Instagram has posts, reels, stories, story highlights, and seemingly growing options for users to grow their following and share content. Since its inception in 2010, Instagram has proven to be one of the most popular and effective social media platforms for connecting with audiences.

While at first, marketers did not think that Instagram was a place to grow their business, with the rise in influencers, marketers have come to realize that consumers trust what influencers say and are more likely to buy a product or service if their favorite influencer uses it. The rise of influencer marketing has determined that consumers rely on those they trust.

Ironically, it is difficult for companies to create consumer trust through social media, especially when starting a new brand. But, using social media creates a new way to communicate with consumers; therefore, it is needed to optimize exposure and the maximum reach of your audience. Social Media Platforms consistently introduce new ways to publish videos, photos, and comments. Companies, just like consumers, should stay in the loop and use these tools.

Now that we have determined that social media is necessary, what about Instagram Stories?

How Instagram Stories Come to Play

After its launch in 2016, Instagram stories launched on the Instagram platform. It created another way for users to post images and short videos that would last 24 hours and even share them with just close family and friends. Since the videos are short, users would quickly find themselves watching the stories of the other user they follow before scrolling down to see posts and reels.

Since then, Instagram Story users have grown drastically in numbers. Today, more than 500 million active users participate and watch Instagram Stories, which accounts for about half of Instagram’s entire user base. Now that is a huge possibility for improving your reach!

Users can tell if there are stories available through the list available on their Instagram homepage or go to other users’ profiles directly and see the gradient color surrounding their profile picture.

Creating a Storyboard

As marketers, we want to communicate effectively with our target market, but we also need to be able to use our creativity (to be fair, it would not be fun without the ability to be creative). Creating a storyboard will keep you on track to optimize the effectiveness of your marketing campaign. Plus, keeping things in order will keep things polished on your profile.

Fortunately, keeping things on track does not mean using one part of Instagram exclusively. You can create a post of an event, for example, and then in the stories, go into further detail with short videos, unboxing, interview snapshots, and more. This will keep users engaged, and if they are interested, they will go to the related post and interact with it as well. And, if you are lucky, they will click on your link in bio and head straightaway to your website.

Tips to Improve an Instagram Story

Even while popular, there is still a few tricks and tips that one can learn to enhance their Instagram stories. Have you tried any of these?

Using a combination of photos and video shorts
Learn how to use the integrated editing tools
Boomerangs
Using filters to enhance video and photos
Adding Texts and Extras
Using symbols to make a unique background
Enhance reactions with emojis and gifs
Use links so that users have easy access to your product or service page.

Use Instagram Stories to Make Valuable Story Highlights

Story highlights are more important than people think. As a business, new potential customers will visit an Instagram page and look at the story highlights to figure out what a business is about, what its values are, and who is the face behind the posts. While story highlights are not meant for engagement, they are powerful in informing the audience and building authenticity.

Ready to Make Your Next Story?

Making stories for Instagram can be a lot of fun and allows for creativity. And it can also be used to communicate with your target audience and grow your business. Remember that users want to buy products from companies that they trust.

Diana Alexia Creations helps businesses write content for their social media profiles through content creation. Check out our social media post-writing service here.