How to Use Instagram to Drive Traffic to Your B2B Website

Guest post by Natasha Ponomaroff.

A lot of B2B marketers make the mistake of thinking their brand has no place on Instagram. They dismiss this photo-sharing platform as a tool to engage with their market simply because they believe their consumers, who all happen to be companies, corporations, and other businesses, aren’t on this particular social medium.

What people fail to realize is that Instagram is a rich resource for potential views and sales—that is, if one knows how to read the numbers and play the game.

To date, Instagram has now reached a billion monthly users, with as many as 25 million accounts being business profiles, and up to 80% of all platform users reportedly following at least one business account. To call those numbers large is an understatement.

Not only are all those accounts feasible direct targets for your B2B marketing campaigns, they are also scores upon scores of possible traffic to drive to all your other online assets.

So the obvious question now isn’t why Instagram, but how: how can you use Instagram, and Instagram marketing tools, to explode your B2B brand and drive traffic to your site?

Craft your Profile

The first thing to address is the “landing page” of your Instagram account. Your profile is the first place your audience goes to after being hit by one of your posts and is also the first place they’ll turn to in order to learn a thing or two about your business.

So in creating the write-up that goes right below your name, remember that you have to capture your audience’s attention in a few words. Keep it short, keep it interesting, but also keep it on brand.

Another interesting thing about your profile? It’s one of the few places you can actually place a hyperlink. Take advantage and make sure your website’s link is displayed there.

Get Creative with Your Stories

Instagram Stories is a great place to give other business owners a glimpse into your company’s culture. Because Stories have a 24-hour lifespan, you can be a little more candid here than you are when it comes to the rest of your content.

One idea is to hold Story takeovers, which basically means giving certain team players or employees access to your official Instagram page. This is a great way to show your audience who your company is and what your brand stands for but through the personal lens of your employees.

It’s also a great opportunity to humanize your company, which is especially helpful for when your target market is looking to go beyond business and find long-term partners to team up with.

Another thing worth mentioning is that you can add your URL to your Instagram Stories as well. So when you’re making product announcements or sharing business updates, don’t forget to invite your viewers to simply swipe up and head on over to your website.

Leverage Instagram for Business

Since its inception, Instagram has launched a number of tools and features to help businesses like yours thrive on the platform. One of these tools is Instagram ads, which ultimately boosts your content to ensure views among your target market of choice.

Unlike organic content, sponsored posts are clickable, meaning you can lead viewers to your site of choice with your call-to-action at the bottom of the image.

Much like organic content though, you still have to pay attention to the aesthetics of your posts. At the end of the day, you need to create content that’s engaging enough to make your viewers curious about your brand, and interesting enough for them to actually click through your link to learn more.

One easy way to take care of your visuals is to run your images through filters before posting. If the ones available in-app on Instagram are not enough, you can try downloading some through your app store; Instasize, for example, has up to 50 filters for you to choose from, as well as several other helpful layout tools you can use on every post and story.

End Your Captions with a Call to Action

What not a lot of people realize on Instagram is that, if you have a business profile, posting eye-catching visuals is only 80% of the work. The other 20% is being strategic, which includes the kind of captions you accompany your content with.

After looking at your images, your audience will be looking at your captions for more information, like product name, price, and other purchase components—all crucial elements of social commerce.

Use this opportunity to lure the interest of your audience by making sure the captions you publish are both punchy and informative—and to drive them to your site, instruct them to visit the link on your profile.

Although you can’t add hyperlinks to your caption, nothing is stopping you from adding your URL for memorability, especially if it’s short enough and easy to remember (i.e. www.yourcompanyname.com).

Natasha Ponomaroff is the Senior Marketing Director of Instasize – a content creating tool kit for anyone editing photos and online content on mobile. A weekly contributor on the site’s blog, Natasha tracks social media trends and updates the millions of “creatives” who are currently using Instasize to curate awesome online content. When she isn’t writing up the latest trend, Natasha is overseeing a team of 10 over at the Instasize HQ – ensuring that the marketing content on the apps various social platforms is ready to go.