9 Reasons to Incorporate Instagram Stories into your Marketing
Hopefully your business is already on Instagram, or at least moving in that direction, in addition to Facebook and any other social platforms. Today, you're going to learn why you should be incorporating Instagram Stories into your marketing plan.
Stories allow Instagram users to share videos or photos of their "story" throughout the day, and each :15 second "story" will be available to followers for 24 hours. As a brand, you can create these "stories" to tell your story, but you can also engage with other businesses, fans, or followers in their stories. Here are 9 reasons why you should be incorporating Instagram stories into your marketing.
Engage More with Followers Create engaging content for your customers to interact with you. Ideas include: • Having a poll and share the data [see picture] • Ask a question • Include a quiz • Show a countdown to an upcoming event, special or sale • Add a geolocation tag
Demonstrate a Product Use the stories features to showcase a new product. Give your following an inside look. • Show the features of a new product you're selling / offering • Explain in several stories how it works or why your followers need it • Give insights on to how it was made / created / established • Highlight behind the scenes insight
Highlight an Event Everyone wants to know the inside scoop, especially if they're missing out on an event. Show inside footage of an event to give your followers a glimpse of what's going on. • Leading up to an event, give some mystery an excitement for attendees • During an event, show what's going on to create what I call the "FOMO Effect" [Fear of Missing Out] • Feature special moments like a give-a-way, high score, new member, etc. • Brag on your employees and the behind the scenes work it takes to put on this event
Twice the Impact Did you know that Instagram is owned by Facebook? This means, if your business Instagram account is connected to your business Facebook page, the stories you post on Instagram will also be stories on Facebook! You can do the work once, and have twice the impact - the same stories on two platforms.
Explain the Process Take advantage of stories to explain the process for customers coming in. This will be a great educational tool that won't take up space on your newsfeed. • Great for "how to" check in at tonight's event. Example: You'll need this ticket (story #1), you'll park in this section (story #2), and you'll check in with Sarah (story #3) here. • Show how your club or membership works. Give guests a "how to do _________" visual in 3-5 stories so they feel more comfortable coming in. • Explain how you make something, feature an employee of the month and what they receive, or any other every day process
Reach More Instagram Users Users can discover stories based on the hashtags, tags, or geolocation you use. Therefore, people that may not be following you might discover your base on commonalities. This will help grow your reach and followership.
Connect B2B Use stories further connect and support with other businesses within your industry or community. And they can do the same for you! Having cross promotions while supporting one another on social will allow you to do the following: • Grow your following with new users • Brand awareness in a similar space • Drive traffic to a website or event • Content generator by working with other businesses
It's Effective Stories are a great tool to spike engagement, gain followers and updated your fan base. Users not only watch stories, but they tune in daily so they don't miss anything since stories are only 24 hours.
It's Simple Yes, there are a lot of tips and tricks to learn about stories. But just get started and you'll learn as you go. Plus, they only last for 24 hours anyway, so they'll be gone in no time.
Instagram Stories is a must for brands, and there are ways to constantly peak interest through this platform. That's for different blog post at another time. But for now, my hope is that these 9 nuggets will be inspiring enough for you to get started.
Let me know how I can help as your personal Creative Ninja!
