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Why tech PR businesses need Instagram
28 January 2021
In a guest column, exclusive to Connectivity, Richard Stone, Managing Director of Stone Junction – the first-ever PR agency for the fourth industrial revolution – explains why neglecting Instagram is a definite #instafail for any tech business.
Ever heard the phrase ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’? Of course you have, it’s a staple argument for any pro-Instagram marketeer. In fact, 90 percent of the information processed by the brain is visual – but we’ll avoid such tropes, shall we?
Despite the favourable statistics, tech and STEM businesses often neglect Instagram from their social campaigns altogether, thinking it to be a filtered collection of avocado on toast and influencers – you’d only be partially correct in that assessment. In reality, Instagram has over one billion active users, including many tech behemoths such as Dell, Google, Sandvik Group and, most likely, your competition.
But forget them for a moment, think of all the lovely China-sized Instagram users who you’re neglecting – how could you! Every one of them is a potential customer, a potential click to your website and even a potential fan for life. Sounds rather dreamy, doesn’t it? At least it would do if you were on Instagram in the first place.
Greater access to potential customers
Let’s go back to this ‘potential customers’ idea, as that’s really the aim of the game.
It’s simply common sense that the more social channels your business uses, the greater your pool of customers – it’s the same reason why you might stock a product with various suppliers, or a PR agency will approach multiple publications for features. The bigger the net, the more fish you’ll catch.
But the fish in this particular Instagram pool, are actually the best of the best. According to Forbes UK, the ‘Gram (which is what cool people call it) delivers an engagement rating of 4.21 percent per follower, a whopping 58 times more engaging than Facebook – one reason perhaps why Facebook now owns Instagram. That’s not to say engagement is a synonym for a boat load of leads and money, but having more interested people hitting the like button isn’t going to damage your chances of conversion, is it?
Since lockdown, an additional 10.5 percent of working professionals are on their mobile phones – yep, we see you surfing during that Zoom call. Instagram has the distinct advantage of being solely designed for the mobile world; infinite scrolling (which is psychologically addictive), eye-catching content and post-post editing. It would be foolish, wouldn’t it, not to capitalise on all these extra, engaged heads of purchasing or OEMs.
Being available across separate channels means people can find your business more readily. For example, someone searching for thought-leading automation content might come across all your Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn pages rather than just one. Not only does this provide them with a plethora of branded information but it also adds to the legitimacy of your company. Nothing promotes trust like an obvious social presence – but more on that later.
Once found, there are plenty of insta-specific tools that keep customers alive and clicking. Since its inception ten years ago, Instagram has introduced Reels, stories, Instagram Insights, IGTV, shoppable tags on posts and Insta ads. All user friendly and many unique to business profiles. This allows you to analyse your target market, what they interact with – and importantly, what they don’t – how they navigate your page and what they click on. So not only will Instagram give you the followers in the first place, but also the means to understand them properly.
Boost SEO with potential website clicks
Hear the words search engine optimisation and you might be forgiven for thinking Google, Google, Google. Website, website, website. It’s what has been ingrained in our marketing brains since the rise of digital. However, once you’ve made a good start on these core areas, a larger and more engaged social media presence does wonders for your SEO.
Although Instagram, or any social media for that matter, doesn’t directly influence search ranking, Google’s Gary Illyes puts it plainly: “the context in which you engage online, and how people talk about you, actually can impact what you rank for”.
Richard Stone, Managing Director of Stone Junction
What Mr Illyes means by this is great business content produces great customer interactions, which in turn sends all the right analytical signals to Google – think of a large neon sign yelling “*hint hint* my posts are useful”.
Research by Cognitive SEO, actually went as far as to prove this. After analysing 23 million social media shares for businesses, they found a correlation between SEO rank and social engagement. Hootsuite also noticed something similar, a 22 percent SEO boost for any company with top social shares. The truth is, if your content proves to be both high quality and useful, your audience will do all the hard work for you; sharing, liking, commenting and visiting any blog post you suggest. Whether directly or indirectly, this information implies to Google your platform and target market are linked.
So why use Instagram, then? The #InstaAdvantage is all about its superior profile engagement – please refer to the last 500 words – and its reliance on the visual. Although post links aren’t yet a feature on mainstream versions of the app, using software like LinkTree provides a rather elegant, data-giving solution to this issue (LinkTree connects your audience to whatever and wherever you like via one bio link). However for technology and STEM businesses, it’s actually this conversion of complex, jargon-y information into visuals which is key.
For example, preaching the benefits of metal-film resistors over carbon-film resistors would work far better as an infographic over a blogpost, don’t you think? Not to mention, infographics are an SEO goldmine and are 30 times more likely to be read and shared than a blog. Hmm, so where do we know that provides great engagement levels and is designed only for visual content? Oh yeah; Instagram.
Create potential fans for life
If you can cast your mind back to the first paragraph – are you there yet? – there was a mention of ‘trust’ and the impact of social media on brand image – No? Fifth paragraph, last sentence.
Instagram is, in effect, a social mood board for your business with culture, innovative technology, thought-leadership and helpful content all in one place. Building this community, and more importantly a dialogue between yourself and eager followers, creates brand loyalty – or at the very least brand recognition. Which is exactly what we want. Humans are, for the most part, simple creatures; we stick with who and what we know, and this includes where we spend our money. For example, if two identically qualified businesses were competing for your custom, would you go with someone you’ve never met before or Tim, from TM Robotics who likes artesian cheese and wears novelty ties on a Wednesday?
The virtual community you create through your behind-the-scenes action, infographics, quotes and promotions helps create a friendship between business and audience. 36.2 percent of B2B decision makers use Instagram to research new products or services with specific emphasis on brand as a decision-making factor. Although this might not sound like a huge percentage, it’s still more than the home of B2B itself: LinkedIn.
Ultimately, Instagram is a free platform with high engagement, minimal management and a plethora of untapped customer potential. You might not think you’re missing out, but if you’re not there for your customers to find, they’ll simply pick another business who is.
Richard Stone is the Founder of Stone Junction, a specialist technical PR agency delivering international and digital PR and marketing services for scientific, engineering and technology companies.
He knows quite a bit about the ol’ gram and you’ll often find him posting the (empty) contents of a whiskey glass or Bamboo toilet roll #notspon.
If you want Stone Junction to take over your social media campaign – Insta or no Insta – then why not email him on richards@stonejunction.co.uk
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