Instagram Stories Making A Splash in Marketing
Instagram is a powerful tool in social media marketing. The platform transforms visual images to tell a story. This perhaps links to a feature the app offers known as Instagram Stories. Instagram users may post on their Story a photo of their new favorite pair of shoes or a funny video of their pet; for a business, this feature is much more.
Utilizing social media to market your business is an approach that has become increasingly popular since the turn of the century. Brands raise awareness about products or services by posting appealing visual content that informs its audience how they can incorporate the brand into their lives. A business can craft their Instagram feed through pictures, video, color, language, and location. These style choices will make it easy for audiences to recognize your business on a newsfeed. Instagram Stories enable users to deliver information to consumers through a post that will only remain available for twenty-four hours.
Instagram Stories allow users to post a video or picture and insert graphics, text or animation to the visual. A GIF, for example, is an image encoded with a number of frames in a specific order to convey animation. A tool that can be used for all kinds of reasons, whether you want the post to appear witty or motivational; any tone at all – the GIF library has endless stickers to choose from.
In order to access the library, click the sticker icon in the top right corner once you have chosen the visual content for your story. Several prompts to add details to the Story will appear, such as date, time, temperature, location, etc. Above these stickers will be a search bar. This is where you can search terms like “swipe up” or “link in bio” to find GIFs that draw attention to your story’s message. Including stickers that instruct viewers on how to proceed provides an incentive to engage with the brand.
Instagram Stories are meant to have a casual tone and be read in a lighthearted way to its audience. There is a higher likelihood for engagement with content when followers learn new information from a Story because the information is all presented in one frame; as opposed to newsfeed posts that require users to read information from a caption. Utilizing the Story feature will aid in keeping your content fresh in the minds of your audience members.
Think about the last time you saw an action video of someone doing something in the moment. The first thing that comes to mind may be a user’s facial expression on the selfie camera, reacting to an event they are attending, or a panning video that presents an attractive outdoor landscape. These kinds of videos encourage followers to participate and share their experience with those who cannot participate. Posting live content in action is a particularly effective way to grab the attention of your followers. The next time you’re out and about somewhere you think your followers would like to see, open up Instagram Story and share your activities! Your followers will feel connected to the brand and thank you through engagement on the platform.
Instagram Stories are unique because they disappear from the newsfeed within twenty-four hours. The story is a crafted marketing approach, with careful attention to detail. If you want to save a story that you posted on your account page, Instagram has got you covered. You can save all stories to what is known as your “Highlights.” When you choose to save the story as a Highlight, the post will then appear on your account page until you remove that Highlight from your settings. You can also save all stories to your camera roll! Never lose a moment that you post on your business’s Story.
Instagram brought freedom and resilience to their users with the introduction of Stories. This outlet opens new doors to marketing techniques that can be used for products and services of all shapes and sizes.