Do you know that nearly 500 million people scroll through Instagram on a daily basis? And these Instagrammers have a keen eye on trends, products, and services.
For the record, According to Instagram itself, 58% of people say they’ve become more interested in a brand after seeing them on Stories. And half of them have even admitted that they have visited a website to buy a product or service as a result of seeing it in Stories.
So it should come as no surprise that Instagram Stories are a great component when it comes to Instagram marketing. However, if you are still in a fix, we are here to help you. In this blog, we are going to mention 5 strategies you can use to make your Instagram stories most impactful. So, without any further delay, let’s dive right into it.
5 Smart Ways To Use Instagram Stories For Business
Instagram Stories last for 24 hours but their impact lasts forever. Hence it is a great chance to share some brand-defining content and do some mischief as well. Look at the strategies below to know more.
Use Instagram Stickers
Instagram is a versatile platform. It gives you enough scope of interacting with your followers. And one of its great features is that it provides its users with a set of Stickers. These stickers are quite considerate to help you break the ice with the customers.
For example, stickers, like Ask Me A Question, can help you get direct feedback from your customers. These responses are stored together in the Story insights tab, instead of your regular DMs. You can also share these responses in your Stories and thank your customers for engaging. You can also customize the look by adding a backdrop to the sticker.
Run A Flash Giveaway
A flash giveaway is a short giveaway. A flash giveaway is organized to get more user engagement, increase your followers and achieve brand awareness. Flash giveaway usually lasts for 24 hours, making Instagram Stories the suitable platform.
A flash giveaway on Instagram Stories is a great way to reward your Stories viewer. We recommend you do not add too many terms and conditions to the giveaway. When you add so many terms and conditions, it acts as a turn-off for your followers. Once the giveaway is over, promptly contact the winner and reward them.
Embed Instagram Stories On the Website
You are a business and we are sure you have a website. The next right thing you should do is embed Instagram Stories on websites. An Instagram Stories widget on the website will act as proof of presence on Instagram. More importantly, it will showcase the fresh and live content on your website. And what’s better than that?
You can showcase product reviews in these Stories. Besides, you can also ask the micro-influencers you have collaborated with, to tag you in their stories. You can reshare these Stories on your Instagram profile and showcase them on the Instagram Stories widget.
An Instagram Stories widget will not only act as an engaging element on your website but will also help you increase the engagement of your Instagram profile.
Use Hashtags, Mentions, And Location On Your Stories
Another fabulous way of using Instagram Stories is to add Hashtags, mentions, and locations in your Stories. When you add a location in your stories, chances are it makes your story discoverable under the location tag search to new users. Using location features you can also help your story get pulled into the larger location story which is found on the explore feed.
Similarly, when you use Hashtags in your stories, you expose your brand to a larger set of target customers. However, we recommend you do a quick hashtag research. This will help you find what hashtag is trending in your niche.
Add Links In Your Instagram Stories
A couple of years back, sharing links in Stories was only available to Instagrammers who had ten thousand followers. But looking at the market size and the impact of micro-influencers, Instagram decided to provide this feature to everyone.
As a business owner, you can also add links to your Stories. This feature is extremely useful for your business, as you can take your Story viewers to the purchase page or even a YouTube video created by an influencer for your brand.
Add Your IG Stories To Highlights
Chances are you might need Instagram Stories for more than 24 hours. You might want it to stay on the Gram but not on your feed. Instead of letting them expire after 24 hours, you can add them to your Highlights.
These highlights will appear on your Instagram below the bio section. You can also add a cover picture to your highlights. You can add up to a hundred pictures into a Highlight. The best part is you can have as many highlights as you like. And whenever your followers will click on these Highlights, it will act as a standalone narrative.
In A Nutshell
If you are in business, it is high time you start using Instagram Stories. The more high-quality content you share, the better chances you have to stay in the mind of your followers. You can also introduce Instagram Stories Take Over by a celebrity of your niche, as Katy Perry did to Spotify in 2020.