These Instagram “Stories” are really taking off. Stories have gotten so widespread that 83% of marketers report having plans to implement influencer marketing strategies including them. They’re enticing to the ordinary Instagram user since they’re time-sensitive and easy to tap.
In addition, organic reach has been diminished by Instagram’s recent algorithm modifications. Brands are finding that Stories provide a low-hanging fruit chance for exposure and interaction.
Instagram Stories: What Are They?
The photographs and videos you post to your Instagram Story feed will disappear after 24 hours. The information you post to Stories doesn’t appear on your main feed.
The photos and videos you share on your feed, known as “Stories,” function similarly to slides in a slideshow. By default, photos will be displayed for seven seconds, while videos can play for up to fifteen.
When you have new Stories published, your profile image will have a purple and orange ring around it. This lets your audience know that they may expect new stuff from you.
Your Instagram Stories will now take centre stage in your followers’ feeds.
The main event has arrived. Instagram “skips the line” in your followers’ feeds whenever you upload a new Story.
With Instagram’s ever-evolving algorithm, the Stories feed has become extremely valuable real estate for businesses. You may increase your content’s exposure without worrying about how far it will travel.
Humanizing your brand is easy with the help of stories.
Keep in mind that even official brand Instagram Stories tend to be impromptu and casual. This is in striking contrast to the “optimized” or salesy material that may populate your primary feed.
Take a group photo with your squad. Do you have a brief tale to share? Just do it. Telling stories is a great way to demonstrate your brand’s unique voice and personality by engaging with your audience on a human level.
The Instagram Stories Tutorial
Stories should be a fundamental part of your Instagram marketing plan.
However, it might be difficult for first-timers to think of material.
Leave it at that. Here are some practical suggestions for using Instagram Stories into your social media advertising campaigns.
Instructions and ideas for using Instagram Stories
These resources will teach you the finer points of using Instagram Stories for your brand:
- Analytics for Instagram Stories: A Guide
- Instagram Stories: Including External Links
- Rules and recommended practises for successful Instagram Stories advertisements
Provide useful information by way of tutorials and guides.
Stories’ linear structure is well-suited to instructional content with several steps. You may make extremely engaging instructive material of any length, from recipes to beauty lessons. These are a simple replacement for longer forms of content like videos and articles.
Use polls, quizzes, and questions to engage in a back-and-forth
Conversations with customers may easily be started and continued in the context of a story.
Polls and quizzes are fun and easy tools for this. In their Stories, Benefit Cosmetics frequently incorporates polls, quizzes, questions, and voting stickers. This is a lighthearted and simple approach to getting people interested in the company.
Put out your own press releases and announcements.
Some companies utilise Stories to share news with their audiences. This is a good idea if you want your followers to know what’s happening with your company.
Put the most recent updates front and centre in your feed.
This is an illustration of how to utilise Instagram’s Stories feature to go around the app’s algorithm.
Let’s pretend you just seen an amazing update to your primary feed. To increase exposure, it’s fine to hype it up on Stories.
Share previews of future work or items.
Stories, if nothing else, push you to hint at what’s to come. Perhaps you’re looking forward to working with someone fresh.
You may reach more people with your message when you tell a story. Using imaginative stickers and countdowns, this is surprisingly simple to do.
Market limited-time discounts and specials
You may use Instagram Stories in the same way that you would use Instagram to promote a sale. Both online and traditional retailers may benefit from this. You may utilise your Stories to draw attention to a current sale or advertise a limited-time offer.
Publish consumer photographs and other user-generated material
Brands frequently publish user-generated content in the form of Stories.
You may use Stories to make a presentation just for customers. And user-generated content (UGC) won’t overwhelm your primary feed.