A unique concept of Instagram stories is that it allows your followers to see your updates, images and video clips. Stories also provide a more accurate view of life, behind the scenes, and give you more opportunities to influence your audience.
No one knows your brand quite like you do, so utilising this knowledge will help to ensure social media success. If there’s scope to get creative with your Stories and still be recognised, do it.
The Algorithm
Fed up of the constant Instagram algorithm changes? On top of that, as brands and digital marketeers, we have to keep on top of the ever-evolving Instagram stories feature.
Instagram Stories have their own feed, and the content on Stories is put in front of ALL of your followers. Whether they view it or not, depends on how far through their story feed they get, rather than a heavily controlled algorithm. And word is that the accounts you engage with the most, are listed first. So at least you know that viewers will definitely have the opportunity to see the content that may not make it to your feed that often.
In fact, recent news has suggested that only 10% of your follower base will actually see your Instagram feed posts. Which can be incredibly frustrating for businesses hoping to sell products and attract new customers. And even more of a reason why businesses should be maximising reach through Stories.
This article aims to share some tips, tricks, and ultimately guide you to bossing Instagram Stories for your brand.
Some Stats
Instagram Stories are used by 500 million users every day (Jan 2019). They have blown up in a very short space of time, as they only launched in August 2016.
One third (1/3) of the most viewed Instagram Stories are from businesses
50% of businesses on Instagram worldwide created at least one story per month
15-25% of Story viewers swipe up to follow a link and engage directly with a brand’s website
So, if you’ve not quite jumped on the Instagram Story hype – now is the time.
Tips and Tricks
1) Plan. Use mood boards to help you map out your stories.
Think of your stories as a journey. Each screen should flow nicely to the next. Try creating a mood board to map out the user journey - this can be especially useful if you have noticed that viewers exit your stories in the middle. This will allow you to think of the story as a package rather than individual snips.
2) Find a brand story aesthetic.
With the array of fonts, colours, stickers etc. on offer it can be really easy to lose your brand identity. Create your own Instagram Story ascetic - a simple way of doing this, is by choosing a primary and secondary Instagram font and 1-3 colours, and then alternating between them for consistency but variety. Once you have an aesthetic across the board, it will help you stand out and your followers will want to watch your stories whenever you post as they’ll be familiar and know what to expect.
The below image shows you how to add fonts to your stories.
3) Use stickers. Show your personality.
Instagram has a powerful sticker tool that lets you paste icons to photos. This is one of my favourite Instagram story functions as you can get really creative here all while adding some fun to your content. If done in the right way it can further spur your followers into action.
There are several sticker categories to choose from including location, current temperature, time, and day — as well as an extensive range of fun gifs too all of which are searchable using the search function.
See the below video for a walkthrough to adding stickers:
4 stickers for brands:
a. Polls and questions – great for interacting and involving your audience. Ask for their opinions on your new product launches or for ideas around your next event. Ask them to rate how much they love your new release. It’s simple, and an effective way of engaging your audience.
b. Countdowns – this allows you to add an interactive countdown to your posts and create a buzz. For instance, you may wish to create a countdown for a new product, a promotion or a big event. Select the countdown via the sticker button at the top.
c. Use hashtags – this is key to getting more views on your Instagram Stories from a new audience, as it opens up the doors to people ‘discovering’ your content. When they click, they’re taken to the hashtag’s feed and can see all the other UGC shared with it.
d. Locations - Tagging a story with your location could also add it to the public story for that area, and make it viewable from the ‘Explore tab,’ which enhances your chances of your page being found by anyone around you. This is great for brand awareness with new audiences.
4) User-generated content – when people tag the handle of your account, you will get a notification, which will display in the top right corner and you can access via your Direct messages inbox. This content is great - it’s word of mouth and is raising awareness of your brand. So, take the opportunity to repost content where appropriate, but you may want to think a bit more strategically of way to pull the content into themes.
5) Add content to your highlights – so that it lasts longer than 24 hours
This feature allows you to theme your content and create multiple sections that are neatly organised and clear. Expired stories can become ‘permanent’ features of your page through highlights.
Adding cover icons to your highlights adds a level of tidiness and professionalism so I would recommend that all brands do this too. See an example of Superdrug’s highlighted story below.
6) Behind the scenes content / Q&As
Use behind-the-scenes content to show what you’re made of! Stories do not need the same level of artistic perfection of say, an Instagram feed. This is your chance to show unedited, raw, informal clips of life behind the scenes. And semi-regularly you can add effects via Instagram like the Boomerang or SuperZoom add-ons, or Instagram’s Filter options.
Check out @WeWork on Instagram for great examples of story highlights and behind the scenes content:
7. Link your online shop to Instagram
Now your followers can tap on product stickers within your Instagram story to learn more about it and ultimately make a purchase. The best thing about this feature is that small businesses with under 10,000 followers can drive traffic to their products through their stories. Where usually you would need over 10,000 followers to add this type of call to action (CTA). Tagging products in Instagram Stories stickers allows you to showcase product details without seeming too sales-y or spammy.
1) Firstly, covert to a business profile.
2) Then, make sure you have followed all the guidelines so that you’re approved for shopping.
3) After that, it’s time to connect to your shopping catalogue
8) Use Instagram Story advertising
Organic reach can only take you so far, and it’s very easy to pay a bit extra to reach more customers, and a new audience that does not already follow you. It doesn't have to be expensive to start seeing results. This works particularly well if your goal is more sales and growth.
You can pay to target people based on a range of targeting parameters such as industry of work, ages, locations and interests. It can be especially useful if you don’t have 10K followers, and therefore do not have the ‘swipe up’ feature.
The main message should be short, sweet and to the point in an ad on Instagram Stories. Use carousel story ads where possible, these are made up of three images or three videos (15 secs) and let you tell your story over several parts.
Users can still swipe back and forth, or pause the content, so it’s still important to be creative and engaging from the start!
Like most ads on Instagram, you can use Ads Manager or Power Editor to launch stories ads. Make sure that you select your ad objective first, and then expand the Instagram placement selector to select Instagram Stories.
9) Go live
The Instagram algorithm loves Instagram Live video! Posting a live video will place you at the top of your followers’ feeds. So when your fans open their app, this is the best way to ensure you're in their mind straight away.
You can immediately run Q&A's or host discussions with your community. A lot of brands are doing this and seeing significant engagement - It's the closest you can get to human interaction on social media, so it's incredibly authentic and a great way to continue building trust with your followers.
So, how do you launch a live video?
1) open the Instagram app and either swipe right or click on the camera in the top left corner. This is how you reach the “Stories” section of the app from here.
2) scroll along the carousel until you see the 'Live' option.
3) click 'start live video' and there you go!
10) Utilise advocates/ambassadors, and give their voice a platform.
Customer testimonials are an easy way to show potential customers what they can expect from your product or service. By cross-posting and partnering for this kind of content, you broaden the reach and audience, growing your presence within a certain community.
Time to get going?
Instagram stories is a simple, fun and effective way of connecting with your audience.
With a bit of thinking on your strategy, creativity and practice you'll no doubt start building better relationships with your audience, start increasing your follower count and see spikes in web traffic / sales.
In a world of constantly changing algorithms, and where users are inundated with content all the time - it's important to look for new and engaging ways to interact with your audience.
Instagram Stories is the ultimate way to grab attention, demonstrate authenticity and show your genuine side.
For any additional support do not hesitate to reach out to me at jesselderdigital@gmail.