Instagram took Snapchat’s Stories feature and truly made it their own. With near-constant updates and new additions coming to Stories ever since it was first released, they’ve become an essential part of marketing on Instagram.
I can’t stress this enough: businesses cannot afford to skip Stories if they want their Instagram marketing to reach its full potential. Here’s why:
- Instagram Stories reached 300 million daily users at the end of last year, surpassing Snapchat’s 166 million, meaning there’s huge reach available.
- One study found that one in five Stories typically triggers at least one message from a follower, making it a powerful way to start conversations with your audience.
- A case study we conducted here at Agorapulse found that Story Ads are better at driving cost-effective results (including clicks) than traditional feed ads.
Whether you’re creating organic Stories for your followers or running ad campaigns to engage new users, you need to take this feature into account. In this post, we’ll take an in-depth look at Instagram Stories best practices that will guarantee you the best (and most permanent!) results possible.
1. Use Stickers to Get Results
Stickers can help you add more information or stylistically improve your Stories. There are four Instagram Stories stickers that all brands and businesses should be using.
- Hashtag stickers. These allow you to share your branded hashtag, which is clickable by users watching your story. When they click, they’re taken to the hashtag’s feed and can see all the other UGC shared with it. This is exceptional social proof, and it can be used to encourage more UGC.
- Location stickers. Drop your location into a clickable sticker, and when users click, they’ll see other posts tagged at your store. This is an excellent way to build brand awareness.
- Poll stickers. We’re talking about the real, OG poll stickers here. You can ask users any question they can answer with two pre-set options like “yes or no,” “red or blue,” or “next week or next year.” You can see results in real time, and your followers can see how other users are responding. This can engage your audience and give you more social proof.
- Emoji poll stickers. This is a brand-new feature, which allows you to ask users a question. They can answer on a sliding scale, with an emoji at either end. This is a way to engage users and to get instant feedback.
Each of these stickers has a different purpose. Using them at least semi-regularly can help you build brand awareness (hashtag and location), drive more UGC (hashtag), and gain social proof (poll stickers).
2. Go Live
Going Live on Instagram happens through the Stories feature– it allows you to stream a live broadcast in real time.
This feature has expanded significantly. Users can interact with you (including commenting) while you’re live, so you can address their questions or comments in real time, making it the perfect option for a Q&A session. You can also add different users to the live with you, allowing you to stream together from different locations.
Live video is a great way to build relationships with your audience, and it doesn’t hurt that your followers may get a notification when you’re starting your broadcast.
3. Use More Video
Most of what I see small businesses posting on Stories are images. There’s nothing wrong with images; in fact, I’d argue that a big chunk of your Stories…
