You probably know that the top industries marketing on Instagram are luxury brands, sports clothing, and beauty brands. Unfortunately, this fact has led too many marketers in less glitzy industries—like tech and SaaS businesses—to believe Instagram is the wrong platform for them.
In fact, businesses across a wide swath of industries can launch successful Instagram marketing campaigns if they follow best practice strategies. Equally important, visual platforms like Instagram present a unique opportunity for businesses that sell software as a service to humanize themselves, building powerful emotional connections with customers and prospective customers.
BY THE NUMBERS: THE POWER OF INSTAGRAM MARKETING
Effectively leveraged, Instagram's more than 1 billion monthly users. As Business correctly notes, businesses that haven't jumped on to the Instagram bandwagon
"Since its inception, Instagram has proven to be a powerful marketing tool for businesses looking to expand their presence and the visibility of their products. While advertisement and sponsorship opportunities exist, getting started with Instagram is free and businesses can establish a significant following without spending a dime. If you have not jumped on the Instagram bandwagon yet, you may be doing your business a great disservice."
That's not an overstatement. Consider for example these eye-opening Instagram marketing metrics from HootSuite:
- Instagram is the 6th most visited website in the world
- More than 140 million consumers in the U.S. are active users of Instagram
- More than 200 million check out at least one business profile—every day
- More than 80% of Instagram users go to the site to research businesses, products and services
- More than 130 million Instagram users click on shopping posts—every day
HOW TO MAKE INSTAGRAM WORK FOR YOUR SAAS BUSINESS
Every SaaS company is different, of course, with different customers, different products and different marketing challenges. That said, your business is more likely to be successful posting on Instagram if you observe best practice Instagram marketing strategies, including the following 5:
- Create your Instagram business profile: this is an essential component of marketing on the expansive platform. A business account makes it easy for you to create ads—and easy for consumers to connect with your business by simply tapping the "contact" button.
- Get familiar with Instagram Insights: "Insights" is Instagram's free analytics tool. It's easy and intuitive to use and grounded in a wealth of demographic data. Equally important, Insights lets you test the effectiveness of every piece of content you post, ensuring continual improvement of your campaigns.
- Try a teaser or two: remember rule number one of inbound marketing—your content should be less about your business and more about your customer. Instead of posting direct sales pitches, offer consumers a teaser. That could be anything from a discount for new subscribers to the offer of a free demo or trial.
- Don't forget Instagram sponsored ads: like Facebook, Instagram offers highly targeted sponsored ads that give your SaaS business a chance to humanize your marketing and create a strong emotional bond with prospective subscribers. Be sure your content is engaging and customer centric. Instead of merely showing what your software does, for example, you could show how it improves subscribers' lives.
- Tell some stories: Instagram Stories offer a great opportunity to engage prospective buyers and showcase your top products. It's also a great way to generate more quality leads for your SaaS company.
IN CONCLUSION
Effectively marketing on Instagram and other social media platforms can help your SaaS business achieve its principal marketing objectives—but it can also be both complicated and confusing. That's where we can help.
As an authoritative and knowledgeable HubSpot consulting firm, we can give you the advice and guidance you need to succeed. To learn more about the ways our HubSpot consulting, diagnostic, implementation and training services can help you reach your top marketing goals—and take your SaaS business to the next level—contact us today.
