HOW TO USE INSTAGRAM STORIES FOR BUSINESS
As a business owner, if you don’t know what Instagram stories is, the fact that 300M users interact with Instagram Stories daily and of this, 15–25% of Story viewers swipe up to follow a link and engage directly with a brand’s website, should pique your interest.
Wondering what the feature, Instagram
story, is? Just as Facebook and Snapchat stories, Instagram stories is
designed to let you share videos and pictures in a progressive manner, in order
to tell a powerful brand story.
Interestingly, 30% of users have bought a product that they discovered on Instagram, as at June 2018, Instagram has 1 billion monthly active users; so do the maths!
The above statistics shows that there is a large audience to be reached and you can use Instagram stories to build your brand’s identity, attract more followers and encourage more sales if used correctly.
Instagram stories, provides you with a fresh out-of-the-box tool for
promoting your brand, products, and your services. Getting it right simply
means gaining followers with an extra affinity to your brand, which in turn
builds loyalty and encouraging future sales.
For your brand, you can share information about
your product promotion, behind-the-scene of your communications, how to order
about your products etc, contest etc. Statistics showed that product promotion
is the most prominent information on Instagram stories from brands.
On the other hand, due to high demand and expectations on brands, there is a need for constant production of quality and entertaining content on a daily basis, if you don’t want your stories to get swiped as soon as it pops up or worse muted. However, a thoroughly thought-out communication, directs most consumers to the shopping landing page.
So, how do you tap into the power made available
by this amazing social media application to get the best possible outcome and
to avoid getting your stories swiped or muted?
- Sell Yourself:
You should share yourself with them, because guess what? You’re selling
yourself, not your product. Your customers or followers want to know YOU. - Be Informal: Due to the automatic
self-destruction after 24hours, you have the opportunity to be informal with
your marketing content. You’re getting to know your audience on another level,
or they’re getting to see that relatable side of you.
- Carry Your Audience Along: Make your followers feel like
insiders. Take them behind the scenes. Showcase your product on a different
light; demonstrate or use guides. - Product Promotion: Slip a tease of that product
you’ve been working on and let them spread the word on your behalf. Live blog
it later to engage non-attendees. - Watch the Trends. Be part of the conversation.
Consider the biggest story of the day and find a way to relate it to your
product. - Do Flash Sales and Limited Offers. Reward your followers. Announce
too-good-to-miss offers via your stories.
Now to
you!
The
Instagram story gives your brand the needed exposure with over 1 billion people
to be reached. It’s also a new way to reach your followers, build
relationships, loyalty and break the barrier between your business and the
customer.
The secret
is quality and engaging contents to keep audience focused, as well as
constantly adding value to them. The best way to learn what works is by
practising and progressing. Go try it!
At WayMaker Digital, we help organisations to deliver their corporate goals around Business Analysis, UX Design & Product Development while adopting the Agile & Lean principles. Our core specialities include Requirements Specification, Business Analysis, Process Engineering, and we establish an Agile / Lean culture with Project Delivery cadence that’s repeatable and sustainable for the business & customers. If you would like to have a conversation on how we might be able to help, please get in touch.
Originally published at WayMaker Learning.
