Instagram Stories, which debuted in 2016, is now more than simply a shared media app. It has also become an efficient promotional instrument.
This innovation, which was clearly inspired by Snapchat, gives businesses a simple and cost-effective means of communicating with their audience.
Daily, Instagram Stories are seen by over 500 million people. In the five hundred million range. There are a lot of people that may be using your product or service. Of all, your company isn’t the only one competing for consumers’ attention, so finding ways to differentiate yourself is essential. We can help with that…
The following are just a handful of the most effective methods for using Instagram stories to boost brand exposure and reader participation.
Keep in mind that, as the old adage goes, “with great social strategy comes great responsibility.”
Tell a Story
Instagram Stories are only interesting if they convey a story, as implied by the name.
This may seem like common sense, but you’d be amazed at how much of a difference a well-developed story can make in holding your readers’ interest.
When a user sees a collage of unrelated photographs, they are likely to feel disoriented and frustrated, leading them to quickly move on to the next account.
Giving your audience even a smidgen of backstory allows them to feel “in” on the action, which in turn makes them more cognizant of your mission and more familiar with your brand.
We’ve discovered that a story board is a fantastic tool for planning out your Instagram Stories in advance. Planning ahead and becoming ready are essential.
Use Hashtags
Hashtags are a quick and simple technique to boost Instagram Story views and interaction. It opens the door for a whole new set of people to find and follow your work.
Users may find your account by searching for relevant hashtags and reading live stories on a curated hashtag page.
Because of this, it’s crucial to employ terms you anticipate would be readily accessible to your intended audience.
Insert Stickers
Stickers are a great tool for boosting participation in online communities. Whether on a friend’s page or another well-known company’s, you’ve probably seen these before.
There are several methods to make stickers interesting, such as including a poll asking users to rate their outfit of the day or include a witty emoji.
For effective brand promotion, we recommend the following sticker options:
Create excitement for your next product release or event with the help of countdown stickers.
Stickers with questions or polls might help you find out what your followers think.
You may show your followers that you’re not just any brand by using gif stickers in your calls to action.
Quiz stickers are a clever way to get your audience involved in the storytelling process while also providing some light amusement and promoting your business.
Video Captioning
If you’ve ever been browsing Instagram Stories in the office (or another place that doesn’t like abrupt, loud music) and wanted to watch a video from a particular account, you know how frustrating it is when the video doesn’t have subtitles.
That’s why it’s crucial for your company to caption any films that may be seen without sound.
You should also be careful not to turn away any hearing-impaired members of your audience.
When users can watch videos or listen to music independent of their aural surroundings, they are much more likely to keep watching or listening.
If closed captions are unavailable for a video, a “sound on” prompt might alert the viewer that they will need to play the audio. If you don’t meet their expectations, they may become frustrated and move on to the next account.
Learn When People Are Most Engaged
Raising participation on social media requires a deep understanding of your target demographic.
That requires digging into your data to determine the times of day that normally generate the highest levels of interaction from your followers. Once you have that information, you can structure your story around those times of most interest to your target audience.
Instagram’s built-in metrics are available in the Insights section of every business account.
These indicators might be anything from the average age, gender, and location of the community to the busiest times of day and the most widely shared content. You can’t have a successful social media campaign without them.
(CONNECTED: Meet the Latest Instagram Features on Facebook’s Creator Studio)
In-Feed Cross-Promotion
Promoting your brand’s Instagram Stories within your normal feed is another great strategy to attract more viewers.
If your postings are getting a lot of attention, but you want to broaden your audience, this is a great strategy.
As you can see from the above post, renowned social media scheduling app Later does a wonderful job of naturally bringing people to your Instagram Stories from your feed.
Use Other People’s Content
It’s possible that re-sharing user postings is one of the finest methods to add interesting material to your story.
It builds trust with your target audience and makes your followers feel like they have a personal connection to your business.
User-generated content (UGC) is more reliable than traditional media by a factor of 50%, according to Business 2 Community. This is why the Instagram influencer industry is booming.
Fella Swim, a swimwear company, co-branded user content with their own for an entire ‘As Seen On’ series. Look up above.