We all love a good Story!
It’s been almost four years since Instagram introduced Stories to the platform (we can’t believe it’s been that long either), and whilst it took some time for people to get to grips with them, a massive 500 million accounts use Instagram Stories every day. In fact, they are fast becoming a key feature to a business’ social media strategy and if you’re not using them for business, you could be missing out on a huge opportunity.
Not only are stories fun and creative, they’re also one of the best ways to grow your engagement, build brand awareness and even drive sales!
You can check that you’re heading in the right direction with Stories, by looking at your Story analytics. Similar to the analytics for your Instagram posts and account, your Instagram Stories analytics can be found by tapping the “Insights” button in the top right corner of your Instagram business profile. Once you’ve opened your Instagram insights, switch to the “Content” tab at the top of the screen and here you will see data for both your regular Instagram posts as well as your Instagram Stories including shares, responses and profile views (we’ll have more about Instagram post and Stories insights in a future blog).
As time has evolved, so has the many features within Stories and we’re going to share with you our top tips and tricks and the best way to get you using them!
Firstly, let’s have a quick recap on Stories (well, it has been four years!) Stories are a visual format that disappears after 24 hours, allowing users to post easily and rapidly to their followers without worrying about overloading them. Stories tell a story! Whether it’s a product you’re trying to focus on, a day of the year you’re trying to celebrate or just a way to touch base with your followers, you can use Stories in so many ways and there’s no right or wrong way to use them, it’s all down to your business.
They appear in a bar at the top of your feed — and all Instagram accounts will be able to share stories. When there’s something new to see, their profile photo will have a colourful ring around it. To view someone’s Story, simply tap on their profile photo and hey presto, their story will appear full screen! If they have a number of Stories, they will appear in chronological order, from oldest to newest.
To add a Story, click on the camera icon on the top left of your Instagram feed, add your photo, text and stickers and share away!
With Stories you don’t have to worry about the polished photos, it’s not about Instagram aesthetics here, in fact the vibe is definitely a little rougher around the edges, which is great news for those people and businesses who don’t have a David Bailey amongst them!
If you are looking at taking photos for Stories (or hiring a photographer to do the work for you) remember to keep images vertical, so they fill the whole space. The recommended ratio is 9:16 and file size is 30MB for images or 4GB for video. The maximum duration for a video is 15 seconds. It can be longer, however longer videos will be split across a number of Stories (which is always something to remember!) If you have a few images that make your Story, you can create a carousel of photos and encourage viewers to tap through the Story journey.
Text
Practically anything goes with Stories, but one thing to remember is to keep text SHORT, SWEET and VALUABLE. To tell a powerful story, simplicity is best. Too much text is hard to read and may prompt users to swipe on. Focus on placing your text messaging in an appropriate place that doesn’t cover up any main features of the image that you’re using.
There are various fonts and text colours you can use on Stories. Choose the one that best reflects your brand and remember the wording needs to be legible (i.e. don’t put swirly white text on a light background as this will be hard to read).
Stickers
Stickers are fun visual additions that are also a crucial tool for your brand’s aesthetic. They’re constantly changing and there’s practically a sticker to cover every mood and event. They come in many varieties, but they each serve a function, for example:
· Increasing your reach and views with hashtags and locations
· Express a mood by using gifs, emojis or music
· Encourage engagement with polls, countdowns, emoji slider or questions
· Stay up to date by using topical stickers (Pride, Lockdown, Christmas, Health and Wellbeing, weather etc.)
Highlights
Stories don’t have to disappear after 24 hours. You can add them to your highlights to capture your audience. Highlights are a great place to keep your best, brand-defining content. For example, if you’re a bar you could use your highlights to share cocktail menus or if you’re doing an office re-fit you could use highlights to share the before and after story progress.
Now you know about the many features of Stories, it’s time to start using them. Wondering where to start? Here’s some Stories inspiration to get you started!
Create a Quiz
We all love a quiz and we’re pretty sure a large majority of us will have spent a least one night this year during lockdown doing a Zoom quiz with friends or family, are we right?! Quizzes don’t have to stop because we’re no longer in isolation – an Instagram Stories quiz is a great way to engage your audience. Just make it relevant to your brand. 5-6 questions are plenty to get you started with and keep your fans engaged!
Create Content your Audience will Screenshot
Stories may only last 24 hours and unless you plan on adding them to a highlight, once they’re gone, they’re gone! This can be annoying to those people who forgot to write down the recipe for that cocktail or the shade of lipstick that celebrity was wearing. If you’re creating content that you think someone will be interested in, encourage the user to screenshot it for future use. Guess what? There are various stickers for that!
Run a Poll
Polls are a great way to engage your followers. They’re easy to set up and a fun way to ask people their preference to things. You could even use a poll as market research if you’re looking to test a new product, change your brand colours, stock a product etc. The possibilities with polls are endless! Give them a try, we guarantee you’ll be addicted!
Showcase Products
Got a new product or a bestseller on the books? Stories are incredibly engaging and a great place to share more about your business and products with your audience.
Share Stories
We all love tagging businesses and brands in our Stories and when that happens, if it’s a Story worth sharing – why not add it to your Stories?! This is great for gaining user generated content and shows appreciation, encouraging consumers to tag you in their Stories. It’s also great for that all important ‘word of mouth’. Remember, if you are sharing a fan’s story that you’re happy with their content, and that it keeps in with your brand’s values.
So, there you have it, some top ideas to get you started with Stories, if you haven’t already taken the plunge. There’s so much you can do with them, we haven’t even touched on videos or advertising, all it takes is for you to have a play with them and create your own.
Also, as they evolve and new features get added (which we guarantee will happen), we’ll be sure to share them with you – keep an eye on our social media channels for updates!
If you have any questions about Stories or looking for help with your Instagram business account, why not drop us a line at hello@socialsoda.co.uk
