When Instagram Stories first launched in 2016, we all knew it was something that came from Snapchat. But what Instagram did after, was commendable. It introduced filters, geo-locations, stickers to support social causes, boomerangs, grids, etc. Instagram has leapfrogged its competitors by constantly introducing and innovating new features to keep consumers engaged on the platform.
But why should businesses use Stories on Instagram?
Firstly, Instagram Stories are an easy and quick way to engage with other users and followers.
The average human attention span has reduced from 12 seconds to 8 seconds as of today. Many people have concluded this drop is due to the new age of technology. The advantage of Instagram Stories is that it caters to a generation of people with short attention spans since you can only post videos for up to certain seconds at a time.
Secondly, the format of this feature is perfectly suited for mobile – you can post from anywhere and anytime, making it extremely accessible when you’re on the go. Unlike the original standard square format of Instagram posts, Instagram Stories are posted and shot vertically.
Thirdly, Instagram Stories disappear after 24 hours, so you won’t have to worry if it doesn’t fit your feed’s overall look.
Use location tags; you can include geographic location tags on your Instagram Stories now to make your brand or business more discoverable locally and globally. Whether you’re tagging a specific city, location, or even a country, it is an effective way to reach different areas in the world.
Include hashtags; you can also include trending hashtags in your Instagram Stories to increase the visibility of your profile among the Instagram community. Just like how you can include hashtags in the caption or comments of regular posts on your Instagram feed.
Millennials make up a majority of users on Instagram, and keeping that generation engaged takes commitment, effort and time. It’s important to understand how to communicate with millennials in order to effectively engage with them on social media, allowing you to: set up pools, ask questions, swipe to website/shopping pages, tag other people, explore the shopping bag-shaped notification, etc.
Instagram Stories offers the advantage of being able to see who has viewed your posts. You can decide whether your stories are public or not by adjusting your privacy settings and excluding who you want.
You can add music to your story when you tap to add a sticker to a photo or video, you will also see a music icon. If you click on that, you can browse through a library of tracks to find the one that suits your story.
Instagram introduced functionality that enabled users to view, download and repost their old stories. All you have to do is go to the archive at the top right of your profile. This shows you your old Instagram stories, which you can then download and repost.
Whether or not you can reply to an Instagram story depends on the user’s settings. It is possible to disable replies completely or to allow replies only from people you follow.
Stories are definitely something you should consider incorporating into your social media marketing strategy, especially if you are active on Instagram.
