
• 3-point lift in purchase intent with interactive assets.

What worked?

• Featuring brand logos increases credibility and trust as these companies are familiar to the B2B audience.
• Using interactive assets grabs the attention of the potential B2B buyers.
• The CTA encourages viewers to tap on a clickable link and learn more about the offer.

What could be improved?

• It would be great to add a contact number on a landing page so that interested users can get fast assistance. Plus, it’s a good idea to make good use of call tracking to analyze the performance.
• Instead of featuring models, the company could turn to its customers or B2B influencers and therefore provide social proof with the ad.

5. Zephyr Mobil: Invest in Eye-Grabbing Full-Screen Vertical Ads

Zephyrmobil is a mobile app developer that ran Instagram ads to promote its Live Wallpapers Now app. The company made short vertical videos for Instagram Story ads that showcased a unique collection of interactive and moving wallpapers to grab the attention of potential customers.

Zephyurmobil wanted to provide great B2B sales experience, so its paid ad campaign offered a free trial which resulted in more clicks and installs.

What were the ad results?

• 5X increase in click-to-install rate.
• 3X return on ad spend.
• 50% decrease in cost per subscriber.

What worked?

• The company used a slideshow of its wallpapers as the ad which made it eye-grabbing and dynamic.
• Since people hold their phones vertically, Instagram Story ad format works well.
• A contrast CTA with a clickable button grabs the attention.

What could be improved?

• The ad lacks a text layover that tells about the company or the offer that could deliver the brand message faster.
• The GIF CTA “Get Free” with the arrow should point at the clickable link.

The Bottom Line

Whether you’re a fan of Instagram for B2B or not, Instagram is here to stay for the B2B sector as B2B buyers have changed their consumer behavior and use the platform for product discovery. And if you want to compete with other brands and want to outperform them, it’s smart to invest money and time into Instagram ads for B2B companies that allow B2B marketers to cut through the noise.

Take another look at the above-mentioned list of best practices of Instagram ads for B2B companies, experiment with paid ad campaigns on Instagram, find out what works best for your company, and enjoy the results!

Val Razo is a freelance SMM consultant who lays a bet on Instagram marketing, so she explains how to use it for B2C and B2B companies. Val also writes for digital marketing blogs to get in touch with like-minded people.