After Instagram modified how users view their feeds from linear to being algorithmic based, stories and highlights have taken a top (literally) role. We have seen stories drive the platform from an online photo album between friends to a powerful tool for businesses to personalize their brands and reach new customers while engaging their current ones. With 400+ million daily people using stories, now is the time to take advantage of stories & highlights.
There are lots of ways to tell a story. Your story can be conveyed via images or video, with Instagram providing applications for stickers, drawings, and even augmented reality in addition to varied text overlays. Once you hit 10K followers, your business account can include a clickable link. Like standard posts, hashtags, geotags and mentions can be used to further your reach.
Instagram stories allow your business to construct an ongoing narrative. You can highlight products, events or the people that make your company stand out. Ensure that you are depicting a balance of things that your customers want to see, as opposed to a straight-up advertisement. This way, you’ll be able to target your message to the right clientele, without losing followers.
Do you have a lot to offer? Skip creating multiple accounts and use highlights to share a variety of subjects. This will also serve to declutter your timeline.
Seize the moment. Market in real-time, post live during an event or highlight a special sale. You’ll be delivering this information fast with minimal demand on a user’s attention span
Level the playing field – while a traditional feed may drive your post lower, your new story will display as a highlighted ring, drawing attention to new content!
Authenticity – Don’t pay for smoke and mirrors. Share a product or service in your own natural light. Remember the old adage – people buy from people. Don’t underestimate the intelligence of your audience. People know when they’re being sold to. Stories show the core humanity of your business.
Let your creativity shine. Stories are the perfect way to experiment with new ideas as they are so simple to create. A flop can easily be erased after 24 hours.
Hang your work of art – Create a genius story that you really want to showcase? Tap the ellipsis and ‘share as post,’ complete with a tagged location, filter and custom caption. Or reverse this process and repurpose content from your feed into a story. All with minimal time investment from you.
The bottom line – stories and highlights are as informational as they are fun. They allow your audience to see the real you, with a direct, inbound connection.
To learn more about Instagram and other social media platforms, call us at (860) 916-4561 or visit https://tind-allcreativemarketing.com/.
