Today, Instagram Stories are a rage in the social media era. More than 400 million users use Instagram stories, which explains the recent explosion of storytelling on the app. Additionally, Instagram has also been pushing brands and users alike to use this feature as much as they can.
Instagram stories are fitted with exciting features like Question Sticker and Story Music, thereby making it a one-of-a-kind type of feature. Additionally, the introduction of new features like Stories Ads for brands to improve their selling power.
This way, Instagram Stories are no longer seen as a novelty, but as a staple. In this article, we will talk about how you can make the best use of IG Stories to increase your reach and engagement (without buying Instagram likes) of your Instagram profile.
Different types of Instagram Stories you can use
Some very common and simple types of IG Stories you can use for your brand/company include:
Announcements
Thanks to the instant nature of IG Stories, you can make use of this feature to share company announcements like general updates, new staff members, and new products/services. IG Stories can also be used to post behind-the-scene footage of your brand/company that would not otherwise earn a spot in your main profile. This way, your followers will feel more part of the family and also understand the working of your business.
These announcements can be anything ranging from friendly pranks on your colleagues to the packaging of a new product. This way, you will convey the human side of your business and also boost brand engagement and awareness.
Collaborations
Thanks to Instagram Stories, influencers, and brands now have a great platform to collaborate. Influencers can team up with any relevant business that the former thinks their followers could benefit from knowing.
In this, the influencers can take over the Instagram profile of the business and upload a series of videos and photos, or vice versa. This will give both parties new exposure and a lot of fun experiences as well. There are a lot of Story ideas like Q&A sessions, shout-outs, etc. With the help of an influencer, a brand/business will benefit a lot.
Story Highlights
Since its release in December 2017, Instagram Story Highlights have undeniably become a game-changer. For normal users, the Highlights act as a personal show reel for the ‘best life bits’. However, brands and businesses can pin their Stories and can be used as an extension of your bio.
As a brand, you can use the Highlights to tell your audiences who you are, what is it you are doing, and highlight all available services and products. You can create Stories only for the Highlights. With an attractive cover, you can easily transform your Instagram page into a brochure.
These nice covers will provide so much more content for your audiences to look through and retain them for longer on your profile.
Polls
Previously, there used to be boring customer questionnaires; now, you can get the answers with just a single tap. With the help of the polls feature in your Stories, you will be able to drive interaction with your followers. You can use them for customer feedback, market research, or simply for fun or get to know your followers.
There are endless possibilities when it comes to Instagram Story polls. You can put up relevant creative campaigns that are specific to your target demographic or brand.
Questions
With the help of the Questions sticker, you can invite your audience to ask any questions they have, or maybe ask questions to them as well. This is a great feature that will help you build a community as well as encourages interaction with their customers. You will allow your customers to leave behind their opinion or queries.
By asking for their opinions, you will come off as human and reliable to your followers, which will increase customer loyalty.
Countdown
This is the latest addition to your Instagram Story, which is a great feature that will promote announcements, sales, and competitions. You can set up reminders for countdown deadline and you, as a brand, will also understand how many and which audiences are the most engaged. Additionally, this data will also help you build your community.
Links
Sadly, this feature is only available to accounts that have more than 10K followers. If you have that many followers, you can add links to your Instagram Stories. As most of us already know, Instagram Stories do not allow you to add clickable links anywhere else, apart from the bio. However, allowing users to add links to their stories is a big plus.
With the help of this link, you can redirect your audience to another page/browser within Instagram. This means that after your audiences are done checking the link, they can pick up right where they left off.
This feature is mostly used as a call-to-action in the Stories like ‘Book Today’, ‘Start Free Trial’, ‘Shop Sale Now’, etc. so that they know where they are being redirected to once they ‘Swipe Up’.
Final thoughts
As you can see, Instagram Stories can be used as effective marketing tools for your brand. However, it is equally important that you understand all the facades of the tool so that you can make the most out of it. With these tips above, you can create more effective IG Stories strategies.