Looking for a way to connect with more of your audience and grow your online business? If so, you might want to try out Instagram Story. A feature on Instagram called “Story” lets you share photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours. This can be a great way to reach out to your audience and get to know them.
Instagram Story is also a great way to get the word out about your business and products. Make sure to post interesting and engaging content on Instagram Story to get the most out of it. You should also use hashtags and mention other people in your posts.
Why Your Instagram Story Matters
In a world where we naturally skip over many ads (“Skip Ads” on YouTube) and pay to not sell (Spotify Premium), Instagram stories can save us money.
It’s like a conveyor belt for consumption. You ride it without meaning to when you click on a friend’s photo of their dinner. Before you knew it, you had gone through 30 Instagram stories, seen 5 ads, swiped up to see a link from an influencer’s closet, and were in the last 20 minutes of your life. Most likely, you have no idea where the minute went.
Announcements and Statements
The Instagram Story is available and a fantastic way to share business announcements like new hires, products, and general updates.
Behind-the-scenes videos of your business can be shared at these times, but it’s not always worthwhile to do so on your main profile. Your followers will get to know you and the business while also feeling informed about the most recent information. To attract more followers, you can add more than one photo to your Instagram story.
These individual insights can range from practical jokes on coworkers to new product packaging. By highlighting the human side of your company, they raise interest in and awareness of your brand.
Teamwork or Cooperation
Instagram stories offer a fantastic platform for collaboration between influencers and brands.
You can collaborate with clients who are influencers or with businesses that are similar to yours that your customers might find useful. Both businesses gained new notoriety as a result of this, and they generally enjoyed making it!
Just a word of caution: some of these collaborations can be profitable, especially if influencers are involved. However, there are numerous ways to work together via Instagram Stories. So consider how it might help your company.
Highlights from Instagram Stories
Since they were first introduced in December 2017, Instagram story highlights have undergone significant changes.
These serve as “best bits” for individual show reels for typical users. For brands, however, the option to pin the story to the top of the profile essentially functions as a bio extension.
As a business, you can use highlights to inform website visitors about your identity, what you do, why you do it, and an overview of your goods and services. Create a highlight story by turning your Instagram page into a pamphlet with a captivating cover!
Developing polls
Boring customer surveys are a thing of the past. To get an answer, simply tap. Voting in Instagram stories is a fantastic way to boost follower interaction. It can be used for audience understanding and enjoyment, market research, and customer feedback. There are countless voting options, and you can develop imaginative campaigns that are specific to your audience or brand.
In 2023, we anticipate that brand-customer interactions in this tale will only grow. Instagram keeps rolling out features that encourage genuine conversation and patronage of particular brands. Let’s move on to the following notion.
Questions & Answers
Brands can use question stickers to prompt audience members to pose their own or incisive questions.
This function is excellent for creating communities and promoting customer interaction. The company establishes a reputation for being dependable, approachable, and human by demonstrating that they value their customers’ opinions and that they are available to respond to inquiries. The result is increased customer loyalty!
Response Slider
Customers being able to comment on your stories’ content is a humorous addition to Instagram Stories.
The set of guidelines governing how precise content is and how engaged customers are with it are fed back by interactions on Instagram Stories. Consequently, using response sliders to increase engagement is a great strategy for manufacturers!
Manufacturers frequently use this choice, along with heart eyes, to determine how much their target market enjoys a product.
Countdown
Countdown stickers, which are brand-new to Instagram stories, are a great way for businesses to advertise sales, contests, and other events.
Brands get data on how many (and which) of their audience members are most engaged because users can set reminders for the countdown period.
Links or Linking
Unfortunately, only accounts with 10,000 followers or more can currently use this feature.
If your company is among the fortunate ones, you are permitted to include external links in your Instagram story.
As you may be aware, Instagram only permits links to function in bios in an effort to maintain the functionality of the app. As a result, including the link in the narrative is a huge plus. The user is redirected by the link to the Instagram browser. Pick up where you left off when you take off.By including a subpoena that is clear in your story, you can make the most of this feature. Options include “Buy Now,” “Start Free Trial,” “Book Today,” and “Grab the Deal NOW.”
Templates
Influencers and popular brands may have used story templates in Instagram Stories last year, as you have probably noticed. These are well-made templates that users can fill out and screen, mainly so that followers can get to know them. Brands have a fantastic opportunity to participate here! Consider your intended audience and the activities they enjoy. After that, make a branded story template to fill out and distribute. Fill it out yourself as well because it’s a great way to educate your followers about your business and culture.
Place Stickers
Instagram is all about informal networking and connecting people through common interests. By adding location tags, you can make your Instagram Stories more visible!
People who don’t follow you will be able to see them because they will be introduced to that location’s professional story. It’s a quick and simple trick that aims to give you more impressions for your stories.
Similar results can be obtained from hashtags in Instagram Stories. It means that by using that hashtag (that became a mouthful), your story might be linked to a larger story.
You can use hashtags in your stories after doing research to find out which ones your audience and rivals most frequently use.
Stickers for “New Post”
The duration of an Instagram post’s engagement is significant due to the current behavior of the Instagram algorithm. Because of this, an increasing number of users are starting to advertise their most recent posts in Instagram stories, usually by blocking thumbnails and forcing users to visit their profiles in order to view them. Users who have more than 10,000 followers can use “swipe up to like” to engage higher and faster and CTA to link to posts. Try this trick on your company’s Instagram account to see if it works with the many other accounts that are already utilizing it.
Prizes or Contests
Have a fantastic good or service to offer as a gift? Make a splash by holding a contest on your brand’s Instagram story! The benefit of testing at various points in the narrative is that you can only take part for 24 hours a day. This may instill a sense of urgency in your audience. Take a photo or video of the prize and include the entry requirements. Please use the email address you provided to respond to this story. You can compile all the information after the contest is over and choose the winner at random.
Instagram stories can be used to advertise the competitions that are currently running on your main profile. Many followers might not be able to see posts announcing a free gift because of current algorithms. Use the story to inform your followers of it and encourage them to participate. You can reach a wider audience by using hashtags like #giveaway, #contest, and #competition, which make it simpler for people who don’t follow you to find your content.
SESSIONS LIVE
Businesses should use Instagram Live to increase engagement. Be ready to announce it to your followers and spread the word about it elsewhere.
Your live video will be more likely to appear on the Discover page under Top Live the more viewers and engagement it receives. So, make an effort to involve as many people as you can. This gives you and your coworkers time to prepare your actions and remarks for the live stream.
There are countless uses for Live in business, if you’re wondering what! When introducing new products and features, chronicling events, conducting movie interviews, answering questions from followers, or promoting limited-time deals, many brands use Live.
In order to promote Instagram, let your followers know that you have started a live stream. Instagram is trying to make live streaming the next big thing. At the very top of the story bar, there is a live video as well. Therefore, the first thing people see when you enter the story conveyor is your video.
We can therefore draw the following conclusions after looking at all 14 strategies for using Instagram Stories to expand your online audience:
Over 300 million people use Instagram Stories every day, and it’s simple to incorporate them into your social media marketing plan. With the story’s brief duration and soothing atmosphere, demonstrate how fantastic your enterprise and its goods or services are!
Conclusion
Finally, using Instagram stories is a fantastic way to grow your online following and promote your brand. You can use them to give followers a tour of your office or production facility, post sneak peeks of new goods or services, or share behind-the-scenes footage of your company.
You can develop a solid and devoted following that will support the expansion of your business by employing innovative strategies to keep your followers interested.