5 Tips for Using Instagram Stories to Connect with Your Audience
By Latisha S. | latisha@pancakedigitalsolutions.com
Instagram is an incredible social media platform for businesses to connect with their audience. The best way to reach your audience on Instagram is actually through the use of Instagram stories. Today I’m going to share with you 5 tips for using Instagram stories to connect with your audience.
But first…
What are Instagram stories?
An Instagram story is a way for you to share multiple photos and videos in a slideshow format. These appear at the top of the Instagram feed. With Instagram stories you don’t have to worry about over posting because the photos and videos disappear after 24 hours. Stories are a way to share quick tips, behind the scenes, and sneak peeks into your everyday life!
Create Consistent Stories
According to, Embed Social, Instagram stories are used by 500 million users every day and one third of the most viewed Instagram Stories are from businesses.
This is one reason that you should be creating stories consistently for your business.
You also want to keep in mind that stories are only visible for 24 hours which is another reason that you need to be creating a flow of consistent stories.
You can spread these stories out over the day so that you always have an active story in your profile.
Storytelling with Stories
When you are creating your stories you should keep two things in mind:
- They should be creative and fun
- They should tell a story
Your stories should be fun and creative, but they should also be leading your audience somewhere. Because these stories are short, they need to be eye-catching so that you can draw your audience into watching them, instead of swiping to the next one.
Call to Actions
Another key aspect to creating Instagram stories that connect with your audience is to always have some kind of call to action in your story!
Instagram has made this easy with fun and engaging stickers that you can use to get your audience to engage with.
Here are some examples of the stickers you can choose from…
Hashtags & Locations in Instagram Stories
If you want to connect with new people through your stories, you need to make sure that you are using geotags (location tags) and hashtags within your stories. That is the only way that people who aren’t already following you will be able to find your stories.
Here is where you can find both the location tags & hashtags:
You can also use the text option (shown below) and add up to 10 more hashtags in your story. 
Interact With Stories from Your Ideal Client
Once you have your consistent, eye-catching stories on your own profile, you want to go and start engaging with your target audience’s stories as well.
This will allow you to engage with them and more importantly, it is a great way to naturally slide into their DM’s (direct messages) and get a conversation going with them!
And that is how you will build and nurture that relationship with your audience.
On the Table…
Instagram stories have opened up an amazing opportunity for businesses and entrepreneurs to connect directly with their audience. Through the strategic use of Instagram stories you can reach new people and build a more personal relationship with your audience.
For more information on how to use Instagram for your business, check out 3 Tips for Successful Instagram Stories and Instagram Marketing Strategies for Business