B2B MARKETERS’ HAND BOOK FOR INSTAGRAM AND VINE MARKETING

IntroductionThe world is changing and marketers have to keep up with it. People are using multiple devices, are interacting on multiple channels and all this keeping up is causing marketers a lot of fatigue. With this guide, we aim to give marketers the information that will help them decide whether photo and video channels such as Instagram and Vine are indeed relevant for them or not. This guide also comes with tips for leveraging both the channels for those who might be interested in using either or both channels for engaging with their audiences.

Contents1. How it all began

2. What is Instagram and Vine Marketing?

3. Why are these channels relevant for B2B Marketers?

4. When to use Instagram Vs. When to use Vine

5. Conclusion

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How it all beganSocial networks are evolving at lightning speed, matching with customers’ changing information consumption patterns. In 2005, social network penetration was as little as 5% and today, it has risen to 75% with platforms such as Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr on the rise.

56% of internet users do at least either create or curate content. This was spurred by the growth of mobile with more than 56% Americans owning smartphones with cameras enabling easy capturing and sharing of photos and videos.

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Instagram is a social network that is used by mobile users for photo sharing. It allows people to add digital filters to photos and share them on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. It also allows users to create 15 second video clips and share them on their social profiles. Vine on the other hand is purely a video based channel where users create 6 second looping video clips and share them through their social profiles.

Instagram and Vine marketing refers to leveraging these channels to connect, engage and retain your target audiences. The brevity of messages on these channels, which is in fact their USP, is exactly what makes most B2B marketers dismiss these channels. B2B marketers require mediums that will allow them to elaborate and explain in great detail about their offerings, industry, branding, core values and more. But the fact of the matter is that customers with short-attention spans and more choices are now wafting towards these channels, and not utilizing them essentially only means losing out on a big chunk of exposure from these channels.

What is Instagram and Vine Marketing?

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Why are these channelsrelevant for B2B Marketers?Instagram and Vine provides marketers with a number of benefits:

1. Branding

Vine and Instagram videos allow companies to showcase their branding and their core values. An example of a B2B brand that does this brilliantly is GE. GE uses multiple Vine videos to highlight its focus on innovation and science. A study by 7th chamber found that a branded Vine video is four times more likely to be seen than a regular branded video.

2. Thought leadership

Channels such as Vine and Instagram allow marketers to showcase their thought leadership and communicate their brand story in a unique way. You can share handy tips, expertise and views on various topics relevant to your customers in the form of appealing high quality photos and videos.

3. Stimulate conversations and engagement

People process visuals 60,000 times faster than text and are thus more likely to respond and interact further with visual content. Crowd sourced Instagram pictures/videos and Vine videos can be used to spur conversations by letting customers show how they connect with your brand. Another way is to show your product in action, tell the story through pictures and videos. Your customers are bound to understand and relate to it more this way.

4. Complement your event marketing

Nothing communicates experiences the way pictures and videos do. Complement your event marketing by taking photos of speakers, interesting products, the participants and more. Post these on Instagram with a hashtag that allows other people to follow the topic with ease, even the ones who did not attend the events. Create Vine videos and share hilarious moments during seminars, or any other interesting aspects that you think your followers will enjoy. If you want to share slightly more detailed videos you can use Instagram instead.

5. Enhance Consumption

Instagram and Vine can be used to enhance consumption of products and services as well. Snippets of product demos can be shared via Vine and Instagram. You can also create a step-by-step instruction using photos for your users on Instagram. You can provide a glimpse of any new product feature using Vine and Instagram videos.

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When to use InstagramVs. When to use Vine

Instagram Vine

For holding contests

For communicating your story through pictures

For showcasing one product feature or highlighting a new feature

How-to videos and photos

For showcasing user generated videos

For product demos and sneak peaks

Behind the scene at trade shows and events

Show product ads

Instagram has a user base of 150 million monthly active users whereas Vine has 40 million registered users. While brands can and should leverage both channels but if they were to choose one, then the table below will help in making that choice:

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ConclusionYour customers’ attention spans and preferences are changing, with people preferring to consume as much information in the shortest time possible. It is because of this reason channels such as Instagram and Vine are thriving. This change in buyer behavior is one that ought to not be ignored by marketers and instead should be leveraged to acquire brand advocates.

With Instagram you get access to a wider audience but the fact is that most people are still using Instagram for photos rather than for video sharing. Vine despite a smaller user base has strong advocates and fans and uploading videos on that channel gives you access to that. Although both channels have their pros and cons, as a brand the deciding factor should be the content you create and choose the channel accordingly.

We hope this handbook was useful in helping you understand more about using Instagram and Vine for your business. If you want to find out more about social media marketing or any other related topics, contact Regalix at marketing@regalix-inc.com.

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For more informationTo find out how Regalix can help you,please contact our office, or visit us at www.regalix.com

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