Yes, this is a pro guide.
This is the stuff that’s going to bring in clients.
And no, this is not a complicated guide that will force you to mess with code or anything like that.
This is a pro guide for B2B influencers that are concerned about their conversions.
In this guide, we break down B2B Instagram strategies and show you how to set things up for maximum conversions. We’ll give you tips on best practices, and even throw in a bunch of examples to get you started.
Alright.
Let’s get right into it.
Optimize Your B2B Instagram Profile
The first step in Instagram growth is – of course – optimization.
Optimization is critical because each social media profile should be built as a landing page.
The next thing that your prospects are going to check apart from your post, comment or message is your profile.
So, it has to impress and convert.
There’s no other choice.
Handle
Keep your handle simple and as close to your name as possible.
You want to make sure that all your handles on all your social media accounts are identical because this helps your online reputation management and streamlines search results for your name.
For separators, a simple “.” will do.
Name
Use your company’s short name or your first and last name.
There’s no need to complicate things for yourself.
Profile Photo
We have a guide about optimizing LinkedIn profile photos and the same principles apply here.
You want a profile photo showing what you would normally wear into a meeting, it doesn’t have to be formal, the goal here is to be as natural as possible.
To highlight the photo make sure that you have an uncluttered background, I’d advise removing the background altogether using a tool like removal.ai, then replacing it with a colored background that complements your branding colors.
Description
Instagram allows you to arrange your description in lines so you can have a paragraph telling your prospects about what you do in bullet-point form.
This allows them to easily digest what you and the different roles you play.
I suggest sticking to three or four lines to keep it simple.
You can use emojis as bullet points to give it a pop of color and make sure that you also include a link to your website or meeting link.
This will help you with your conversion rate optimization.
Job Title
Keep it simple with the job title.
Stick in something that you do on a daily basis.
That should be enough.
Building an Audience
Now, that you’ve got yourself an optimized Instagram profile, it’s time for you to build an audience, and not just any ordinary audience, you want a targeted one.
Here’s the thing.
It doesn’t matter if you have all the followers in the world if none of them converts or helps your organization with growth.
Yes, having a small roster of followers does look good for your first-time prospects, but there’s no point in getting 200,000 followers if they’re not in the same industry at all.
We follow a very hyper-focused strategy when it comes to building a stable base of followers.
Step 1: Where Do Your Target Customers Hang Out In?
The first thing you have to figure out is your ideal customer profile.
If you don’t have one yet, there’s an excellent guide that you can follow on creating ideal target customer profiles here.
Once you’ve determined what your ideal customer profile is, you can now start looking for them by taking into account their behaviors.
First of all, you want to look at popular influencers that they could be following, most people who follow influencers of a certain niche are probably involved in that niche as well.
Then, you can also check out hashtags and location tags.
These will help you narrow people down to people who are interested in what you have to offer but are in the same vicinity where you can effectively serve them. However, for a lot of B2B businesses, this doesn’t matter if your services are cloud-based.
Step 2: Find Popular Accounts That They Follow
Once you’ve found the places where your prospects hang out in, it’s time for you to start to look at the other influencers they’re following so that you can get a good idea of what kind of content they like.
At this point, it makes sense for you to do everything on a real computer instead of your phone so that it’s easier and more efficient for you.
Step 3: Get Notified When They Post
Now, what you want to do is to click on the bell icon so that you can get notified when they post anything, this will help keep things organized for you and make sure you don’t miss out on the things they’re doing online.
Step 4: Leave Comments
Okay, here comes the hard part.
You want to leave personalized comments when they post something online.
If you’re visiting them for the first time, make sure you leave your first comment on one of their posts, and like a couple of the other things that they’re posting – as long as it is really relevant to your brand’s interest. You don’t have to give them a like on their really personal photos, you don’t have an excuse for that at this point.
So, what kind of comments should you be leaving?
Avoid comments that are simple questions, quick reactions like “great job! ?”, or generic emojis, that’s the best way to get blocked or be called out as a bot.
What you need to do is to ask questions or give a really custom reaction depending on the post that they put out.
So, instead of saying: “how do you do it?”
Try something else like, “I love that approach, did you use an app to get those results?”
Now if you want it to be more effective, try writing at least 2-4 sentences, this makes it seem like you’re really into what they have to offer – which you should because you’re trying to establish a relationship with them.
If they don’t reply, don’t worry about it.
You want to be consistent until they get into an “Aha!” moment and ask themselves who you are and why you’re so interested in what they have to offer.
The trick is to also act like an industry leader that’s genuinely interested in what they have to offer. This makes the conversation organic and that’s what you’re gunning for at this point in time.
Step 5: Engage Some More
So, how do you get this working?
You’ve got to engage on a daily basis.
We’re talking about 75 comments every single day.
