Let’s talk about Instagram Stories and how to make them work for your business and brand.
Wait, what??!!
That’s a lot to unpack. Let’s back up for a second.
What is an Instagram Story? In its basic form, an Instagram Story is a feature of Instagram that allows users to post pictures or videos that disappear in 24 hours.
The Stories live at the very top of your Instagram feed in consecutive order. They allow creativity on the video or photograph through the addition of gifs, text, filters, music and more.
These are a few of the features that can work for your business.
Making Instagram Stories Work for Your Business
There are currently 400M + people who are active on Instagram.
Those folks aren’t just creating content but also consuming it. And we already know that more 80% of people on Instagram follow a business.
So how can you use Instagram Stories to get them to pay attention to your content?
BRANDING
Use Instagram Stories to brand your business with location tags and applicable hashtags. Each Story gives you an opportunity to tag a location – and locations can be searched within Stories by tapping on the location. You can also add hashtags within a Story, and it can also be searched with a tap. If you have a branding campaign, these can be valuable tools in your reach tactics.
PARTNERSHIPS
Instagram Stories, with their short life-span and attention-getting placement, are great for highlighting partners and customers. Feature these people in your Stories!
ENGAGEMENT
Instagram Stories allow you to ask questions for readers to type in responses. There is also a polling feature for readers to click their preference. And finally, there is a slider scale to gauge opinion on a topic. All of these features create engagement opportunities.
BONUS: These polls and sliders allow you to collect feedback, like on products or new ideas!
WEBSITE
If you have over 10,000 Instagram followers, you have the option to include a web link to each story. Don’t have 10,000 followers yet? It can also be done through Instagram Story ads.
We cover how to run ads in this blog: How to Create Instagram Stories Ads
VIDEO
Instagram Stories video feature is great for conducting an interview, putting out breaking news or introducing new products or features. You can even go “live” in your Instagram Stories.
HIGHLIGHTS
Override the 24-hour disappearing act by using Highlights. Highlights are a way to keep stories you select on your Instagram profile page. Use them to keep the most important content that you’ve created.
PROMOTION
Use Instagram Stories to promote, promote, promote.
Examples include –
- Teach how to do something
- Demonstrate ways to use a product
- Announce something new and exciting
- Show off behind the scenes
- Promote content on your regular feed
Hopefully, we’ve de-mystified how to use Instagram Stories features to get to work for your business and brand.
Stories can certainly be used for silliness and fun, but when used with thought and advanced planning, its features can be a nice addition to your social media content plan.