Create a Splash with your Instagram Stories

As avid users of Instagram, we are always exploring the multiple layers to optimize Instagram for our clients. One of our Instagram tools is Stories. With 500 million people viewing Stories a day, building a loyal and attentive audience this tool can help boost your engagement and brand awareness. Here are 5 ways to create Instagram Stories that resonate with your audience and keep them engaged. 

 

  • Stand out

Be creative with the editing of your Stories. Instagram has fantastic options, such as Gifs, color design, filters, and emojis. You want your audience to be intrigued by the first Story they see so that they will continue to click to keep your retention high.

  • Keep your branding consistent 

Make sure to keep your branding aligned across all platforms. Take a look at your website and stay consistent with your style and any recurring themes or categories you have identified that successfully engage your audience. You want your audience to have a seamless experience with your branding and be aware of who you are when they see your content. 

  • Have a clear call to action

Encourage your followers to engage with your content. Including polls, questions, prompts, and tags offers your audience fun opportunities to give you feedback and for you to promote direct messaging. Also, don’t forget to include text on your stories. A majority of people listen to their stories with the sound off, so you want to make sure they can receive your message or call to action without turning on their audio.

  • Bring your personality 

Use Instagram Stories to show off your brand’s personality. This does not mean that a Story is only relevant to a solopreneur… this means that you can evoke feelings by creating a story that your customer can relate to.  Think about how you want  your customer to feel, what you want them to learn or understand, and how your product, service, or brand can empathize, solve, and support them. This can be done in many ways. One we find effective is to identify people within your organization that can communicate to your audience and then have them uses the video feature to connect with followers. If your audience feels like they know your team, it will keep them coming back to your Stories for more.

  • Use hashtags and location stickers 

Hashtags and location stickers can help your Stories get in front of a new audience. By tagging your location or using relevant hashtags, your Stories appear for those who search under the specific categories. This will increase your engagement from people who consume similar content as to what you are creating. 

 

Remember that Instagram Stories only last for 24 hours and do not show up on your main feed, which allows room for experimenting and then an analysis of which stories work best with your audience. The overarching idea is that your followers want to connect with your brand. If your audience has a sense of loyalty, they will engage, connect, and ultimately act as an ambassador of your brand.