When Instagram rolled out 24-hour Stories back in 2016, it became a sensation overnight. Almost eight years later, the feature is still going strong, and many marketing teams have made it a fun part of their social media strategy. But there’s an art to this seemingly simple feature – and simply posting and hoping for the best isn’t it. If you want to use Stories strategically, you’ll need to delve into your target audience and figure out your brand’s visual identity.
In this quick guide, we’ll walk you through how to use Instagram Stories strategically, with some great examples to give you a head start.
What are Instagram story filters?
Of Instagram’s more than 2 billion users, 500 million of them watch at least one Story per day. And while overall Story reach rate has declined over the past few years, they’re still an incredibly sticky feature, with a full half of Instagram users reporting that they’ve visited a brand’s website to check out or buy a product after seeing it on Stories.
By these stats alone, it’s abundantly clear just how powerful Instagram Stories are for brands large and small. But numbers aside, there are several strategic reasons to have a solid Instagram Stories plan in place, including:
- Instagram Stories humanize your brand: Unlike our highly curated feeds, Instagram Stories are meant to be ephemeral (they only last 24 hours), timely, and authentic. They’re the perfect medium to showcase the real people, stories, and values behind your brand.
- Stories are much harder to miss: While the IG algorithm used to show posts in your feed in the order they were posted, that’s no longer the case. That means that your shiny new posts might not actually be seen by some of your audience. But when you post a Story, your followers will see it above their feed, and might even get a notification about it.
- You can share links: One of the biggest complaints marketers have about Instagram is that you can’t share links in regular posts. Thankfully, if you have a business or creator account, you can share clickable links in your Stories, making it much easier for your followers to check out your website.
- More opportunities for engagement: Other than commenting or liking, there isn’t too much a person can do with a regular in-feed post. But with Stories, users can respond to polls, share direct messages, ask questions, and more.
Tips on how to use Instagram Stories
Want to make the most of your Instagram Stories strategy? Here are a few tried-and-true tips:
Create a consistent visual identity
If one of your followers randomly stumbled upon your Story without any context, would they know it was from your brand? If the answer is ‘no’, then it might be time to rethink how you’re approaching your brand’s visuals. Brand consistency is key to making your content recognizable, memorable, and most importantly, effective.
So what does this mean in practice? We’d recommend starting by using the same color palette, fonts, and imagery you use in other branded materials. For example, if your website uses a lot of plant and nature imagery, your Stories should as well.
Post often
Like with any social media strategy, it takes time to see the fruits of your efforts. Don’t get discouraged and quit cold-turkey if you don’t see a lot of results after just a few weeks or months. Posting great content on a consistent schedule is essential to building up a dedicated audience over time. Research shows that around 2 stories per day is the ideal, but feel free to experiment and see what works best for your brand.
Avoid too many frames
No one likes the person who spams posts on their IG feed, and the same goes for Stories. According to Rival IQ, the number of people who stick around to watch your Stories drops off below 75% after 7 frames.
Experiment with storytelling
Storytelling is one of the most powerful tools you can use as a brand. And when it comes to IG Stories, narrative-based content wins, with 35% of users preferring short narratives.
A few ideas here:
- Walking users through a how-to or tutorial
- Sharing your brand story
- Taking your audience on a ‘day-in-the-life’ of one of your employees
- Showcasing stories from your customers
Use CTAs
Just like with any other type of social media post, your Instagram Stories should point people in the direction you want them to go. A call-to-action, like a clickable link or interactive poll, incentivizes people to engage with your Story and account.
Some of our favorite Instagram Story examples
Outdoor product Instagram story template
Got a seasonal launch or sale coming up? This customizable Instagram Story template offers an eye-catching way to detail several different products at once.
America’s Test Kitchen
If you want people to engage with your brand, ask them their opinion! This simple Instagram Story from America’s Test Kitchen is a great example of how to easily boost engagement, all while subtly driving people to your website for more.
Work from home Instagram Story Template
Customizable bingo is another fun way to gamify your content and get people interacting with you. Choose an on-brand bingo theme and invite people to screenshot and tag you in their own Story. If someone gets bingo, repost it back to your Stories!
Nike
We love what Nike did here with their short-form video IG Story series. They sat down with some of their athletes for a short look into their career accomplishments – and didn’t mention any of Nike’s products. It’s a masterclass example of using compelling storytelling to your advantage. Not everything you post has to tie back to your product or service, but it should reinforce your brand and what it stands for.
With Instagram Stories, the possibilities are pretty much endless. Not sure where to start? Check out Marq’s free template library full of customizable Instagram Story templates and get creating!
