Instagram Stories Best Practices
Instagram stories are great – they let you capture quick moments easily! You can really show your brand’s personality through stories and help increase your followers, engagement, and sales at the same time! If you’ve been struggling to utilize stories to impact your following or sales – you’re in the right place! Check out our expert-recommended tactics below and start posting today!
For starters, working on Instagram stories is essential if you want your business to be successful. Here are some stats to help you understand their significance:
- Instagram launched stories in 2016 to compete with Snapchat and it worked! By 2020, there were already 300 million users watching Instagram stories every single day, making it more popular than Snapchat, which remained at 166 million users
- One in five stories receives a direct message from a follower. This makes Instagram stories a great conversation starter that will help you understand your audience
- 59% of millennials and 70% of Gen Z’ers keep track of Instagram stories
Whether you want to engage your audience or run ad campaigns to attract new customers, the best thing to use is Instagram stories. Here is a deep dive into some of the best practices for stories to ensure that you get the quickest results:
1. Use Stickers
Stickers are a great way to let your audience know about your branded hashtag; they can click on them while viewing your story and go down the rabbit hole that is your content collateral on Instagram. Each time someone clicks on the hashtag, they get taken to its feed, where they can see other users posting content related to your business.
This is a great way to boost user-generated content to make them feel like they are a part of your company.
Here are some popular stickers that work very well for business marketing:
- Location Stickers
Location stickers help users know where you are located. Each time they click on a location sticker, they will see more posts that have been tagged at your store. These could be celebrity posts or influencer posts.
Moreover, location stickers help boost brand awareness.
- Poll Stickers
Poll stickers can help you ask your audience a multiple-choice question with two answers, such as “this or that,” “yes or no,” and “product X or product Y.”
Results can be viewed in real-time and help marketers make important decisions about their products and services. Moreover, users will also be able to see how others respond, allowing them to engage with your company.
2. Go Live
Don’t be shy. The Live option on your Instagram stories is a great way to start a broadcast, show your audience the daily workings of your business, or hop on and chat with them so that they know the face and voice behind their much-loved brand.
Over the years, the Live feature on Instagram has expanded rapidly. Users can interact with you in real-time by sending in comments and asking questions. If you want to hold a Q&A session, Instagram Live is the place to do it.
You can also add other Instagramers with you on the live feed. It’d be a good idea to work with local influencers, celebs, other business owners, happy customers, superstar employees, decision-makers, etc. You do not even have to be in the same space to stream this live, making it the perfect way to build a relationship with a social media personality.
The best part is that your users will get a notification each time you go live!
3. Create More Videos
Businesses of all sizes can benefit from posting more videos than pictures on their IG stories. Of course, you can still post images since they can be digested easily and are convenient to skim through.
However, quick 10-second videos on behind-the-scenes secrets or productions can help boost engagement and suspense- you want your audience to crave more content. This storytelling technique is one of the best Instagram stories practices that will give you a bang for your buck.
Check out some videos that we have helped clients create here!
4. Make Highlights for Stories
For many businesses, Instagram stories can feel like a waste of time because they disappear within 24 hours. Instagram recognizes this, which is why the Highlights option became a part of the app in 2017.
This update has allowed businesses to add stories to a specific option called Highlights after 24 hours. This option is on your business profile, right above your gallery. It keeps your content on your page for as long as you want, even if it is no longer available on your stories.
For example, if you post your products on your Instagram stories to help consumers learn more about them, you can post them to the Highlights section once they expire. This will allow new followers to look at your products without having to repeat content repeatedly.
5. Create an Aesthetic for Your Feed
Creating an aesthetically pleasing feed encourages users to engage with your posts, and ultimately want to try your products. For example, if you are in the food industry, posting pictures of your best dishes can make people across the world want to come to your restaurant just to try them because of the aesthetics you have used on your Instagram page.
However, when it comes to Instagram stories, you do not need to work that hard. Stories should focus on portraying behind-the-scenes unfiltered videos to get the audience’s attention. You can also use special effects like Boomerang or Super Zoom, with hand-drawn images or quirky emojis.
Remember, your audience does not want to see perfection. Instead, they want to see that your brand has a personality that resonates with them.
Conclusion
Instagram stories are a fantastic tool for businesses and brands to reach their target audience. However, the key is to be consistent with this feature, which means posting regularly and including innovative content to boost your brand’s Instagram performance.
Still looking for inspiration? At Social Thrive we help our client’s everyday develop eye-catching stories. Check out our highlights and start developing your own stories!