Instagram Stories was launched in August 2016, and now more than 500 million Instagrammers use stories daily. If you’ve ever thought about experimenting with stories to boost your reach or engagement, now is a perfect time.
Want to learn how to use stories for your company's benefit?
In this guide, we’ll walk you through the ins and outs of stories, from why to get started and post your first story, to best practices for creating content that will make your business stand out on Instagram.
What are Instagram Stories?
Instagram Stories allows Instagram users to share photos and videos to their Story, which is visible to followers of the user's Instagram account. Recently posted Stories are indicated by a gradient edge around the user's profile picture. Instagram Stories disappear after 24 hours.
Instagram Story is published separately from the photos and videos found in the tiled gallery of your Instagram profile.
How to use Instagram Stories?
Instagram Stories appear in a bar at the top of your feed and all Instagram accounts will be able to share stories.
Although you might know the basics of sharing them, there are hidden tools within the app that can make the photos and videos you add to your Story more creative and engaging. It helps users to capture everything in between and create a bigger, richer story than a series of individual photos can provide.
Here are some Instagram Story ideas that will boost engagement
Promote blog posts.
Promote Instagram posts.
Promote products.
Create a shoppable story.
Story takeover.
Go live.
Use IGTV.
Conduct a poll
Why should you use Instagram Stories?
Instagram Stories can drive a ton of engagement and value. It is estimated that more than 500 million Instagram users are sharing content on Instagram Stories.
A lot of brands have already seen success publishing content to this platform to grow brand awareness, grow traffic to videos or newsletters outside of Instagram, or share sponsored posts. Instagram Stories allows them to publish fun disappearing content that infuses brand voice and personality without taking up too much of the average user's dwindling attention span.
3 Instagram Stories best practices that brands should follow
While Instagram Stories don’t require much optimization or effort, you shouldn’t just start sharing them randomly. Here let’s look at three best practices of Instagram Stories as you blend them into your SMM strategy.
Figure out your publishing frequency
A key upside of Stories is that you can publish them frequently without worrying about spamming your followers. Stories published create audience engagement, with top brands posting over fifteen Stories per month. Investment of time and resources that go into publishing stories on a daily or near-daily basis provides a lot of benefits.
Take full advantage of creative features, tools, and formats
Instagram is consistently rolling out new features and functions to Stories. For finding fresh opportunities to engage customers and keep up with trends, keep a close eye on the updates.
Keep a close eye on your Instagram Stories engagement
Watching your social analytics is a no-brainer, but Stories are often treated as an afterthought when it comes to tracking data.
Consider how tracking Instagram Stories analytics can clue you in on insights such as:
Which types of Stories receive the most views, replies, and engagement
How often you should publish Stories based on first hand data
How engaged your total audience is versus your Stories viewers
Final Words:
Reading this article must have made it clear how businesses can use Instagram Stories in their marketing to improve their engagement, visibility, and content. The best Instagram Stories adds more freedom and flexibility to Instagram marketing despite changes in the platform and user behaviour. With so many points on how to best use Instagram stories, it's your turn to make full use of this feature for your business.
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