The Power of Instagram Stories: A Marketer's Guide

Brands who are familiar with Instagram marketing will no doubt also be familiar with Instagram Stories.

Instagram Stories popped onto the scene back in August of 2016. The 24-hour content feature quickly picked up, and soon Instagram users surpassed that of Snapchat. As their popularity grew, brands took notice and realized this was an exciting new medium that could be used for marketing and influencer campaigns. By 2019, 1 out of 3 sponsored posts on Instagram was an Instagram Story.

Since the boom of Snapchat, short-form video marketing has slowly but surely become a fundamental aspect of any truly great social marketing and social media management strategy. And social platforms took notice, introducing their own features that make use of the vertical video and posting format, giving brands more opportunities to create engaging and interactive content.

But how?

Stories are much more than just a tool for video marketing. Let's break it down...

Table of Contents

Why Use Instagram Stories?

Instagram has over a billion monthly active users, 86.6% of whom post stories daily. This creates huge potential for brands looking to get their content out to the masses. According to a study conducted by Instagram, 39% of respondents are more interested in a brand/product after watching an Instagram story that features it. In addition, a third of the most-viewed Stories are from businesses. Consumers don't just look at them either; one in five stories posted by businesses inspire direct messages from viewers.

This goes to show that Instagram Stories can be a powerful selling tool for brands looking to expand beyond increasing their visibility on the app.

Stories offer a personal touch, unlike more traditional social content formats. Where a Feed post or a video can feel curated and edited, Stories can offer followers a more off-the-cuff or behind-the-scenes look.

This authentic, real-life connection makes Stories the ideal format for influencers and brands looking to provide their followers with a humanizing glimpse behind the curtain. We surveyed over 12,000 Stories with an #ad to identify trends and highlight the exciting ways you can use this feature.

What are Instagram Stories?

Instagram Stories are photos and videos posted on Instagram that disappear after 24 hours. These posts live in the account's archives after they expire. They may also be hosted on the user's profile page as a Highlight with a customizable thumbnail image. Because of their short lifespan and the added functions within the feature (i.e., stickers, polls, GIFs, etc.), they can come across as more authentic and engaging to viewers.

Stories live in a bar on top of your Instagram feed, and new posts are indicated by a colorful ring around a user's profile photo. This content appears in full-screen once clicked and will play automatically in chronological order.

Unlike Instagram posts, users are not able to publicly like or comment on a story, although private comments and reactions can be made via Instagram Direct Messaging.

Interactions made on the feature, such as replies to questions and polls, however, can be publicly shared. Stories themselves can be shared by followers of an account, if a user has allowed it in their settings. You can also see who has viewed your Instagram Story in the bottom left corner of your screen.

How to Create Instagram Stories

Now that you understand what Stories are, let's walk through how to use them:

The basics:

• Instagram Story Recommended Resolution: at least 1080 x 1920 pixels.
• Instagram Story Size: video files should be under 4GB, image files should be no larger than 30MB.
• Instagram Story Duration: 7 seconds maximum for images and 60 seconds maximum for videos.

Tip: In our Full Guide to Social Media Image Sizes you find more detailed sizes and tips.

How to post to Instagram Stories:

• Upload a photo or video from your phone. You may add multiple photos to a single Instagram Story by including them as a sticker. Otherwise, selecting multiple photos from your camera roll results in them being posted sequentially.
• Taking a photo or video on Instagram Stories. To record a video or take a photo, click on the white circle at the bottom of the screen. You may toggle between different filters and functions (such as hands-free or boomerang) at the bottom of the screen.
• Reposting another story or feed post. You may repost stories and posts from other accounts that have allowed this in their settings. Reposted stories and posts appear as a sticker on your story.

Regardless of how you choose to add a Story to Instagram, you are able to add text, drawings, stickers, gifs, filters, links, and even music (depending on your locale), making them fun and engaging for viewers. Simply toggle between these options on the top left of your screen.

How To Use Instagram Stories

Stories are a great way for brands to engage with their audience and reiterate their brand values on Instagram. They allow brands to work with influencers and other key opinion leaders, showcase their culture and employees in a relatable manner, or advertise their products and services.

