Ways to Use Instagram Stories for Business

Instagram has become a staple for a lot of businesses and it is not surprising that so many brands are pouring their resources and trying to conquer their respective markets. As the platform continues to grow at a very rapid speed, it is natural that the people behind it see the potential. And introducing new features is a must for sustainability.

One of their most recent features is stories. Since this type of content is up for just 24 hours, it gives quite a few opportunities for marketing. If you want to learn how to use instagram stories from the basics, this article is the right place to start.

Announcements

There is hardly any better way to announce something about your company if you have a decent number of followers on Instagram. It could be someone joining your team, the release of a new product, a tease of what is coming next, and so on.

Show your followers behind-the-scenes footage and make them feel like they are part of the team as well. And this is a perfect opportunity to make them more privy to exclusive information.

Your creativity comes in play so feel free to test out which things are working and which are not.

Collaborate

Influencers and brands can cooperate with each other and spread their names even further using Instagram stories.

Team up with another company and benefit from each other’s followers.

Or if you have a customer who also happens to be a celebrity, no matter, big or small.

It should be a no-brainer that it is worth starting to work with him or her.

Highlights

Story highlights have made quite an impact when they were introduced.

For an average person on Instagram, it is not that big of a deal as it works mostly as a montage of the best moments.

However, the thing changes when we are talking about brands.

Pinning stories to the top of the profile page works as an extension, allowing them to provide more information for others to see.

You get to decide what you want to include in this one, but try to include some eye-catching visuals to attract more people.

Polls

Boring questionnaires are a thing of the past. If you want engagement by asking a question, the Instagram stories feature will come to your aid.

It is a perfect opportunity to get some feedback, understand your audience better, or simply drive some interaction with your audience.

Asking Questions

There is a question sticker that lets brands receive questions from followers directly.

If you are consistent with it and provide answers, it will not take too long before you establish a perfect relationship with your audience.

This would show a more humane side of the business, and prove that you genuinely care about the opinion of your customers.

Reaction Slider

While it might not be the most important feature, you can still receive more engagement by introducing the reaction slider and seeing how people react to your content.

Links

Unfortunately, you will not be able to access this one without getting to 10 thousand followers first. But given that this article is focused on business, you should have reached this number by now.

As you are probably aware, Instagram does not allow links outside the bio, making it quite difficult to promote yourself. It should be a no-brainer how much of a difference a link makes, and whenever It is an opportunity to use one, you should.

Location Stickers

Instagram’s original purpose was to bring people closer together by allowing them to share their best moments with each other.

it shared interests, people, or anything else, sometimes it does feel like you are that much closer with the rest.

Add locations to your Instagram stories to accomplish something similar.

On top of that, your story will be added to the timeline of that location, making you visible

Contests

the sheer amount of reach goes, there is no better method to get it than running a contest.

All brands are running them, and not just on Instagram.

Competition on a story means that it will be up for just 24 hours. It gives people the incentive to enter immediately so they do not miss out.

Once you get the hang of how to do them, you can make a name for yourself in no time. And it does not have to be something expensive to give out. A simple discount code or anything of the sort will do the trick.

In summary, Instagram stories mode can really serve towards conquering the niche if you play all your cards correctly. And you should be perfectly fine by following these tips.