4 + 1 Super Easy Ways to Make Your Instagram Business Stories Stand out in 2018!

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Written by: Zoe Christodoulides

Instagram Stories now have 300 million daily active users, according to an announcement by Mark Zuckerburg at the start of November 2017. And the rising numbers are showing no signs of slowing down! In this light, it’s hardly surprising that Instagram Stories are a brilliant marketing tool allowing you tap into new opportunities and reach out to your followers in fun and creative ways, if you know how to use them correctly.

And remember, unless you want to save your ‘story’ as a ‘highlight,’ once you upload your ‘story’, it will disappear after 24 hours, giving you the chance to be a little more playful than usual, with a snappy video or photo montage. Here are some quick and easy ideas by Action Digital that will help you stand out from the crowd in the year to come!

 

1. Make your followers feel like ‘insiders’

That’s right, pretty much everyone likes a ‘sneak peak’ into a place they’ve never been to! Fact is, people today have grown sceptical of traditional marketing and there’s something more real and genuine about a short ‘behind the scenes’ glimpse of staff doing something fun, or someone testing out a new product. Show them a side to your brand that they haven’t seen before.

This could involve a time lapse view of an event that has been set up, a quick video glimpse of a staff excursion, or even, a quick Q and A with members of the team or the company’s SEO. Whatever the case, you are showing your followers something real and genuine which should help immediately form a connection with your brand or product.

 

2. Tease, tease, tease!

If you’re about to launch a new product or service, nothing beats giving your followers a little insight into what’s to come in order to build up excitement. Work up a buzz and let people know a couple of great things about what you have in store with this new product, feature or service with short videos and fun photos that show off the given product’s best features.

 

3. Limited offers

Looking for new ways to reward your followers?  Then say, ‘thank you’ with flash sales on your products or services, announcing great offers via your Stories. The moment that you do so a few times, followers will start to pay more attention to your Stories and what you have to say! And remember, overkill is NOT the way to go. Offers should be something that followers look forward to, not something they tire of hearing about.

 

4. Be part of the of the trending conversation

Make sure you stay ahead of the competition by always keeping up to date with industry related news. And the moment something is trending, share your insights and opinions, with a story that can direct followers to your company website and a relevant blog on the subject matter at hand. The more you engage and inform your audience, the greater respect and trust they are likely to have for your company.

 

5. Vertical video and Stories ads

An increasing number of brands today are making use of this key feature and if you haven’t already jumped on the Instagram story ad bandwagon, the start of the new year could be great time to do so.

And don’t forget, Instagram is owned by Facebook, so you have the chance to target audiences – via Facebook Business Manager – that have seen, liked or clicked your content on either of the two platforms.

The added benefit to story ads (that you don’t get with a normal story) is that the user can swipe up to click on a link within the Story, so make sure that you have a clear CTA (call to action) so you entice your audience to click!

Finally, don’t forget about tracking with UTM parameters to see how many people are engaging with your content!

Within the last year, vertical video has become such a powerful tool for advertisers that the landscape of video ads in general has shifted. The perfect tool for vertical video ads is Instagram Stories and leveraging this tool will set you up for a great 2018!

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