Blog 4 Techies In just over a couple of years, ” Instagram Stories ” have become part of the lives of all kinds of users and brands, given the characteristics of this platform’s functionality.
And the main attraction of Instagram stories is to share with your community all those experiences that you consider most relevant in your day to day, both personal and professional.
In addition, from a business point of view, it is a powerful functionality that further accentuates the main characteristic of this social network: the visual aspect.
Nowadays, it has become an essential marketing tool, belonging to Instagram and a confirmed passport to success, which you should take advantage of with your own business.
But, in case you are still one of the few who still do not know what these “stories” are, I will start by giving you a definition of this concept:
Table of Contents
What are Instagram stories?
The “Stories” or Instagram stories are audiovisual content of this platform that, unlike everyday publications, are volatile. That is, they have a specific duration and, after that period, disappear.
In this case, they can remain to view for 24 hours from their publication.
Its ease of use and importance make this tool an immense source of options for all users and brands with an account on Instagram.
Its origin is due to Mark Zuckerberg, owner of Facebook (and therefore, also for a few years of Instagram) when buying this company, wanted to compete with Snapchat.
The operation of this was very similar, hence the appearance of these stories or “Stories.”
What is “Instagram Stories” for?
Being able to share audiovisual content with a specific expiration date is a handicap that, at least initially, sparked some controversy in its early days.
However, it has many advantages and utilities, which I will tell you about below:
If you are preparing some event or novel event, you can give an “appetizer” to your community of followers to make them stay tuned.
In this way, the moment you reveal more details about it, they will be the first to see your “Storie” and participate in it.
The simple fact of anticipating a part of that surprise makes them participate and shows them that they are essential to your company.
In the particular case of independent professionals such as those known as ” Influencers, “it is widely used to get more followers and get closer to the public potentially interested in the activities they carry out.
Generates a feeling of need
When you decide to advertise or show promotion of any of your business products, either by giving it away or leaving it for 24 hours at a ridiculous price, you are giving your users a feeling of need.
This, obviously, will create a feeling of attachment of these towards the brand. Especially if this product or service remains adapted to their personal and professional needs.
Humanize your Brand
The primary purpose of Instagram Stories, showing in a volatile way some remarkable moment of the day-to-day life of users or brands with a presence on the platform, will significantly humanize.
It is because, unlike conventional publications on this social network, stories allow content to remain shared in a much more informal and fun way.
Precisely, it is designed for that, since as time has passed, they have incorporated images in GIF format, funny phrases, and other accessories such as costumes and party accessories.
In this way, although with your company you dedicate yourself, for example, to managing a law firm (to cite a somewhat more classic and “serious” model), you can also show your most sympathetic face.
What are the profits of using “Instagram Stories” in a social media strategy?
Considering that you already know what “stories” are in the field of this social platform and the use that a company can give it, you should know its most significant advantages.
These are:
1. You will be able to impact your followers
The image of your stories is shown in vertical orientation and occupies the entire screen, so if it remains chosen well, the impact on the user who views them will be pretty significant.
2. Add direct links with more than 10k followers
Although it is a feature that all users of this social network have been asking “loudly” since it remained founded, if you exceed 10,000 followers. You can add direct links to the website with the “swipe up” function (swipe up ).
It is exciting, especially if you have a lead magnet in a blog. With which you will have direct access and click.
Also, if you have an online store and show your most relevant products. Linking them directly to their respective product file is an advantage that the platform gives you.
But for this, you have to harvest many such followers.
3. Ability to promote Storytelling
As you well know, Storytelling is extra than a basic technique of marketing your business. Through which you can tell stories that make employers “fall in love” with your brand and its values.
Thus, these Instagram stories allow you, as I have mentioned before, to tell the day-to-day in the office or at the workplace and give your employees prominence and invite them to tell funny anecdotes that happened recently. It will keep the user attentive to these updates to create that vital link between the company / potential client.
4. Creation of surveys that give you feedback
The probability that the platform has given you short months to take surveys and receive feedback from your community to the inquiries you ask is a point in favor of these Stories.
This functionality allows you to ask your potential customers what they remain mislaid by your brand or what you can do to recover your service or products.
Here, the “negative” evaluations or opinions will give you ideas so that with your company, you can carry out a continuous improvement, necessary in any business, both online and offline.
5. It is a platform that is “in fashion.”
It has to be effective and profitable for a company or business, not because something is fashionable.
However, if around 300 million users view Instagram Stories with commercial intentions every day, this data is illuminating to consider using them within your social media strategy.
How to support a story on Instagram step by step?
Once we know all the basics to understand the importance of this functionality of the visual social network par excellence, we have to see how to create a story in our account.
To do this, we need to follow these steps:
1. Enter your account or login
First, you must open your personal or corporate Instagram profile, usually entering your username and password.
2. Access the Stories area
Once in your account, go to your profile, and, just at the bottom edge of your cover imageou will see a “+” sign, which you must click to access this section.
If it is the first time you enter this section of the platform, your smartphone may ask you to accept the possible use of the audio and video systems.
At this point, the camera will turn on automatically, so if you choose to take a photo right now, you will need to adjust the flash options and other features such as zoom.
3. Choose the functionality to use
Among all the functionalities that Instagram Stories allows you to use, you must choose the single that best suits the content you want to share at all times.
Some of them are:
- Stock photo: as its name suggests, you can upload a conventional image.
- Boomerang: from this option, you can upload a “boomerang” type image, which. Once processed, turns out to be a GIF type, which is usually very funny.
- Superzoom: gives your story quite professional tints, as well as fun, from a graphic point of view, since thanks to its multiple filters. You can upload your photo or video with dramatic and cinematographic backgrounds.
- Rewind: add a video, but played backward. It can be pretty fun once you play it.
- Direct: as with Facebook Live, you can also broadcast live a video of a particular event related to your business or employees.
- Text: if you prefer, you can also upload a textual message. With an important note or announce something relevant to your brand.
4. Illustrate your stories
Later, whether you have decided to share videos or images. You can accompany them with tags with your location, hashtags related to what you are doing. And other GIFs and animated images.
Also, if you need to explain something about the meaning of your Storie. You can add polls or questions so that your audience can interact, as I have described before.
If you prefer, you can also not “decorate” them too much (or not at all). Your creativity and goals already come into play here.
5. Send it to your community
In the last step, once you have added all the elements that you consider relevant to your “Instagram Storie,” you must go on to share it.
If you notice, you have a button with a white background in the lower right corner, with the text Send to. From here, you must choose the option ” Your story ” and click on the blue ” Share ” button.
It is important to note that, in this last step. If you finally decide not to share your story on Instagram with your entire community. But with one or more users only, you can also do it.
Just below the last option to share, you can choose the users you want to share with—that easy.
If you have an eCommerce and show how your product remains packaged before sending it. You can share a video by doing it only to the customer in question.
In this way, only they will see it, providing a more extraordinary user experience to your business, as well as outstanding reliability. Since they can verify that, indeed, their order is already in process.
Conclusion
Being aware of the enormous competition in the field of Social Media in terms of companies, it is essential to be different (and show yourself as such).
Empathizing with the user is vital to earning their trust while identifying their values with yours.
It can remain achieved by using the “Instagram Stories” as a channel within this social network to interact with them. And make them do so with our business account.
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