Are you looking for ways to use Instagram Stories?
Want to know what’s working for other businesses?
The addictive design of Instagram Stories has us stuck viewing them for longer than we ever plan to without knowing what's coming up next (even if NSFW). Tbh, after watching one it’s much easier to keep clicking rather than exiting and choosing the ones we want.
As of June 2018, Instagram had about 400 million daily active stories users worldwide, with 1/3 of them being from businesses.
A Few Tips for Using Instagram Stories
- Tell a story
- Point followers to your story
- Tag Locations
- Go live
- Use Hashtags
- Be authentic
- Provide value
- Use Highlights
- Get creative
- Plan ahead
- Promote your story
- Use Call-To-Action (CTA)
Ideas for Instagram Stories
- Announce a "New Post" (scratch out or use an image to cover the photo and entice users)
- Make your visuals count (i.e. bright, contrasting colors, including a person's face for an instant emotional company)
- Apps to make your photos pop (i.e. font packs, adobe spark, canva, etc)
- Capture interesting or unfamiliar settings
- Incorporate Interactive Elements (i.e quizzes, polls, stickers)
- Templates (used by brands/influencers to get to each other)
- How-To's and tutorials
- Influencer stories
- Motivational stories
- Tutorial Stories
- On-the-Scene stories
- Day-in-the-Life stories
- Behind-the-Scenes Stories
- Time-Sensitive Offers, Deals and Promos
- Special Announcements
- Sharing User Generated Content
There’s no “right” approach for those trying to figure out how to use Instagram Stories for business. In fact, any combination of these types of posts is totally fair game.
This excerpt from Hootsuite gives additional tips to get your story seen by potential customers from the CEO of @jerseychamps, Sean Kelly (1 million+ followers).
“If you go on Instagram LIVE while an existing story is up,” explains Kelly, “it will boost you to the first circle on the Instagram news feed. It’s a quick way to get extra views out of your followers.”
Kelly also extols the value of POLLS as a means to collect quantitative data that can inform your strategy:
“Be sure to use polls in your stories to keep your followers engaged,” Kelly told me. “Use these statistics to influence your business decisions. Prior to releasing a jersey, for instance, I put the design on my story and take a poll, asking my audience’s opinion. If it does not receive good feedback, I don’t release it.”
If you are a beginner, we suggest taking a look at the below video by Later.com
Photo: Aspire
