With over 340,000 active users in Trinidad and Tobago alone, Instagram is one of the biggest social media networks in 2018. If Facebook has been your primary social media network, it’s time to catch up! Instagram Stories may be your new go-to!
Instagram stories is a main feature of the app. It allows businesses to post photos or videos that disappear after 24 hours. Why post a disappearing story instead of posting to the account?
Here are 3 reasons why Instagram stories may be better for business than your regular posts:
Instagram Stories are Top of Mind
Content posted to Instagram Stories will appear above your follower’s newsfeed. A ring is placed around your profile photo to signify a story has been posted. This is meant to catch follower’s attention, filling the entire screen. Focus is placed on the content only. Make your content visually appealing to keep customers from swiping left.
Call to Action
You can create a story which seeks a particular action. To increase traffic to your website, add a call to action button. Some call to action buttons available to Instagram Stories are Contact Us, Sign Up and many more. Depending on your goal and target audience, choose an appropriate call to action and throw some racks on it. Oh hold your horses! this feature isn’t available to all accounts just yet. You either have be verified or have over 10,000 followers. Our friends at Foodienation ,with a follower count of over 44,000, have access to this tool and mentioned that they add a call to action button organically. Now thats an incentive.
Encourages Engagement
There are several other forms of engagement within Instagram Stories. For example, posting behind the scenes content for customer entertainment or knowledge, you can use a branded hashtag. Branded hashtags will allow followers to see other posts or stories you have shared before. There is also an option to adjust your story settings allowing direct messages. Along with these, you can create a poll that asks customers to vote. It’s a simple and easy way to find out what your customers prefer.
Posting to your business account is still important as your stories. According to Instagram’s algorithm, high engagement on your account contributes to your story placement on your follower’s profile. That’s a quick tip before you flood everyone’s feed.
Viewing a story for about 15 seconds requires less commitment than commenting or liking a post. Think of it traditionally, as a quick commercial before your regular scheduled programming. So the next time you’re thinking about dishing out cash for a PowerPoint commercial on local television, consider a free 15 seconds ad on your Instagram account.