When it comes to B2C marketing—especially in the social media world—content is easily the most important aspect you need to nail on the head. Your brand’s approach must address the various preferences, interests, and motivators your followers have. Instagram Stories is a super-powerful B2C tool.
Quick and accessible content has dominated the social media industry for the better half of the decade. Powerhouses like Instagram and Tiktok have been the leaders in this era. But, as we enter the 2020s, every marketing connoisseur is blinking their eyes and poking their heads out to get a fresh perspective.
Apart from this, it’s important to create ingenious engagement campaigns, that will make your followers stay followers.
Rapid-visual entertainment is the new face and makes up most of Gen Z’s time. Since its inception, Instagram has been a giant, and when it introduced its version of stories (derived from Snapchat), it quickly skyrocketed to prominence among its peers.
Whether you’re a mom & pop store, a rising agency, or a well-established brand — you’re going to want to invest some time and energy in your IG Stories. Here are some key benefits that Instagram stories can provide.
Ad Revenue and Brand Awareness Opportunities
Instagram Stories are projected to bring in $15.95 billion worldwide in 2022, more than one-quarter of the platform’s global net ad revenues. Once Facebook (Meta) acquired the social media platform, it flooded with ad spending.
Within stories, you can also build awareness for your brand, drive traffic to your website, or even tag products for easy shopping right within the app.
Brand’s have been living and breathing in the IG story space. The quickness and effectiveness to showcase products, promotions, or company news has been a fan favorite for brands and influencers alike. This feature operates in the top section of the app. Your followers don’t have to scroll through their endless
feed to inevitably double tap on your post. Instead, you’re able to push an abundance of content right to their face. Your account’s stories can house up to 100 clips (photos or videos) as well.
Hyperlinks, Custom CTAs, and Sticker Features
The ability to add hyperlinks and redirects on your story used to be exclusive to verified business accounts only, but with a recent update, this feature is now open to everyone. This feature allows you to redirect followers to a specific landing page, product, or website with a simple tap/swipe-up gesture.
Adding links isn’t the only thing you can add to your content. You’re also able to place interactable stickers, such as Q&A boxes, polls, quizzes, custom CTAs, and hashtags. Including the correct stickers is a surefire way to increase engagement in your stories! A must-have feature to play around with.
Content Format & Dimensions
Instagram Stories are caterers to a vertical format (1920 x 1080p). You’re still able to upload content that doesn’t meet these specifications, but this can result in images or videos being cut off, decreased quality, and excessive pixelation.
Acceptable image formats: JPEG, PNG, and GIF files.
Acceptable video formats: MP4, MOV, or GIF files.
Side note, you do have the option of collaging photos using Instagram’s Layout feature.
Whether you upload a video, image, or a mixture of both to your Story, it’s critical to keep your content in a “safe zone” where it won’t be cut off or hidden. *Please reference the image below.
Tips for Creating More Engaging IG Stories
- Don’t make long and redundant stories
You’re able to post several stories. Each story is limited to 15 seconds. Avoid your followers from “swiping away.” It’s essentially a follower skipping through your entire story to remove it from their feed. Consider your intention with each story and ensure you’re providing content that your consumers want to see.
- Take Advantage of IG Live
Livestreams are an incredible way to interact with your followers. You’re able to promote products/events in real-time! Doing live Q&As or giving a tour of your company’s booth at an event is an easy and effective way to build awareness.
- Tags and Using Stickers
We’ve already covered the importance of stickers, but tagging other accounts is a trick that you should have in your arsenal. Tagging other accounts, business partners, or followers allows that tagged account to reshare your story on theirs. This feature can significantly increase the visibility of your story, redirecting viewers to your original story from the reshares. Vice versa, when a follower posts a story tagging your business – reshare that post! That is free user-generated content that you can use to help build brand awareness.
- Save Important Stories to Your Account
Stories will be automatically deleted after 24 hours. Unfortunately, there is no setting within Instagram that changes that. However, you’re able to save your stories as Highlights on your account. These highlights will live right above your regular posts and will stay there until you delete them. Highlights are a great way to save information on seasonal promos or products that some followers may have missed.
Summary
If Instagram stories are so compelling, should I stop posting regularly on Instagram?
The answer is no.
Let’s reiterate that IG Stories is a medium for quick and short content that inevitably gets deleted after 24 hours. Use it as a way to stay engaged daily with call-to-actions and redirects. Creating an effective Instagram story is an easy way to build brand awareness. Remember not to post excessively and overwhelm your followers; posting too many stories every day can result in people unfollowing or muting your account. Each audience is different. Experiment with other formats and see which ones get the most engagement.
Reach out to Intuitive Websites to see how we can elevate your social media and grow your brand in 2022!
