We’ve arrived at our last Instagram marketing post! If you’ve stuck around through the series, thank you. If you’re just tuning in, take a look at our other Instagram marketing blogs. In this post, I’ll be covering Instagram Stories. We’ll look at the basics, how to use this feature, and how it can help your business. Let’s begin!
About Instagram Stories
Instagram marketing got more interesting with the introduction of Instagram Stories. With this feature, you can post videos and photos that will disappear in 24 hours. This content will not appear on your profile or in the feed.
How It Works
Instagram Stories appear in a bar at the top of your feed. When there’s something new to see, their profile photo will have a colorful ring around it. Tap on their profile photo to view the story. Content will show in the order it was posted. You cannot like or comment on stories, however.
How To Post To Stories
To create a story on Instagram, you have to tap the “+” icon at the top left-hand corner of the screen, or you can get to the story camera by swiping left on our screen. Once the camera is opened, you can take a photo or video (up to 15 seconds) as normal. After you take a photo or video, you can add filters and drawings to photo/video. Customize it, then post it!
After you post your story, you can check out some basic analytics that will show you how many times each post in your story has been viewed and who has viewed it. This can be beneficial to see if you have certain followers who watch every time, or you’ve got some new viewers. When you go to watch your own story, swipe up to check out this data.
How Should Businesses Use Instagram Stories?
Give Out Special Offers
Who doesn’t like a coupon or special sale? When you post your coupon to your story, make sure to announce that the offer will end when your story ends (in 24 hours). This is a great way to get instant interaction from your followers, due to the time-sensitive nature of this offer. This will also have your followers checking out your story more often to see if you’ve got any new specials. Make sure the offer is worthwhile though! If you give low-value offers constantly, your offers will be ignored.
Show A Behind-The-Scenes Look At Your Business
This is where you’ll be getting more personal with your followers. If you show off a behind-the-scenes peek of your business, it shows that you are human. This is a simple but easy task.
Tease A Live Video
Stories are a great way to give a heads up on one of your upcoming live videos. You can even cross-promote on this one, teasing live videos on Facebook as well! Doing this will build up anticipation because if your live video is important enough to be promoted beforehand, it must be good or you wouldn’t waste your time.
Showcase A Product Or Service In Action
A quick reveal of a new product or a sneak peek into a service is a great way to get some leads. You can show how a product works among many other things. You can get creative with this one.
Finally…
Instagram Stories is an important feature to utilize when you’re running a small business. In the paragraphs above, I told you multiple ways to use this feature, but you can use your imagination and find what works for you! Marketing on Instagram is something you cannot ignore. With all of the information and ideas I have given you, marketing on Instagram should be a breeze! Good luck!
