Instagram stories are hot right now, and if you aren’t using this tool as a way to market your business, then you may be missing out on a great opportunity to showcase your product or service in a creative way.
The “stories” function on Instagram is located in the bar at the top of your home page, and it shows accounts you follow with a colorful circle around their photo if they have recently uploaded a new “story.” This means that the account has posted a photo or video that is only available to view for 24 hours, and then it vanishes, similarly to Snapchat. You can upload your own photo or video by clicking your photo at the top and posting your content.
If you are marketing a business, this is a great way to engage with your followers and create a sense of urgency within your audience due to the fact that this content is only available for one day. Here are some tips to best utilize Instagram stories for your business.
Use Video, Use Video, Use Video
Video is the most popular way to share ideas and visuals on social media, and the stories feature allows you to share short videos in an easy way. You can shoot them right from your phone in the moment, or you can use a video that was shot within the past 24 hours and saved on your phone.
Make sure your videos are clear and visually appealing. Videos shot in dark environments or that move too fast may not get your message across to your audience.
Use text overlay on your videos to convey ideas and promotions. The stories feature is a great place to advertise a short-term promotion, and you can use text on your video to encourage folks to come to your business before the story or promotion vanishes.
Introduce yourself and others who may be a part of your business by producing short videos and uploading them as stories. This is a great way to create a “teaser” of your brand and the voices behind it, and then create a more comprehensive visual to release at a later date.
Utilize Relevant Influencers for a Story Takeover
Everyone is raving about influencers these days. These are people who are popular on social media, and who have a strong following of people who rely on them for advice on topics ranging from fashion to food. If your product or industry has a relevant or local influencer, it may be a good idea to reach out to them and see if they would be interested in promoting your brand through your stories feature by creating content as themselves using your brand.
*Every influencer has a different idea of how they partner, and some may require products or compensation. It’s important to iron out all the details of your partnership before you engage with the takeover.
Save Your Stories to Highlights
Some Instagram users may be seeing the new “Highlights” feature, which began rolling out in December. This feature is located under your bio on your homepage, and may appear as grey circles. This is a place where you can save some of your stories, and add them to individual albums in order to create a longer story and keep them for a longer period of time.
Take some of your more popular and higher-quality story content and save it to an album here so that your followers can reference it at their leisure. Make sure that you create a short and descriptive title for each album, and choose an appropriate album cover that will entire your audience to check out the content inside.
If you need any assistance with your online content or social media marketing,
contact us at Miss Ink! With over 10 years in the industry, we can help you make the most of your online marketing strategy.
References:
Herman, J. (2018, January 15). How to Use Instagram Story Highlights for Business. Retrieved January 19, 2018, from https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-use-instagram-story-highlights-for-business/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=NewsletterIssue&utm_campaign=New
Blasco, V. (2018, January 17). 7 Ways to Use Instagram Video for Business. Retrieved January 19, 2018, from https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/7-ways-to-use-instagram-video-for-business/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=NewsletterIssue&utm_campaign=New
