If you’ve previously released a few branded Stories, you can always try to improve their appeal with a few tweaks. After all, there are many positive outcomes associated with using Stories, like increased audience participation, brand recognition, and even sales.
Instagram Stories has many advantages for businesses, but producing quality content still requires dedication and planning. Despite your best efforts, your Story may not resonate with its intended audience, have significant attrition, or show other symptoms of low engagement.
What Kinds of Media Do Marketers Prefer to Use? [Insights from the HubSpot Blog]
To better understand how businesses will approach marketing in 2022, the HubSpot Blog polled more than a thousand professionals. This poll found that 78% of marketers are using Instagram Stories in their daily work. Nearly half (43%) of Instagram users who have a business account post about it more than once a week. According to the survey’s marketers, Instagram Story page views start to drop off after four or six pages.
Brand-Value-Reflective Content
Consumers can immediately ascertain a company’s stance on a certain issue, such as diversity, inclusiveness, sustainability, or human rights, when that company is transparent about those beliefs.
The same holds true for letting customers know who you are and what you can do for them within your brand’s umbrella. Your audience might feel more invested in your brand if you consistently include your company’s objective and vision in your content.
Product-Oriented Writing
Potential buyers want to see how well your product works. Product-related content may be effective in a number of ways, including regular demos by your staff, user-generated material from other satisfied customers, and good reviews. Find engaging and original methods to showcase your wares on Instagram Stories.
Content with Interactions
Each interactive frame in an Instagram Story directs users to a specific activity or feature within the app. Instagram’s Poll and Quiz stickers are frequently used for this purpose, as are direct requests for user-generated material or interactive games. Take @fentybeauty, who conducted a poll with the slide function on Instagram.
Topical Material
Content that follows the current trend of discussing a current cultural event or news topic. This material can be either instructive (like headline news) or entertaining. (posting a meme related to a recent event). Instagram Stories are perfect for trendy content since people like to consume it quickly and while it’s still current. Instagram Stories, which are only visible for 24 hours, are a better option for sharing time-sensitive material than feed posts, which might take days to reach an audience.
Stories Revolving Around a Test or Poll
Using Quiz or Poll stickers is another effective method of telling a story. Because the Quiz sticker appears on so many of these Stories’ pages, it’s easy to assume that their sole purpose is to test viewers’ knowledge on a certain topic, or alternatively, advertisers may use Stories that have polls on nearly every page to gauge their target demographic’s opinion on a given issue.
HubSpot’s approach is effective because it gives viewers a glance at what others thought and a summary of the real answers at the end, while a genuine Quiz sticker would reveal them the questions instantly. With the expectation of a satisfying conclusion, readers and viewers may be more invested in the Story until the very end.
Similar Instagram Story Structures
This may suggest that social media marketers need to get more imaginative when releasing content for Instagram Stories. Consider experimenting with short, instructive tales or interactive Stories that closely link to your brand rather than relying just on product or customer testimonials. In addition to attracting Instagram users, this strategy may also highlight your company’s superior knowledge in the field.
Some Story forms may have been rated less interesting based on this survey, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try them out. Take a look at these options.
Feedback from Happy Customers
Although customers may not place a high value on customer testimonials, you shouldn’t eliminate them totally. In fact, many businesses and sectors continue to employ them often despite shifting customer preferences. Companies like Planet Fitness, for instance, have based much of their business model on customer endorsements.
Mini-Documentaries
Stick to a short narrative Story, like the ones mentioned at the beginning of this essay, if you’re a small to medium-sized business just getting started with Instagram. You may achieve the same effect of combining video, still images, and text with them, but without having to put in as much work. You may wish to attempt this longer-form, in-depth visual storytelling technique if you are a content producer or if you believe that covering an event or important issue in your business can increase brand recognition.
Creating a Memorable Visual Narrative
You should always aim to generate content that does three things well: teaches the audience on something they care about, entertains them, and displays the legitimacy of your brand in the industry.
