Tips On How To Use Instagram Stories For Business

10⁰⁵
2019

Although Instagram started as a social media tool to post pictures and short videos, it has gradually emerged as a powerful business tool. With over 700 million active users, limited competition and much better engagement rate than other social media like Facebook or Twitter, Instagram is an excellent business tool. With a better opportunity to present products and services to the targeted audience without spending an enormous amount of money, Instagram is a great marketing tool for businesses especially those who cater to younger generations. Instagram is pretty easy to use. Take a picture or video, hashtag it with your company name or product tagline and voila! You are done. Creating a story on Instagram is pretty easy as well. You can either directly tap the camera icon in the top left corner or simply swipe right from your home screen to add a story. Alternatively, you can add pictures or videos from your camera folder to the story. Once you are done adding, simply click the next button and share; your story will be available to all your follower's feed but is also visible to anyone on your profile page by tapping your profile picture. You can also find out how well your story did by swiping up while viewing your story:

First step - Create a business profile:
From a business perspective, the first step to creating an impactful Instagram presence is to build a business profile. The business profile helps you to use several added features specifically designed for business purposes. It can also give you Instagram Analytics. Once you have opened a business profile, your impressions, reach and other important metrics will be included with your story under the content heading.

How often to post stories:
Regular Instagram posts are often subject to Instagram's fickle algorithm. Thankfully with a business profile story, Instagram does not penalize you for posting too many stories. There is no "good frequency" for posting stories.

Too many stories, especially if the content is not as impressive, can put off your followers. And too few means your audience is not getting ample opportunity to engage with you. Out of sight, out of mind is a real thing in today's "Insta" world. The key is to balance the frequency. Most experts suggest that you experiment with the number of posts. Start with a particular frequency and monitor the response. Typically you can get the highest levels of engagement even if you have three to five posts a day, so long as the "content" is the main hero of your post. We will discuss that in the next point.

Content:
No matter how many times you create an Instagram story, it is critical to strategize the actual stories. As a business owner, you must chart down what your target audience would like to see and how to make it interesting for them. Remember that time is of the essence. Your target audience has only a few valuable seconds to spend on you. It is a matter of your craft and strategy to keep them interested in you, for all of those few seconds. Content really is the main part of any Instagram story. Keep it simple, keep it engaging. One message, one visual and make an impact. This should be your mantra. Find a powerful message and an impactful visual.

Engaging:
Thanks to Instagram, there are many creative ways to engage your followers. After all how long can you keep someone engaged with one visual and one message, something that thousands of businesses worldwide are doing? Engagement tools like asking questions, conducting polls, and organizing a virtual contest are possible through Instagram stories. These are a few ways to keep your audience engaged and interested in your products, services and brand.

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