A few years back, Instagram had decided to switch their feed model from the existing linear chronological Insta feed to what is referred to as the algorithmic style. We understand that it implies your Insta feed would no longer comprise all the posts shared by all the users you seem to be following, in the usual reverse chronological order. Instead, your Instagram feed would be displaying just the posts that have been identified by the algorithm as something that you would be interested in according to certain crucial factors like likes and engagement. This update implied that businesses needed to modify their overall Instagram marketing stratagem. However, thanks to Instagram Stories, businesses could consider being more flexible in their Instagram marketing plans.

As per https://money.cnn.com, when Instagram Stories was introduced way back in 2016, numerous people considered it as a perfect clone of Snapchat. Moreover, we know that Instagrammers were free to share videos and pictures that vanish after a day or 24 hours. Now users could even incorporate Snapchat-like filters known for adding features such as bunny ears and flower crowns very much into your posts. Facebook stopped trailing behind Snapchat shortly. As per findings from numerous studies, within just eight months or so, Instagram Stories overtook the DAU count of Snapchat. Soon Instagram became twice as prevalent and popular as Snapchat. Let us explore some tips to leverage Instagram Stories for boosting your brand’s marketing strategy.

Consider Featuring Your Audience in Your Stories

Your customers would be incredibly pleased when they find that your brand has included them in your story. This is a common practice, as far as, influencers are concerned. They are used to doing this on most occasions. When you feature your clients, it is an expression of the fact that they are very important to you and your brand. When you start featuring your audience in your Instagram Stories they would love it and would be immensely motivated to become your loyal customer.

Come up with Fascinating Behind-The-Scenes Footage

Human beings are known to be curious creatures, hence, everybody is very interested in exploring what all is happening behind-the-scenes. Everybody is bored stiff by keeping on seeing the monotonous flawless photos in picturesque locations. People are very much interested in things that are actually taking place in reality. You could present hilarious clips of a seminar business meeting or come up with fascinating behind-the-scene activity, your team manufacturing your product, moments from a video shoot that is taking place behind-the-scenes. Your followers must get an inkling of the real individuals behind the success of your products. Make your clients part of your daily moments. Businesses must consider using behind-the-scenes glimpses since it helps in humanizing their business and infuses a vital element of transparency that helps your precise target audience to interact and connect on a much deeper level.

Go for a Takeover

A takeover seems to be a situation when an influencer is in complete control over a brand’s account for some time. This could be a fabulous instance of a marketing endeavor that proves to be fruitful for both the influencer and the brand as both enjoy exposure to a broader audience. Choose the most suitable influencer for making your campaign a grand success. Choose the most suitable or perfect influencer who would be aligning with your brand. You must allow adequate time for promoting the takeover. Last but not the least; you must clearly define the particular metrics that would be tracked by you for measuring the campaign.

Aim to Be Always on Top of Your Audience’s Mind

Stunning pictures and mesmerizing posts are not necessarily the only way of engaging effectively with your precise target audience. You could boost overall engagement with your followers by publishing more frequently and unfailingly even average posts. You should kindle an expectation in the minds of your audience. Your followers must get so used to your consistent posts that they should keep checking if you have posted your latest posts packed with valuable information. You could switch to “frequent posting” in place of solely “wow’’ posting for perpetually staying on your audience’s mind. Establish a niche for yourself and enjoy real Instagram likes by focusing on consistency, discipline, and unflinching determination to keep posting consistently for winning over your followers.

Keep a Diverse Content Strategy

You must put forward a diverse content offering at all times so that your target audience can find something for all their needs and interests. This can also be in the form of integrating a new social media platform or marketing channel to your strategy since it will bring with itself a whole new format of creating content and engaging with people. Instagram Stories and TikTok-like video snippets are all the rage in the marketing world now.

Use Story Links to Drive Traffic

Instagram had made sharing links a little inconvenient when things started out, with only verified accounts being capable of sharing links to your stories. This barrier has since been removed, with the only requirement being having at least 10,000 followers. If your content strategy has been great thus far, you might already have surpassed this requirement, but if not, the feature is valuable enough to buy your way past the threshold. Linking in an Instagram story to your site, blogs or other social network channels is an excellent way to drive traffic there, and build your Omnichannel approach.

Engagement is Key

Instagram stories are awesome for engaging with your followers and also gaining new followers to interact with. Despite the fact that stories are ephemeral and last only 24 hours, they are highly discoverable, even among people who don’t follow you. If you play your cards right, you can reach a completely new audience segment and broadcast your ideas, products, and services far and wide. You can use the platform more liberally to share deals, promotions, or have polls and quizzes to encourage engagement even further.

Conclusion

Instagram Stories must be an integral part of every business’s marketing stratagem. It simply takes just some taps for posting images and you needn’t worry much about perfecting your posts all the time. You could enjoy the freedom to experiment whenever you please. You may not always stick to well-planned and fully-detailed content. You could enjoy and experience great fun while leveraging this powerful platform for marketing success. Instagram Stories play a pivotal role in boosting your followers simply because the videos and pictures on Instagram Stories have contextual and even real-time significance. It is high time businesses leveraged the power of Instagram Stories for boosting follower engagement and overall success.