Now, at this point, you might be tempted to use a bot, but you don’t want to destroy the behavior recognized by Instagram because you want to keep it organic. Also, no bot will be able to do anything at this scale and be personalized.
if you’re trying to scale your operations up, then get a VA or outsource the work. As long as it’s quality comments that resonate with your target audience then you’re pretty much good to go.
The more you keep doing this the higher the likelihood that organic traffic is going to start coming in.
Creating IG Posts
Now there’s a lot of ways to create IG posts.
You can put out reels, stories, videos, galleries, and whatnot.
While variety is great and all, what’s critical is for you to create posts that resonate with your target customer profile.
If They Follow You, Slide Into Their DMs
In the event that they follow you first, you’re already one step through the door because this means that they’re interested in you.
This is when it’s time for you to jump and slide into their DMs.
Now since we’re talking about organic traffic, you also need your conversation to be as organic as possible.
Here’s a sample,
“Hey *prospect’s name*, thanks for the follow. I was checking out the stuff you’ve posted lately and it’s pretty interesting. *insert opinion/compliment/question here* How’s your day going?”
You want to be friendly and chatty, as you’d do with your friend.
In this way, they already feel like you’re their friend and that they’re comfortable with talking to you. It adds to the organic approach.
Continuing the Conversation
Now comes the important part, getting them to close.
So, let’s try to break this conversation to the simplest parts.
Step 1: Get to Know Them
This part follows the slide into the DMs strategy because you’re making initial contact with them.
But, this goes more than just saying hi and immediately jumping into a conversation.
You also want to build rapport at this stage.
So, show that you care, be a friend, and make a real connection.
That will allow you to move to the next step.
Step 2: Frame the Conversation
Now that they know who you are, it’s time to frame the conversation.
How do you do this well?
Make it about them.
Not only does this double down on building rapport, but you can find ways of finding a mutual topic that your prospect and yourself will be interested in.
It’s an organic way of shifting the conversation towards the goal of converting them.
Here are a couple of questions that you can ask:
- How long have you been in the *propect’s profession* field? / Is this what you always wanted to do?
- I’ve met a lot of people in the *propect’s profession* field, but yours seems a little different. / Becuse it’s *way that it’s different*
This part gets them thinking because you’re now not only interested but you’re also talking about their industry. You come off as someone who wants to create a friendship and you also get to shift the topic.
Step 3: Hit the Problem
Now you want to hit them where it hurts.
Why?
This elicits an emotional response, and you need that to get them to convert.
So, how do you do it?
Simple.
Ask them questions about their industry pain points.
If you created an ideal customer profile, this should be easy because you’ve already previously identified what causes or creates pain for them. You can just pull an issue out of the list and ask them about it.
Here are some questions that you can use:
- How’s the recent *news about their industry* affecting you?
- How do you deal with *pain point*?
But, it doesn’t stop there.
Now you want to hammer down on that pain.
It’s time to take the emotional connection to the next level.
It’s time for follow-up questions such as:
- Isn’t that costing you valuable revenue?
- How is that affecting growth?
- Is that restricting you live up to your full potential?
Here’s what.
There are times where they’re not even aware that they have a problem, and that’s a good thing.
Now it’s time for you to ask them about a particular problem that you know presently exists in their industry. You need to help them identify the problem and help them in solving it.
Step 4: Authority
Now that you’re deep in the conversation, you know they’re vulnerable, and it’s time to prove yourself to them. What you want to do is to establish yourself as a person of authority.
You see they already have a short relationship with you and there’s rapport.
Now it’s time for you to show them that you have what it takes for them to entrust you with solving their problem.
Here’s how you do it.
- Tell stories about clients you’ve worked with in the past that have the same problem. This shows them your familiarity with the situation.
- Talk about a case study that you’ve come across that could help them, but you have to be prepared in advance.
- You can also try testimonials, they can also help out.
Doing this is a more passive way of telling them that you have what it takes.
So, why can’t you be more active with the approach?
You don’t want to be too cocky.
Step 5: Offer a Solution
Once you’ve established authority, you can now offer them a solution.
Now, you don’t want to give the house away.
You need to make sure that you offer them a good enough solution that answers their problems but still keeps them in the conversation with you.
Something like a quick fix that’s actionable will help.
Step 6: Book an Appointment
Now, it’s time to seal the deal.
If they like your fix, you can swoop in with a call.
You can say something as simple as:
Hey, you know what, why don’t we get on a call this *put in a day that you’re free* and maybe we can talk about it.
Keep it short and sweet, you want to be a friend first, and a provider second.
Takeaways
B2B Instagram is one of the most powerful methods of creating business relationships because it is one of the most casual social platforms out there.
You see, people are relational, they want to be connected with the people that they deal with, it doesn’t matter if it’s a business or personal transaction.
And, by starting out as friends, you can create relationships that last.
But, be warned.
Organically using B2B Instagram strategies is hard work, just like LinkedIn.
You need to put in the time and effort to make it work.
