How to leverage direct messages to build your network, whether you’re looking to find new customers or build your personal brand. You’ll also find templates and real examples that have worked for pro writers.
When you think of “brands on Instagram,” you might picture fun, direct-to-consumer companies that make workout clothes or tinned fish. Many B2B companies forgo Instagram because it relies so heavily on visuals and “personality,” which is difficult to achieve when marketing payroll or restaurant software.
So, it’s true that your restaurant management tool requires a few more steps than someone seeing a new app or product and deciding to try it out, but Instagram is still one of the first places people go to learn about a new brand or tool.
The brands on this list prove that Instagram doesn’t have to be an afterthought but can be a major driver of a marketing strategy.
1. Playing into Internet trends
Internet phenomena like trends and memes can be difficult to balance, especially for B2B companies. Most brands tend to forgo them entirely, which is perfectly understandable. However, it’s not impossible to incorporate them into your Instagram marketing strategy.
Upwork plays into Internet trends masterfully, fusing popular culture into content that their audience of freelancers and their clients like these Barbie (2023) reference mugs.
Another example is the trend of highlighting your “5-9”, also known as what you do after working a 9-5. A great touch is the Apple Notes format, a simple way to get a bulleted list across to your audience.
Bento also does trendy content very well by reframing popular formats for their niche of restaurant owners and foodies. This carousel post of different types of people you might find at a restaurant plays on the collage style popular for showing off different aesthetics.
In another post, they do an easy astrology associations post that’s a low-lift way to get people to identify with different elements related to your niche or brand (I’m a Chocolate Lava Cake Sun, Flan Moon, and Creme Brulee Rising).
2. Partnering with content creators
Maximizing relationships with content creators (especially ones that are existing users) by spotlighting them on your platform is a great way to hit three key points:
- Build credibility
- Reward brand ambassadors
- Reach two audiences for the price of one
Upwork partners with content creators (called Upwork Partners) who either use their platform to find freelancers or use the platform to find work. In this post, creator Dulma Altan shares how she’s used Upwork to grow her businesses.
In this post, they use the Instagram collaboration feature to share the same content to two feeds with HR Manifesto.
Figma has content creators show the different ways they customize the software. This creator showed how they explore Figma’s features outside work to create a gallery wall for their apartment.
In another great example of using the Collaborations feature, tech creator Tru Narla partnered with Figma to showcase their new FigJam AI feature to both audiences.
3. Share new products and feature updates
As a B2B company, you’re likely always improving your products and software. In that case, this is an easier one for any B2B company to implement as long as you stay innovative. There’s no feature or product too small for a mention.
Honeybook shares a collection of feature updates in one carousel post.
Then they do individual posts to highlight each feature separately – a great way to fill up your content calendar very quickly.
Shopify shared a feature update to save users time and energy in this Instagram Reel.
In another example, they do a usage test of a brand-new product.
4. Highlighting unique ways to use existing features
Even within your existing tool, there is much content yet to be shared. Unity Technologies highlights different use cases for their product, which is widely known to be for creating games.
Here’s another example showcasing different use cases from creators in architecture, engineering, and construction.
For Figma, tech creator Rad Nolan partners with Figma (in another example of the Collaborations feature at work), giving a step-by-step guide on using the Prototyping feature.
In another example, the same creator shows how using the Constraints feature in Figma can improve a design.
5. Posting clips and highlights from other marketing channels
Repurposing is a superpower for B2B companies. You typically have so many other projects running that filling up your social media calendar for months is possible – if you know how to frame the content right.
You could take a page from Honeybook’s…book. They post clips and highlights from their podcast to their Instagram, a great way to bring their podcast to a larger audience.
The editing of the clips uses all the right techniques for short-form videos and is well-suited to what audiences expect from Instagram Reels.
Another example is if you run a lot of events offline. You likely have a lot of content sitting in your phone camera. Justworks deftly showcases the conferences they sponsor or participate in and has different content for different scenarios. Here’s a post they did from a conference for entrepreneurs in Austin, Texas.
And here’s another example of their International Women’s Day post, which takes content from the same conference with different speakers.
6. Encouraging (and engaging with) conversations in the comments
If you have (or want to build) a highly engaged audience, dedicate different days to encouraging conversations in your comments. Shopify does this really well, using a post intentionally meant to spark a conversation.
7. Spotlighting a report
After all the hard work your team put into your latest report, the last thing you want or need is for it to go unheeded. There are many creative ways to spotlight your report on Instagram, and Zendesk is masterful at implementing them.
They take a mix of entertaining (through the graphics) and informational, pulling data from the reports to create content for Instagram.
8. Showcasing results made with their tool
If your company is one that has very visual-oriented results (like a video editing tool), you have a treasure trove of content at your disposal. With permission, you can ask your audience to share the results of their work made using your product.
A standout example of this is Unity, which showcases games and designs made with their tools.
It’s a win-win for both Unity and their users – the users get the visibility to Unity’s followers and Unity gets content for their Instagram.
Figma uses its 'Meet the Maker' series to spotlight just how differently people use their tools. In this post, they share how a quilt maker creates patterns in Figma before bringing them to life by hand.
9. Turn highly recognizable images and interfaces into carousels
There aren’t too many examples of B2B companies that do this on Instagram, but nothing stops a scroll like something immediately recognizable.
Bento puts this into practice really well, from their post on which Valentine’s Conversation Heart sweet you’d pick to the one on familiar children’s book characters and which one you’d like in your kitchen.
10. Spotlight your audience – or people recognizable to them
One of the most important things you can do as a B2B company is make your customers feel special. You can take the Toast approach, where they highlight restaurants that use their restaurant management software in a series called #ToastintheWild.
Or you could take the Bento approach of spotlighting your audience – or people recognizable to them like they did with these popular chefs.
Get creative with Instagram for your B2B company
Even if your B2B company is very serious and expensive, it’s important to treat Instagram like its average user does – as a place for fun visuals and inspiration.
Every company has different budgets and manpower levels, so not every idea will be executable. But if even one is, you can improve your B2B company’s presence on Instagram.
For more tips on using Instagram for business, check out this article.
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