Instagram stories are a leading function to improve a brand’s customer engagement through full-screen chronicle of the content or imagery that is otherwise unavailable in the feed. What was introduced way back in 2016, Instagram Stories were able to step up the content creation game of businesses under its platform.
Just like its predecessor, SnapChat, Instagram Stories are limited time content that expires. These are the circle icons on top of your news feed, and, when pressed, these circles will show videos or photo clips from users you follow. Then, after 24 hours of being posted, the uploaded content will expire or disappear. With around 1 billion users active in the social media platform every month, Instagram’s internal data reveal around 400 million users use Instagram Stories every day.
As for businesses, this is a great feature for those that are social media-savvy enough to see the advantages this function has to offer, especially since one in five stories from businesses receives a direct message.
But as a student of marketing or just as an individual, how will you be able to leverage Instagram Stories in order to boost engagement like a professional? These steps will help you use Instagram Stories like a professional:
Use story apps
If you want to level up instagram stories there are also some apps that help with templates ready. We have suggested one of our favourites below:
UNFOLD
Highlights
You should never underestimate the aesthetics of your account, it should be taken care of from bio to post to highlights. Choose logos or photos to make them unique and above all unique. Create different categories by giving them specific titles ( BLOG, TRAVEL. . . ). To create them you can use the free app Canva, with which you can create the covers to be inserted quickly and easily.
Instagram Polls
Basically, this poll is all about asking a question through Instagram Stories, and allowing followers to answer by choosing one between the two options you provided. An example is asking your followers on which cake is best to be paired with a cup of tea, is it a chocolate cake or a blueberry cheesecake? Once there’s a user who answered, Instagram will notify you. You also get to see the percentage of both answers and use it as analytics. It is useful for channelling a community driven decision on what type of sale or content would they like to see in the near future.
Play with fonts
Make your writing 3 dimensional to make it less stock standard!
- Choose a font (we recommend STRONG for the thickness of the characters)
- Write down the first word or phrase and choose a dark color
- Write the same word and choose a lighter color, you can also choose your own shades of the same color.
- Overlay the second lettering on the first and move it slightly in the desired direction to create the shadow. ( You can choose the angle to give )
Tell a story
The secret to getting so many views on Instagram Stories is to make people want to keep seeing them. An Instagram story is not about showing how active you are on social media; it’s also not about posting unrelated images with each other. Instagram stories are actually about telling a story to your followers through a combination of photos, videos, captions, stickers and other fun tools available.
Digital storytelling can be seen as overwhelming at first, but you’ll eventually get over it through study and knowing the best examples from the brands that are winning on Instagram Stories. What’s important is your Instagram Stories is able to tell a story.
There are many examples of effective storytelling, but is depending on your business. Here are some examples to get your thought train started:
- Restaurant — show different experiences in the Kitchen and how food is prepared.
- Sports — sharing fitness tips and how-tos
- Music — a glimpse of the behind the scenes for the fans
- Art — lesson on materials or a behind the scenes clip of a work in progress
You have to be able to tell your day in a captivating way, especially when you are traveling you have to be able to bring out every aspect also giving useful information to your community.
And, most importantly – make your stories interesting! Try to create some consistency in the look and feel of your stories, as well as maintaining a level of intrigue – for the viewer to want to see the next story and not skip over it.
Host takeovers
An Instagram Takeover is an event wherein someone else is using another user’s Instagram account for a specific duration or sharing content with their audience; hence, the term “takeover”. The process of takeovers is beneficial for different brands, individuals, and even influencers to collaborate with each other and promote content from one another, resulting in additional exposure to a wider customer base and a diversity of topics because of the collaboration.
Social media is continuously changing, and it’s up to the business to keep up with in order to stay relevant in the marketing game. Understanding it is a must because social media is a sea of leads, with billions of users on a daily basis. Learn more about social media and understand how it affects your business or make a career with it by getting a social media marketing diploma in marketing under MCIE’s guidance and lectures.
