How To Make The Most Out Of Instagram Stories
Up ‘till now Instagram only allowed you to post a story for up to 15 seconds. Though a recent change as we officially head into Q4, Instagram Stories are now 60 seconds max. Say goodbye to 15-second breakups of content! This is big as it allows you to produce short-form vertical video ads for TikTok and Instagram in one cut vs previously having to have a different cut for Instagram because they maxed out at 15 seconds.
Is your business leveraging short-form vertical video yet? If no, why not? This change is big for the ever-changing space of social media marketing.
There are easily over 500 million accounts using Instagram Stories daily, Instagram hasn’t shared updated stats since 2019 (a lifetime ago in social media years), but this number is likely to have accelerated and grown even more. Originally inspired from Snapchat and has since excelled into a staple for the platform, and provides huge opportunities for brands to get creative and harness to grow engagement.
Instagram Stories are vertical, full-screen photos and videos that are visible for 24 hours, and appear at the top of your feed.
There are lots of interactive tools you can incorporate such as stickers, polls and Instagram Story filters to elevate your content to the next level.
So let’s dive into the top tactics to succeed with your next Instagram Story.
Understand Engagement – Why It Matters
Woah! Before we let you know the top tactics to succeed, it’s important to understand what exactly engagement is and how it is measured. On Instagram, engagement is defined as when your followers take an action to engage in your content. This could be a like, share, message or comment. Having a strong engagement is important to your overall success on the platform, Instagrams algorithm uses it to determine how important your content is. The higher your engagement, the more likely your content is going to show up in Instagram users’ feeds.
Tip 1: Location, Location, Location! – Geolocation and Location Hashtags
This has got to be one of the easiest ways to boost your engagement by increasing your organic reach and interacting with your target audience. It’s as simple as the more people who see your content, the higher the engagement you can achieve. Using geotags and location Instagram hashtags increases your local discovery and leads to higher engagement. Though it is important to consider your reaching the right audience with your Stories.
Using this tactic is going to allow you to reach people outside of your existing following and gives you the opportunity to showcase your product or service to a wider audience who might be interested. Reaching the right audience is vital to ensure you can achieve higher engagement rates.
Tip: 2 What Do You Think? – Polls
Whether on Instagram or off, you’ll be more than aware of how much people like to voice their thoughts and beliefs. When it comes to social media people are definitely not shy to express their thoughts and are happy to share their opinions with others. Using the poll sticker-a one-question poll for Stories is a great tactic to start a conversation with your followers and increase user engagement.
This sticker allows users to tap on the poll and choose from two options to share their thoughts, they are also able to see which choice is in the lead after they have voted themselves. As Stories are available for 24 hours users can watch the Story again later to see the updated results.
Not only does this tactic get your audience engaged but it also doubles up and allows you to learn more about other customers’ preferences, which can help shape the direction of future content, helping in increasing engagement further.
TIP 3: Are You A Quiz Master?
Your audience doesn’t need to be full of quiz masters, but we do know that people love taking quizzes, whether wanting to learn more about themselves or test their knowledge. They also love the competitive factor in getting the highest score. Using the quiz sticker on your Stories can encourage more people to engage.
The sticker allows you to write out your question and provide multiple-choice options (up to four answer choices). When a user clicks on an answer, the “right” answer will be highlighted green and the wrong answers will turn red.
TIP 4: Ask Away – Question Time
Don’t neglect your most valuable customers, those who are already following you! These customers should feel like they are valued, one way to do this is to ease the mind of worried customers and answer any questions they may have.
You might think you have a group of avid followers, but you’ll likely have followers still in the discovery phase, this is one of the most important stages in the customer lifecycle as people are learning more about your company and which product or service best meets their needs.
We’re seeing more and more brands use the question sticker to collect queries or questions from their potential customers to answer them in Instagram Stories. And there is a reason why this sticker is a popular tactic to increase engagement. People follow businesses on social media today if they are interested in the products or services they offer. Question stickers give these customers the opportunity to interact with your brand and show that you put your customers first. Will you try this tactic to boost your engagement with Instagram Stories?
TIP 5: That Is Going Straight Into My Basket – Shoppable Sticker
It should come as no surprise that you can see better engagement with your customers if you satisfy their needs and wants. Once you’ve successfully increased your engagement and are seeing strong results, it’s time to consider including shoppable stickers. Instagram has become a powerful sales machine, with 83% of people using the platform to discover new products.
Don’t sleep on this! With people ready to find and buy products on the platform make, it the shopping process and experience easier. These stickers allow viewers to discover featured products with ease. With this in mind, ease will come hand in hand with creating a positive customer experience and so will help to increase engagement.
Conclusion – The Time Has Come To Engage
These five tactics will help you succeed with Instagram Stories and grow your engagement. We all know with the growth of Instagram it is forever becoming harder to cut through the noise. Instagram Stories has no longer become an option as a tactic to grow engagement with your target audience and interact with potential customers. Not got time to focus on your social media marketing strategy or just need a helping hand? Getting a digital marketing agency on board can give you the support you need while you focus on the importance of running your business.