How to Promote Your Business with Instagram Stories

​​Snapchat changed the social media game when it released its Stories feature in late 2013. This capability quickly blew up. Individuals and businesses began posting temporary but intimate peeks into their daily lives. Other platforms followed suit, and now 500 million users post Instagram Stories daily. 

Instagram Stories presents a worthwhile marketing opportunity. Any organic social media strategy can benefit from including Story content. Our Philadelphia marketing agency Forge Apollo specializes in premium content creation and curation. Below we provide this comprehensive guide to utilizing Instagram Stories. These features are excellent for promoting your business!

What are Instagram Stories?

What is an Instagram Story? In short, Stories posts disappear from your page after 24 hours. This makes them the shortest video format available on the app. Stories Highlights are an exception to this limitation. Users can save and pin these to their profiles so anyone can view them at any time. Companies can use Stories to help build brand awareness, create authenticity, and establish an identity online.

How to Use Instagram Stories:

Instagram Story functionalities can be overwhelming, especially for first-time creators. Instagram Story Stickers improve your posts, but don’t overdo it. Stories should still follow all brand guidelines and basic rules of design. Additionally, don’t post too many Instagram Stories at a time to avoid appearing spammy.

Features

• Instagram Story Stickers: Adding fun Instagram Story stickers makes your Stories more dynamic. Creators can add photos, GIFs, text, and graphics to their content. Businesses can take these features to the next level by designing branded stickers.
  
• Instagram Story Questions: Polls and quizzes are an easy and creative way to engage with your audience. Creators can post questions that are open-ended, multiple choice, or ballot. Instagram Story Questions present businesses with direct feedback from their audience. You can ask questions about products, services, competitors, and more for helpful insights into audience psychographics.
• Other Instagram Story Ideas for Businesses: Utilize location, links, and user tag capabilities in your Stories. These features allow users to tag business partners, destinations, and hashtags to unify campaigns across the network. Creators can also add direct links to get a quote, start an order, or send a donation.

Instagram Story Analytics

Analytics gives businesses detailed information about how to use Instagram Stories. Many consider Instagram to have the most insightful data analytics on social media. Story analytics allow businesses to assess whether they’re reaching the appropriate audience. Instagram Stories are a great way to track viewer engagement and gather user-generated content (UGC). The platform can track analytics specifically for Stories, enabling brands to evaluate their effectiveness (reach, follows, clicks, etc.).

11 Instagram Story Best Practices

1. Take opportunities to go live on Instagram Stories.
2. Use Stories to break the ice with your viewers.
3. Leverage more video content.
4. Be authentic and get casual.
5. Find ways to incorporate UGC.
6. Utilize Story Highlights and keep them updated.
7. Promote relevant current events and news.
8. Reply to Story mentions promptly.
9. Add links where appropriate.
10. Always stay on brand!
11. Promote your business unfiltered and in real-time.

Other Ways to Use Video on Instagram:

Meta is not alone in their attempt to emulate the successes of popular video networks. Youtube and Tiktok have established themselves as staples in marketing strategy. So how else is Meta using Instagram to keep pace with other thriving platforms?

Reels

The developers at Instagram aren’t shy about the platform favoring video content. Instagram tested several video features (Remember IGTV?) before settling on their current Reels feature. Their team constantly makes algorithm updates to keep up with the leading video app Tiktok.

Users on both platforms can easily draw parallels between their video features. Social media networks, including Instagram, rushed to replicate Tiktok’s explosive growth. Audiences and experts alike consider Reels as Meta’s response to Tiktok.

Video Ads

Thanks to Instagram Stories, video advertising goes beyond feed posts on this platform. Paid video ads now have Story capabilities. In addition to traditional paid social posts, businesses can create video ads formatted for Instagram Stories. These ads appear between friends’ and followers’ Stories in the Instagram feed. 

An effective Story Video Ad immediately captures viewers’ attention, keeping them from tapping past. Many brands also succeed in creating candid videos that appear as an organic part of a user’s Story feed. This content feels like a natural progression of the feed’s montage instead of an advertisement.

How Can I Create Engaging Videos on Instagram?

Since so many brands use Instagram, you need to know how to make Instagram stories that stand out. Businesses should aim to capture the viewer’s attention immediately with Instagram Stories. Often brands execute this by posting more relatable, candid content that makes them appear organically in a feed. Other brands use eye-catching visuals or sounds to compel their audience to convert. The type of content that captivates followers will differ for every industry. Keep an eye on your Instagram Stories analytics to identify what posts flop or pop off.

Instagram Story Ideas for Businesses

Videos dominate customer acquisition on social media. Captivating and imaginative video content helps brands gain traction online. Thus, bland, overdone deliverables don’t deserve a place in your content calendar. Browse our creative corporate video ideas for some innovative approaches to video content creation.

Need some more post inspiration for your small business? The marketers at Forge Apollo provide some social media post ideas for every day of the week.

Produce Premium Video Content with an Experienced Agency

High-quality video content creation requires specialized expertise and a top-notch promotional strategy. Forge Apollo offers these services and professional video and social media marketing to set your business apart. Reach out today to give your brand an unfair advantage over competitors with help from our leading strategists.