Social media marketing has taken the world by storm and is now the go-to advertising method for most companies. However, just like with traditional marketing before, trying to stay relevant and ahead of the competition can be overwhelming.
Fortunately, Instagram stories provide the perfect environment for small and medium-sized businesses that want to improve their brand awareness. But if you want to benefit from Instagram stories, you need to know how to approach this innovative feature. Here are a few ways you can do just that without having to spend money requesting the help of a social media expert.
Ask Questions
Regardless of whether your brand is new to Instagram or not, getting to know your audience should be your number one priority. While checking your follower list can sound effective, most brands experience fluctuations in their audience every month due to changing algorithms and loss of public interest. So, if you truly want to know your potential customers, it’s best to engage with them directly by asking questions via your Instagram stories.
These questions can be as simple as asking if they’ve seen your latest post. Or, you can ask for their help in creating the logo or theme for your next branding effort. However, no matter which question you ask, it’s important to vary them regularly. That way, people won’t get bored by them and will always feel excited to provide feedback. Keep in mind that followers enjoy feeling like their opinion matters and prefer brands that cater to their preferences.
Interact
Stories that are interactive are more likely to create engagement and convince people to check out your brand. Although there are many ways you can encourage interaction, some of the best involve creating templates that your followers can screenshot, fill out, and then share on their own stories. That creates traction for your original story while also marketing your brand to people who have not heard of it.
Not sure what template to use? Our advice is to start with a regular This or That columns template. All you need to do is place an A and B column side by side. Then, ask your followers to fill out the template by choosing one item from each line in either column. And, if you want to fully boost its potential, you can even offer a prize for the person who shares the funniest or most interesting answer on their Instagram story together with your company’s hashtag.
Diversify Your Content
Even though regularly posting on your Instagram story is vital, you don’t want to annoy your followers with filler content. To avoid this issue, you need to diversify your content constantly and post Instagram stories of various lengths and themes. Remember that followers will almost always skip stories that are too long or don’t share valuable information. Even worse, you might lose followers as a result of posting too much corporate content that pressures people into trying your products.
Therefore, you should focus on short stories that allow for follower interaction. Sure, there will be days when you don’t have any new content to post. However, you can compensate by sharing stories that require people to engage even days after your original post, such as the previously mentioned This or That template.
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In Conclusion
Social media marketing has never been easier, thanks to features like Instagram stories. When used correctly, stories are the ideal environment where you can promote your products and engage with your audience. And while maintaining a constant flow of stories can seem challenging, you can always switch it up and try new and exciting types of content. So make sure to give Instagram stories a chance, especially if you want to develop a stable online presence and a solid following.
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