In September, Instagram celebrated its 10-year anniversary. This makes it the youngest of the big social media giants (Twitter is 14, YouTube 15, and LinkedIn 18), but it also stands out for other reasons.

Firstly, it focuses on images and visual content over and above the written word. Secondly, its user base is much younger, with 95% of users under 35 years old. Compare this to LinkedIn, where only 77% of the user base is under 35. 

This inevitably has huge repercussions for how we use the platform as marketeers.

Right Message, Right Platform

Unlike Twitter or LinkedIn, Instagram doesn’t lend itself to sharing long-form written content. Adding a link in your bio is usually the only way to point to a useful blog and article, as the “swipe up to read more” feature is only unlocked for those with more than 10,000 followers. This requires the extra clicks from users that marketeers try so hard to avoid. 

As a result, the knowledge sharing that is key to effective B2B (Business to Business) tech marketing can be better enabled through other platforms. But this doesn’t mean we should neglect Instagram. Instead, Instagram can be used to give a flavour of a business that goes beyond the product itself – its culture and what it’s like to work there.

People Power

The benefits of sharing what actually working at a tech business is likely to fall into two main categories: 

1. Ensuring You Have a Full and Varied Brand Identity

Your stakeholders – be they customers, community members, or influencers in the industry, are people too. Your brand messages and content are more likely to capture their eye in a busy feed if they have associations of your brand – they know the individuals involved, the values of your office or the fun ideas that feed into the nitty-gritty of what pays the bills. 

2. A Place to Work

It’s no secret that great tech professionals are well-placed to pick and choose their workplace – with Covid-19 only increasing this. In July, for example, there was a 15.55% surge in demand for web designers and developers compared to the previous month, whilst other industries saw hiring freezes and slow downs. One of the things that will make a talented individual choose one company over another will be the sense they get of the working environment, its community feel, and its perks.

This is conveyed much more effectively through a grid of images on Instagram to pick and choose from, rather than through Twitter and LinkedIn.

Some of our Favourite Industry Instagrams

• Some Instagrams capture the fun in their brand by making great use of their logo and branding – like @dockerinc and @suseinc.

 

• @github and @lifeatsnyk put people front and centre, with a focus on communities and employees – showcasing the faces behind the screen!

•  Instagram is great for championing causes that are important – we love @womenwhocode, which combines digestible facts and personal stories, and @raspberrypi‘s sense of playfulness

Make Sure You Are Following Us!

Our Instagram, @payaraculture, captures everything from the varied viewpoints of our global workforce to team meet-ups.  Instagram is the perfect place to make sure we showcase ALL aspects of working at Payara.

Whilst our LinkedIn and Twitter are jam-packed with the latest updates on open source, industry technologies and new products, our Instagram is a place for our “Community” value to really shine. You get a peek behind the curtain with employee anniversaries, team lunches, branding, picturesque snaps from our team, pet pics and of course all the holiday snaps from our annual employee convention Payara Week – this year in sunny Madeira in Portugal pre-lockdown! Make sure you comment on our posts with your thoughts and our contributions, we love connecting with friends on Instagram – looking forward to seeing you there!

Click here to follow: @PayaraCulture

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