If there’s one thing we know about today’s digital audience, it’s that they like their messaging short, sweet and simple. Marketing professionals in any industry can use Instagram Stories to enhance their marketing strategy.
Instagram Stories is one of the hottest tickets in social media marketing. IG Stories launched built on Snapchat’s video marketing success when it launched in 2016.
IG Stories has seen many changes as it’s evolved over the past 4 years. Today, it’s a well-loved element of many digital marketing strategies with bells and whistles that delight both marketers and audiences.
Table of Contents
- What are Instagram Stories?
- Posting regularly
- Getting the word out
- Inviting engagement
- Resources to up your Instagram Story game
What are Instagram Stories?
Instagram Stories are content (image, video) that your followers can see. They disappear from view after 24 hours, unless you choose to “pin” the content indefinitely to your profile.
Instagram reports that 500 million people use Instagram Stories daily. That’s a lot of potential reach. More than 50% of business accounts have implemented Instagram Stories into their marketing strategies.
Instagram Stories should be fun, easy and fairly straightforward compared to many other digital marketing channels. Because of its short-winded nature (stories expire in 24 hours), I recommend frequent posting. Frequent posting maintains consistency and helps set your audience’s expectations.
In this post, I’ll show you how to hook your audience with Instagram Stories. Here are some ways your marketing could be missing impact on Instagram Stories – and how to fix them.
You’re not posting to Instagram Stories regularly
Instagram Stories land prime real estate at the top of the news feed. By posting regularly and relatively frequently, your brand will appear top of mind at the top of the feed.
Not every in-feed post is seen by every Instagram user, but for the folks who check the app frequently, you’re significantly upping your account’s exposure by making the Instagram Stories bar at the top. Quality always beats quantity, but when you wrangle both it can give your digital marketing strategy a serious boost.
Key takeaway: claim your real estate at the top of the Instagram app and consistently captivate your audience by posting regularly.
Your Instagram Stories aren’t inviting audience engagement
When it comes to building your audience, engagement is key. Instagram Stories is constantly adding new features to help you involve your audience, such as Q&A, poll, and multiple-choice questions.
In the days leading up to Halloween 2020, Starbucks ran a fun Instagram Stories flight. They encouraged their IG Stories users to screenshot a GIF to find out which spooky flavor they are. “Get ready to screenshot” is a call to action and a bid for engagement.
Many users shared their screenshots to their own Instagram Stories, organically scoring them a brand awareness Halloween treat. By setting their followers up for success and encouraging them to engage, they’re helping people help them spread the Starbucks name.
Championing audience engagement helps to build your audience as well. Building audiences has an extra perk. Once your brand hits 10,000 followers, Instagram grants your account the ability to link within Instagram Stories. This will help you drive traffic to your site and convert customers.
Key takeaway: Using features such as polls and multiple-choice questions helps your audience engage with you through Instagram Stories – leading to stronger relationships and a more loyal follower base.
Location stickers on Instagram Stories
Using the location feature and hashtags is important for Instagram accounts that don’t have a large following (yet). If you craft a great story, you’ll want to use every available feature to make sure it gets seen.
Location stickers work great for local brick and mortar business. If you’re digital and everywhere, use location stickers for any events your brand participates in.
Location stickers make it possible for your story to get pulled into location and event stories (e.g. “Boston” or “Stagecoach Music Festival”). People who view location stories may see your brand’s story who would not have otherwise.
Similarly, if you use relevant hashtags people may find your Instagram Stories by searching for that hashtag. A travel company might use #TravelTuesday to promote their services. A skincare company might use #SelfCareSunday similarly.
Key takeaway: By using hashtags and location stickers on Instagram Stories, you are making your content more discoverable – which is a win for every marketing strategy!
Ready to dive further into Instagram Stories?
There are some wonderful resources for getting started with free Instagram templates, such as Canva.
As I mentioned above, Instagram Stories should be simple. You don’t need the production budget of a Hollywood film to craft effective Instagram Stories.
That said, templates are a nice way to craft a cohesive brand identity and add unique touches outside of what Instagram offers natively.
Here’s more about Instagram marketing:
- 3 Tried and True Ways to Increase Your Instagram Engagement
- Using #TrendingHashtags to Extend Your Brand’s Reach
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