How To Use Instagram Stories For Your Business

Understanding Instagram Stories

An Instagram Story is a feature within the Instagram platform that allows users to share temporary photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours. Unlike regular posts that appear on a user’s profile grid, Instagram Stories are displayed in a separate section at the top of the main feed and are presented in a slideshow format.

Instagram Stories provide a more dynamic and interactive way for users to share content with their followers. They offer a variety of creative tools and features that allow users to enhance their stories with text, stickers, filters, drawings, and more. Stories can be customized to match the user’s branding and aesthetic, making them more visually appealing and engaging.

When a user adds a story to their profile, it appears as a colorful circle with their profile picture at the top of their followers’ feeds. Viewers can tap on the profile picture to view the story, which automatically plays through each slide in sequential order. Stories can be viewed by the user’s followers and can also be shared with a select group of friends, called a “Close Friends List.”

Instagram Stories have a time limit of 24 hours, after which they disappear from the user’s profile and followers’ feeds. However, users have the option to save their stories to their device or to a designated Highlights section on their profile. Highlights are curated collections of saved stories that can be categorized and displayed permanently on the user’s profile, allowing viewers to access them even after the 24-hour timeframe has passed.

In addition to the standard photo and video content, Instagram Stories also support various interactive features that enhance user engagement. These features include:

• Polls – Users can create interactive polls with customizable answer options, allowing followers to vote and provide feedback on specific topics or questions.

• Question stickers – Users can prompt their followers to ask them questions, which can be answered publicly or privately within the story.

• Emoji sliders – This feature enables users to gather feedback or ratings from their followers by asking them to slide an emoji along a scale.

• Quiz stickers – Users can create multiple-choice quizzes to entertain and engage their followers while testing their knowledge on specific subjects.

• Countdown stickers – Users can create countdown timers for upcoming events, product launches, or promotions, building anticipation among their followers.

• Swipe-up links – Instagram Business Profiles with over 10,000 users, as well as verified profiles, have a swipe-up feature that allows them to link to an external site. Visitors can swipe up to be taken to the link.

So, how can Instagram Stories benefit your small business? For one thing, it maintains a consistent and interactive communication with your target audience. For another, it gives you the opportunity to encourage authentic connection with your followers, enhancing brand loyalty. 

You can also leverage its creative tools and interactive features to conduct market research and get feedback from customers. Finally, you can also use this powerful feature to drive traffic to your website or online store. 

Now, let’s talk about how to use Instagram stories in general.

How To Create And Post Instagram Stories

To create and post an Instagram Story, follow these steps:

1. Launch the Instagram app on your mobile device.
2. Tap on the “add” button in the bottom center of the app.

3. Capture a photo or video using the available options, or choose one from your gallery.

4. Enhance your content using creative tools such as stickers, text, filters, and drawing using the tool bar in the upper righthand corner.

5. Add captions, hashtags, or location tags if desired.
6. Tap the “Publish” button to publish your story.

It’s that easy!

Now, a brief explanation of all the icons on the toolbar. The letter icon allows you to add text in a multitude of fonts and colors. This text can also be dynamic (moving as though it’s being typed out right then) or stationary. 

The smiley face icon is the sticker button, where you can find all of your interactive elements, like the Question box, the Poll sticker, the Quiz sticker, and the Tap Link sticker. It also has creative and dynamic GIF-format stickers and emoji stickers you can use to add personality to an otherwise plain image or maintain consistent branding or thematic elements. 

The sparkle icon adds a filter to the photo you’re posting. Instagram offers a wide range of filters, from silly to enhancing. 

Finally, the three dots will take you to the drawing option, where you can hand-draw on your photos. You can also see the option to save your Story when you click those three dots, so if you’re particularly proud of how a selfie turns out, you can always save it for later.

Instagram Story Templates

Stories can be an amazing platform for marketers to flex their creative muscles. However, if you’re not confident in your ability to create aesthetically pleasing stories, don’t worry. There are a few apps and programs you can use to create professional-looking Instagram stories using ready-made templates. These templates offer a convenient solution, particularly for businesses without extensive design skills. Here are a few of those resources:

• Canva – This offers a wide range of customizable Instagram Story templates with drag-and-drop functionality and access to an extensive library of design elements.
• Adobe Spark – Adobe Spark provides professionally designed templates specifically tailored for Instagram Stories, allowing customization to align with your brand identity.
• Unfold – This popular app offers stylish and minimalist templates designed specifically for Instagram Stories, providing a seamless, user-friendly experience.
• Over – This app offers a plethora of customizable templates and creative tools, enabling businesses to create captivating and professional-looking Instagram Stories.

So now you know how to post and where to go to design it—but let’s also talk about what to post.

Small Business Content Ideas For Instagram Stories

The first option is a no-brainer: post your products or services. If you’re able to offer your followers high-quality images of what you have to offer, you give them the chance to get excited about your company.

This would be a great place to offer a swipe-up link or a tap link sticker!

Another compelling content idea is to provide BTS (behind the scenes) content. This is a great way to build engagement—people love feeling like they’re being allowed behind the curtain. Provide content that showcases your team, work process, or unique aspects of your business. This can also humanize your brand and build trust with your audience.

Something else you can try is utilizing the temporary nature of Instagram Stories to offer time-limited promotions, flash sales, or exclusive discounts. Interactive features like countdown stickers or polls can help create a sense of urgency and drive sales.

You can also use a feature called Story Highlights to immortalize your best Stories, particularly the ones that teach your audience something about your product or service. Successful businesses often have testimonials, promotions, or FAQs saved as Highlights on their Instagram pages.

Using other interactive features like question boxes or polls can start needed conversations with your followers. You can use these features to ask your audience questions about your brand or business and collect needed insights or feedback about upcoming projects or products. This, in turn, builds brand loyalty and trust—customers want to shop from brands that listen to them.

Because Stories are so engagement-driven, it’s an excellent place to request and receive UGC. Inviting customers to share your service gets your business in front of new eyes, and reposting their content builds connection with each customer. It also creates needed social proof that your product or service is worth paying for. 

If you are interested in influencer marketing, Stories are also a great way to engage with your influencer partners. Because you can see and share Stories you have been tagged in, Stories can also provide a sourcing platform for finding new potential partners. It may be worth it to keep an eye on who is most frequently engaging with your Story content and tagging you in theirs to see if they would be a good fit for a partnership.

Now, on to the fun stuff: how can you tell if your Instagram Story is effective?

Tracking And Analyzing Instagram Story Performance

Business accounts on Instagram have a built-in analytics tool called Insights. Making data-driven decisions about a particular marketing strategy on Stories is essential to your future success there, so knowing where to go to see that data is essential. You can access it by going to your business profile and clicking the three lines you see on the top right hand corner.

Within Insights, you can monitor metrics such as impressions, reach, and engagement rates for both regular feed posts and Story posts. This will tell you how your stories have been impacting your followers. 

Conclusion

Instagram Stories have revolutionized the way small businesses can market themselves and engage with their audience. By understanding the fundamentals of Instagram Stories, utilizing creative tools and templates, implementing storytelling techniques, and leveraging the platform’s interactive features, small businesses can create captivating, personalized, and results-driven content. 

With the ability to showcase products, provide behind-the-scenes glimpses, run limited-time promotions, and foster audience engagement, Instagram Stories offer an unparalleled opportunity for small businesses to build brand awareness, drive traffic, and achieve marketing success in the ever-evolving digital landscape. Embrace the potential of Instagram Stories as a powerful marketing tool and propel your small business to new heights of growth and success.