Instagram Stories: Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Business Account

Instagram Stories are causing a real storm among followers on the images social network par excellence. They have completely taken over the profiles of individuals, influencers, and businesses.

In fact, Instagram users spend more time watching stories than the content of the brands that they follow. This also influences the Instagram algorithm; in other words, interacting with your stories also counts towards how you’re positioned on Instagram.

▶️ If you want to get as much out of this feature on Instagram to show your brand’s more human and authentic side, take a close look at everything we’ve got in store for you below.

▶️ Get ready to bring out creative and original Instagram stories to engage your followers.

Creative Instagram Stories

All you need to engage your followers is creativity and inspiration. Millions of stories are published every day, so you need to find that ‘something special’ to make you stand out from the crowd.Videos of up to  60 seconds.

Each of your Instagram Stories will open up a new world of possibilities. Make the most of every second your followers give you when they open one of your Stories!

Find out what you need to seduce your target audience:

✔️ The obvious part: have an Instagram account

✔️ Take photos or create graphic pieces representing your brand or business: they need to say something about you and define you. What sense would it make for a furniture store to upload photos of fish in the sea?

✔️ Respect the format of Stories on Instagram: the size of your pieces should be 1080px by 1920px.

✔️ Remember that the image is the power behind your Stories, use text to tell people what you need to, but just the right amount!

INSTAGRAM STORIES: IDEAS TO GET INSPIRED

Here are some examples that could give you a little inspiration and help you to improve the quality of your Stories.

But remember, take your time, and have a good think about what you want to get across. Sometimes, it can take some practice to really find your source of inspiration.

Follow the tips below, and you’ll soon see how you can learn to tell what can make your fans fall in love with you (and what won’t).

💡 Take note!

1, Show them what goes on behind the scenes: show your followers that you have nothing to hide. Using images to show them how you work will make them trust you, your product, or your service even more. For example:

2. Announce new posts on your blog or vlog: telling your followers about the launch of new posts personally means that you can highlight the key points that might interest them.

Give them a mini-rundown of what they’ll find, which will help them to make up their mind. Give your content greater reach and generate expectations!

Easy, right?

3. Do tutorials or DIY projects. This is one of the users’ favorite types of content! Offering solutions for your ideal customer will bolster why they chose you in the first place.

For example, if a skincare face mask brand shows its audience how to apply their product, they show transparency and help future customers use their products.

4. Display promos and limited-time offers. It’s a fact. The feeling of urgency gets users going. Design a strategy with flash offers that generate a need to buy your product or use your service as quickly as possible.

For example: If your favorite pizza parlor launches a 2×1 deal on Thursday night until 11 pm, it’s more likely that their customers will try to get to the restaurant on that day before the end of the promo. Wouldn’t you?

5. Giveaways and discount vouchers for your customers. If it’s an attractive discount, your Story will fire off “word-of-mouth”, and completely free.

Imagine you find out through a Story that one of you and your friends’ favorite fashion brands is offering a 50% discount coupon for their online store. Wouldn’t you send a message out to the group you have with them to let all your friends know?

6. New items, news about your online store. Another option is to tell your followers about your latest success or business innovation by building up anticipations, leading to a big surprise: your big news story of the week.

7. Motivational and inspirational texts. Everyone loves this kind of content. It might not be the most original content, but it’s definitely effective. Share motivational texts with your community to let them get to know you better.

IDEAS FOR INSTAGRAM STORIES: CREATE YOUR OWN DESIGNS

The massive success of Instagram Stories means that many programmers have designed tools to make life easier for you. Their expertise has helped create a range of apps for editing your Instagram Stories.

Learn about them, save time and be original! Here are some for creating your own designs, from creative Instagram stories, to setting up a photo sequence on Instagram Stories.

• Spark from Adobe: it’s perfect for turning your messages and images into a beautiful story. Create unique visual content!

• Storiesads: the perfect choice if you want to customize your videos. In under two minutes, you can create an attention-grabbing Instagram Story that will surprise your followers.

• Storeo: this app, which is currently only available for iOS, will help you create longer Stories with no cut-offs or distractions in the transition between slides!

• Flipagram: one of the most popular apps. This app makes the task of creating and editing videos more enjoyable. Available for both iPhone and Android.

IG Stories: Benefits

Before you start getting into Instagram Stories, you need to know your audience profile and set some goals that you want to achieve with them. This will help you make creative stories that will grab their attention and shift them towards your goals.

But what are the main benefits that this Instagram format offers, which is now even more popular than Snapchat?

Let’s take a look at some advantages:

✔️ You can get closer to your audience with a friendlier format that they’re used to, and they’ll welcome you with open arms!

✔️ You can keep your audience up to date about your promotions in a more creative way.

✔️ You can also show off your new products in a quick and effective way.

✔️ The experience of many brands shows that Instagram stories are a success.

✔️ Their spontaneity and the fact that they don’t last long are what users love: real brands for real people.

✔️ They’re essential for Instagram Marketing.

What’s more, you can get stats on what’s happening on your profile at any given time.

As you can see, the possibilities are endless to be creative on Instagram Stories. Your imagination is the only limit.

Get stuck in with daily stories and show the world who you are. 

Ready to get going?

Laura Montells , 07 February 2022