What’s the first thing you do when you open the Instagram app for your personal use? If you’re like half a billion people around the globe, you check out the Instagram Stories feed first thing. This reel of videos from your favorite friends and brands can bring insightful tidbits into the lives and workings of anyone you follow.
If you’re a business owner, you must see the potential in using the platform to promote your brand, products, and services. It’s a treasure trove of marketing opportunities and the ROI is off the charts.
But if you’re unfamiliar with the platform and its inner workings for brand, it can be like treading water trying to figure out how to make it work for you. Use these useful tips for making the most out of your Instagram Stories marketing.
Focus on Followers First
Stories can be a powerful tool for marketing, but only if people actually see it. If you only have a few hundred followers, you’re not making much of an impression. To broaden your exposure and get greater ROI for your Stories marketing efforts, work on growing your following first.
There are dozens of organic methods for growing your following, but if you’re in a hurry, you can always buy Instagram followers (click here). While this doesn’t yield long-lasting effects as far as greater exposure on Stories, it will help you grow your following.
When Instagram users decide which brands to follow, they typically consider multiple factors including the quality of content on your profile and the number of followers you have. Your follower count serves as social proof to indicate you’re a brand worth following.
Once you’ve boosted your follower count with purchased followers, put your best foot forward to acquire and regain Instagram users in your target audience. It will require regular, high-quality Stories with enthusiastic engagement. Your increased follower count will give you the confidence to do it right.
Stay at the Front of the Reel
The fact that the Instagram Stories reel plays automatically is a huge advantage for you. It means that consumers will see at least a portion of your Stories every time you post. Even if they skip past it, they’ll see some of it, increasing brand permanence.
More importantly, Stories places the most recent user Stories at the front of the reel. So, if you post consistently and frequently throughout the day, you’ll continually show up at the front of the reel, increasing your exposure.
Use Stickers to Deepen Connections
Stories offers the use of stickers to increase the interactive nature and return on investment of your Stories. There are more than a dozen stickers that you can use creatively to enhance the value and connection each Story brings. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Location Sticker: Social media users long for connection, and when someone mentions a city they live in or love, there’s an instant spark. Use the location sticker to make your content even more relatable.
- Hashtag Sticker: Include hashtags in your Stories to make your brand easier to find. Hashtags catalogue your content within the platform so that interested users can find content they’ll love. Add hashtag stickers that add value but avoid covering your Stories with them, so it doesn’t look spammy.
- Polls Sticker: Gain valuable feedback or generate valuable conversations with a poll sticker. It enables your followers to cast their votes, which can provide amazing engagement and opinions for the benefit of your brand.
- Question Sticker: Like the poll sticker, this is a great way to get feedback. Let consumers ask you any question they like, from the process of making your brand a reality to your latest product reveals.
- Music Sticker: Who doesn’t love coming across a popular song on their social media scroll? You can use just the tune or add the lyrics to apply to your brand.
These are just a few of many uses of stickers on Stories. Remember to use stickers with a distinct purpose in mind. Each sticker placed in your story should be about deepening your brand and gaining greater conversions from a targeted audience.
Utilize Live Video
When uploading videos to Stories, you have two choices: Record and edit your videos or record live videos. Most of the time, you’ll probably choose the record and edit feature to make sure you’re representing your brand with the best possible message. But it’s worthwhile to record the occasional live video to show a raw, unfiltered view of your brand.
Social media users are getting tired of seeing the perfect images and stories plastered across all networks. They want to see what it’s really like to bring a business to success, and your live videos will give your brand an air of authenticity that can’t be replicated with perfectly curated videos.
Live videos can be used to show behind-the-scenes footage of your business, brand new product reveals, unique stories, and more. Focus on drawing intrigue with your live Stories, and it’ll come to you naturally.
Place Strategic Links in Stories
According to ViralRace, the rules surrounding links on Instagram have always been very strict: You get one link, and short of pasting a long URL into your comments for consumers to copy and paste (which they won’t), there was nothing you could do but accept it.
Thanks to recent changes, however, businesses can now post links in their Stories. As followers are watching your Story, they can swipe up to access a link on your website, whether it’s a useful blog post or a product page.
Imagine the potential of placing links in your Stories. You can tell a compelling story and then encourage watchers to take the next step and head to your website. It’s an easy way to bring more attention to your brand.