By Latisha S. | latisha@pancakedigitalsolutions.com
If you’ve been curious about Instagram stories, then stick around for 3 tips for successful Instagram stories.
But first, let’s talk about WHY stories are important for your Instagram marketing.
It’s no secret that the Instagram algorithm is changing. With these talks of decreasing engagement on the platform, you may be wondering how you can stand out on Instagram.
The answer?
Instagram stories.
According to a report from 99Firms here are some Instagram story stats that might surprise you:
- Nearly 1.7 billion accounts use the Stories format daily.
- 500 million users now use Instagram Stories every day.
- 1 in 4 Millennials and Gen Z-ers look for Stories of the products and services they want to buy.
- 15%–25% of people swipe up on a link in branded Stories.
- One-third of the most-viewed Instagram Stories are from businesses.
- 36% of businesses use Instagram Stories for product promotion.
- 59% of brands link Instagram Stories to a shoppable page.
- The average posting frequency for IG Stories is 2.3 posts per week.
- Instagram Stories accounts for 34% of Instagram’s sponsored content.
Now you know that Instagram stories should be a major part of your Instagram marketing. But, how do you create a successful Instagram story strategy?
These 3 tips for successful Instagram stories will help you get started.
Consistency
With any social media strategy the biggest factor for success is always going to be consistency.
However, consistency is especially important with Instagram stories.
Why?
Instagram stories are only available for 24 hours. Therefore, if you aren’t creating content at least every day, people will not see your profile.
The best rule of thumb? Create Instagram stories 3x a day.
Yes, I know this sounds like a lot, but it will push your content out in the algorithm and your ideal audience faster and more consistently.
Creativity
The first thing you want to do before creating your Instagram stories strategy is competitor research. You want to see what your competitors are doing and more importantly, what they aren’t doing.
Are they…
- Creating live videos?
- Creating conversations in their stories using the “Chat” option?
- Promoting
- Offering value & tips
Then, create your own creative Instagram stories. Make sure that they are branded so people will learn to recognize your content.
- Some quick content tips:
- Share your newest blog post
- Do a 10 second teaser for a longer Facebook live or IGTV video
- Offer valuable tips related to your niche
- Start a conversation using the Chat button
- If you have 10k followers, use the swipe up feature to lead to your landing page
- Share behind the scenes videos & images (people want to know you!)
- Tag other relevant accounts in your stories (this taps into their audience too and sometimes they will even tag you back in their stories!)
Call-to-Action
The biggest part of seeing engagement and gaining followers with your Instagram stories is having a call-to-action on every story.
This prompts your audience to do something after seeing your story.
Your call-to-action could be a story with a poll, the Chat button, asking a question, or having them go to your profile or follow a link to a landing page.
Asking questions in your Instagram stories is one of my go-to call-to-actions. It gives your audience a chance to voice their opinions and also gets them in your DMs where you can start a real conversation with them.
On the Table…
Although you may have experienced a slight decline in your Instagram engagement, utilizing these 3 tips for successful Instagram Stories will allow you to build a successful Instagram marketing strategy, connect with your audience and get your message or products out there.
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