Stories might be Instagram’s most under-utilized tool, but it’s also one of the most powerful marketing tools out there today. Instagram Stories allows you to share videos and photos that disappear after 24 hours. It also comes with plenty of clever ways to engage your followers and bring them into your brand story. Using Instagram for marketing your business could connect with a whole new audience.
Instagram for Business
Before you decide to take your brand on Instagram, it’s helpful to know what features are available for businesses, and what things you should consider before jumping in. With over 400 million active users worldwide, about 70% follow a business page. It’s no surprise that many brands have begun using Instagram as an additional marketing channel. If you want to use these strategies effectively, then start here.
Why You Should be on Instagram
The beauty of Instagram is that it is highly visual. If your brand can tell a compelling story through images, you’ll likely be able to capture your audience’s attention. What most brands don’t realize, however, is that they can also use video on Instagram! With millions of active users every month, getting noticed can be tough. While many still think of Instagram as strictly a photo-sharing platform, creating videos can help give your company exposure.
Create Consistent Content
Posting regularly and engaging with your audience is a great way to make sure your content is seen by new users. What’s more, it helps prevents getting lost in a sea of competitors! By creating consistent, quality content on a regular basis, you’re not only show potential customers you’re active and engaged (more than one post per day), but you also keep them coming back for more. And that’s just scratching the surface of what stories can do for your marketing strategy.
Story Tips
Below are some tips on how to create a killer Story. For now, let’s start with what not to do. Go too heavy on text, or it’ll make your viewers lose interest pretty quickly. Don’t put up videos that are too long either—there can be a weird reluctance among people who follow you on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to watch videos that are more than five minutes long.
What makes great Instagram stories
The best stories elicit an emotional response. When you showcase your brand’s personality or share behind-the-scenes footage of employees at work, you create a more personal experience that brings followers closer to your business. Using visual content is always more engaging than text alone. Stories allow viewers to swipe through photos and videos in succession, rather than having one image sit there while they read about it. These factors make great Instagram stories.
How do you know what hashtags to use?
Hashtags help you connect with new and existing customers by improving your visibility and discoverability. However, if you don’t do it right, using hashtags can actually hurt your engagement—or worse, prevent you from getting any likes or followers at all. To make sure you get the most out of Instagram Stories, keep reading! (Btw: Hashtags apply here too!)
How to choose a hashtag?
Hashtags are a great way to connect with customers, attract new followers, and improve your use of Instagram for marketing. When you create a photo on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter you can add up to 30 hashtags in your post. Think of them as keywords that describe what’s happening in your photo. If you are trying to grow your following or promote a product, then include at least one hashtag per post.
How many followers does the ideal hashtag have?
To increase your exposure, find hashtags that are relevant to your content and has fewer than 5,000 posts already. Then tag your posts with them! These types of tags will bring you traffic from users who are looking at photos similar to yours. If you want more traffic, it’s important not only that you use relevant hashtags but also that they have enough volume. Having lots of followers of a hashtag means that lots of people are engaged with that hashtag on a regular basis. Conversely, if there are too many posts being made with that same hashtag, the chances are your post will not be noticed, so you are looking for a happy medium.
What about IGTV?
IGTV is Instagram’s latest feature, which allows users to upload videos of up to 60 minutes in length. This is a huge jump from IG’s previous video length restriction of one minute, and it enables users who take advantage of IGTV to broadcast longer videos than ever before.
Come and chat to the Savvy team and find out how to use Instagram stories for marketing your business
