Everyone is on Instagram these days – including businesses. If your business isn’t on Instagram, you’re missing out on connecting with your audience. Thankfully, we have some great Instagram story ideas to engage your customer base.
What Are Instagram Stories?
Businesses are driving brand awareness and increased conversions by posting Instagram stories. Instagram stories are full-screen videos or photos that disappear 24 hours after posting. They show up on the top of your feed instead of in it as a normal post would. You can also post multiple pictures or videos, and they will appear in a slideshow format.
Arguably the best part about Instagram stories is you don’t have to worry about overposting. Since they disappear after 24 hours, you can let your creativity shine.
How Can Businesses Use Instagram Story Ideas?
Instagram stories are beneficial for brands because they increase brand awareness, generate more leads, increase brand transparency, and allow you to get real-time feedback from your consumer. More than anything, Instagram stories are a great option for businesses because it forces your brand to stay at the top of your consumer’s mind.
Instagram stories are a great option because any business can use them. Since they’re customizable, the sky’s the limit for the content you put out. This allows you to tailor your Instagram stories to your brand and to fit your needs.
With so many ways to utilize Instagram stories, it can be overwhelming to figure out where to start. That’s why we’ve compiled 10 Instagram story ideas your business can utilize to drive increased engagement.
Related: How to Become An Amazon Influencer
Instagram Story Ideas
1. Introduce Your Team
Social media is a great tool to humanize your business. People like to buy from real people, so utilize Instagram stories to introduce your team to your followers. This creates a personal touch to your business and starts to create a bond between your business and your followers.
These posts can be a few pictures of your team with their name and professional title or short videos where they introduce themselves and share their favorite product from your brand.
You can also take this a step further and create a “day in the life” of one of your employees. They can take your Instagram followers through their favorite parts of their day at your company and share some secrets the average consumer might not know.
2. Repost Customer Testimonials/Stories
If you’ve spent any time on Instagram, you know people love to post products they love on their stories. Take advantage of this and make sure you’re reposting customer stories onto your own Instagram story when they tag your brand.
Reposting existing customer content is called User Generated Content (UGC) and is known to influence engagement and increase conversions. You can also post screenshots of reviews from your website or email snippets to get the same effect.
3. Create Excitement for a New Feed Post
The Instagram algorithm is always changing, but one way to make sure your followers never miss your newest feed post is by reposting it onto your story. You can even create excitement by obscuring the photo with one of Instagram’s many stickers.
We recommend using an Instagram sticker that says “new post” so your followers know where to go to see that content.
4. Share Behind-the-Scenes Content
Instagram is a great way for your brand to show transparency with their consumer, and the best way to show transparency is by showing how your product is made. This can be videos of you making a lip gloss, baking your signature cookies, or setting up your content creation station. If you’re not able to show how your product is made, take the time to show your followers how you package your product and get them ready to ship out.
5. Post Shoppable Stories
Shoppable Instagram stories allow you to link specific products from your inventory to your Instagram story via an Instagram sticker. When a follower clicks on the sticker in your story, they’ll be able to see the product name, price, and description.
6. Promote Your Other Content
Instagram stories are a great way to promote the content your business is putting out. If you write weekly blog posts or put out a monthly podcast episode, make sure you’re promoting it on your Instagram story!
If you or one of your employees has a nice following on Instagram, you might also find it beneficial to ask them to share some of your business content on their Instagram stories as well.
7. Conduct a Poll
Polls are a great way to get your Instagram followers to engage with your content. Let your followers choose between a new flavor of product or a color of packaging to make them feel like they were a part of the creation. This creates a bond between your followers and your business and will lead to more sales.
8. Countdown to a Release or Sale
Instagram has a countdown feature you can utilize on your stories to create excitement for an upcoming event. This is great if you have a special sale or new product launch happening soon. You can also use the countdown feature to create excitement for a new blog post, podcast episode, or other pieces of content you’re releasing.
9. Share a Coupon Code
Sharing a coupon code is a great way to reward your loyal Instagram followers. It’s also a great way for you to measure how many people are purchasing products after seeing your Instagram stories.
10. Create a Gift Guide
Simply sharing your products on your Instagram story might get a bit boring after a while, so spice things up by creating a gift guide. This is a great opportunity for you to spend a little more time on each product and explain who might like it and why. Gift guides are great for the holidays, but don’t feel restricted to the end of the year. Remember – birthdays are year-round!
How to Utilize Instagram Story Highlights
Instagram stories are a great tool for businesses looking to increase conversions, but they disappear after 24 hours. What happens when you have a piece of content you want to stay around forever?
This is when you’ll want to create an Instagram story highlight. That way, your story will stay visible on your page. Instagram story highlights are also a great option for seasonal content. If you create a Christmas gift guide, make a story highlight for the holiday months.
Instagram stories are great for the large brand looking to connect with their audience or the small brand looking for an inexpensive way to increase brand visibility. Whatever your goals are, be sure to use these 10 easy tips to utilize Instagram stories and boost your engagement.
Need more help with Instagram story ideas or your social media marketing? Contact Intensify for a free consultation.
