When Instagram Stories launched back in 2016, they became an instant hit. With Snapchat Stories already making waves, the Stories feature was a dream come true for many Instagram lovers.
With the Stories feature, IG users were now able to share their everyday moments with their followers. They could also view interesting Stories on their followers' feeds.
People started spending even more time using the app. Today, over half a billion people interact with Instagram Stories for an average of 32 minutes every day.
Stories are a lot of fun for ordinary users, and they can be a great tool for business owners to keep in touch with customers. Stories are more casual, can be less polished, and can feel less intrusive than in-feed posts.
And the best form of marketing is the one that doesn’t look like marketing.
What are Instagram Stories?
Instagram Story is a feature that allows Instagram users to post temporary photos and videos which disappear after 24 hours.
Instagram Stories take storytelling to a different level.
They make it easy to capture and share moments on the go. Stories have a range of creative tools available, including text, music, GIFs, emojis, hashtags, location tags, and stickers.
What’s more interesting about Instagram Stories is that they can help you generate tons of traffic.
If you have over 10,000 followers and/or a verified account, you can access a ‘swipe-up’ feature which sends people directly to an external link.
How do Instagram Stories work?
When you log into your Instagram app, you’ll see some round icons at the top part of your screen below the Instagram logo.
Those are Instagram Stories.
They’re strategically placed in that position to catch your attention. Being the first thing you see on your screen, you may want to quickly view a couple of them before scrolling down your feed.
You may also want to share some of the moments you’ve saved on your phone or create new ones from scratch.
This prime position is one of the reasons why IG Stories drive tons of engagement and value for businesses. It’s the reason why brand Stories have an 86% completion rate.
IG stories are designed to be addictive and snackable. The range of creative tools available, plus the 24-hour time limit keeps people coming back again and again to check stories.
Your ability to use these tools creatively will keep your followers glued to your page.
Goes without saying that if you create top-notch content, they’ll keep coming for more. So every bit of effort that goes into creating a stunning Story is worth it.
Elements of a good Instagram Story
Great Instagram Stories do not happen out of the blue.
To create a story with impact, you need to make sure you include certain elements:
- Eye-catching images
- Hashtags, location tags, and name tags
- Emojis, stickers, and GIFs
- Background music or sound
- Cool color effects and backgrounds
- Short and captivating videos
Each of these elements adds different effects to your Instagram Stories. You can always adapt them to your campaigns according to your needs.
So don’t miss an opportunity to create stunning Stories with one or more of these elements whenever you can.
Why include Instagram Stories in your marketing strategy?
Instagram marketing involves the use of different marketing strategies to promote your brand on Instagram.
Generally speaking, every marketing strategy should result in one or more of the following outcomes:
- Sell your products or services
- Get more followers
- Increase your engagement
- Build relationships with potential customers
- Relate with other brands, and
- Boost your brand’s reputation.
It might sound like a lot, but you can achieve all of that by showing up regularly. You can do that by creating new content with engaging captions as well as reposting existing content.
A recent Facebook Stories survey by Ipsos found that about 58% of the respondents developed more interest in a brand/product after seeing it in Instagram Stories. 50% of respondents also said that they bought a product from a website after viewing Stories about it.
Feed posts combined with IG stories can make a powerful boost to your business!
How to advertise on Instagram Stories
We’ve written a lot on the organic approach to Instagram marketing in this post.
As you can see, organic marketing is a natural way of attracting new customers and keeping them engaged over time, rather than using paid advertising.
Paid advertisement, on the other hand, involves paying for ad space on Instagram. The platform allows you to target your potential customers based on interests and demographics.
To run a paid ad on Instagram, you’ll need a Facebook Business Account. It’s important you know that you can only manage your Instagram ads through the Facebook Ads Manager.
When you run Instagram Stories ads, your promoted content will appear in between other organic stories. They look just like organic stories, except for the ‘sponsored’ note at the bottom of the screen.
One of the advantages of paid advertising is that it produces fast results. But combining it with organic marketing will deliver a more robust experience and a better result.
Bring everything together
Instagram has all the features you need to create a unique marketing experience.
But the Stories feature stands out as one of the biggest additions to Instagram. They’re capable of creating the most impact on your marketing according to relevant stats.
If you’re not using them yet, you’re missing out!
How are you implementing your Stories? We’d love to hear about your experience.