Unique features on Instagram Stories

Most Stories features are available to all users, including:

• Posts of photos and videos
• Live video streaming (Instagram Live)
• Stories Highlights on your profile page, which are collections of stories available even after expiration
• Stickers, gifs, polls, live chats, questions, emoji sliders, and other interactive functions
• AR filters
• Account mentions and location tags

However, if you're on a business account, there are a few additional features you can tap into:

• Shoppable product stickers
• Outbound links from Stories, which is now available to all accounts - not just those with over 10k followers!
• Instagram Stories Ads- accessible via Facebook's Ads Manager

Making full use of Stories

If you're wondering how brands come up with beautiful, consistent Instagram Stories time after time, look no further than Instagram Story templates.

Brands often use templates to beautify their Instagram Story backgrounds and introduce branded elements and fonts. Looking to create your own templates? Here are some useful apps you can consider:

Marketers can also simplify their Instagram marketing with tools that can help them to schedule their Instagram Stories. Some tools that offer this include:

Explore more top social media management tools

How many hashtags should be in a Story?

Where traditional posts depend heavily on @mentions or #hashtags to build exposure, Stories are different. Text is not the main experience in this medium. Influencers and consumers will often still use text when promoting brands or generating UGC, but it is shorter and more to the point than a traditional Instagram caption.

Our study found that on average an Instagram Story post has 9 words and 2 hashtags. Typically a sponsored story will include the hashtag #ad, as well as a hashtag relating to the campaign.

Tip: Use a social media monitoring tool like Meltwater to identify the best-fitting hashtags and track your hashtag performance.

Examples of What Brands Can Post on Instagram Stories

Check out some real-world examples of how brands are utilizing Stories on Instagram below!

This is one of the best ways for brands to showcase their products and personnel without coming across as too pushy. Behind-the-scenes footage can come in the form of:

• Showing how your product is made and used in an informal or candid setting
• Sharing tips and tricks on topics within your brand's expertise (e.g. styling advice, marketing how-tos, or even addressing commonly asked questions via the Questions or Polls sticker)
• Event coverage and highlights
• Giving an office tour or involving your staff through an Instagram takeover
• Utilizing stories about you: with an 'Add to Story' button now available, you can repost stories from your followers that mention or showcase your brand and products

Ads and promotions

One of the more straightforward means of using Instagram Stories involves publishing ads or promotions on the platform.

The key part of running stories ads is creating the ad creative - the image or video itself. If you post your usual Instagram "feed" content on stories, the ads will likely look out of place. You want to create posts formatted with a vertical screen in mind. This will help to make your content look native to audiences on the app.

In the case of Instagram Stories, shorter is in fact better. The best performing story ads tend to be 1.3 seconds shorter per scene than lower-performing ads. As such, you should avoid jamming your ad full of information - stick to short phrases, eye-catching visuals, and a strong call-to-action.

Influencers

Influencer marketing shouldn't end with just sponsored feed posts. Influencers can publish short reviews for you, answer questions, showcase behind-the-scenes footage, take over your account, launch exclusive collaborations, or appear in your ads - all from Stories!

Influencer campaigns can also help lead interested users directly to a product page. For example, major fashion label Michael Kors made use of New York Fashion Week to invite different influencers to model their clothing.

These influencers were photographed roaming the streets of New York City in their outfits, which the brand then added to their Stories.

Michael Kors' Stories ads featuring prominent influencers

A built-in link directed subscribers to the brand's website, where they could purchase the outfit worn by each influencer.

Consumer engagement

Brands should make full use of Instagram's roster of features to drive engagement. A Story differs from other social media offerings for one main reason - it offers the opportunity for real-time interaction. From countdowns to questions, Stories offer brands the opportunity to connect with Instagram users on a daily basis.

Emoji sliders, question stickers, polls, quizzes, and a live chat room all provide the opportunity for Instagram users to express their opinions and learn from your content.

Brands, of course, have control over what questions they want to ask or have users vote on, which means that they can use them to create greater anticipation around an upcoming event or product launch, or ask real consumers their opinions on what products or features they'd most like to see in the future.

In addition, brands should never forget to geotag their posts (say, when showcasing an event) so that their work is discoverable in the feed of that particular location.

They should also add all relevant hashtags to their posts for the same reason. However, be careful not to overload your content with hashtags so that their taxonomy remains effective.

Of course, these are just the evergreen features within Instagram Stories. The Instagram app often incorporates new features to match the movements and initiatives they support.

An example of this is the Stay Home sticker which encouraged users to abide by social distancing measures during the pandemic, and the rainbow ring around stories in support of Pride Month.

Notably, the app also added many features to help support businesses in the wake of COVID-19.

These included stickers and profile features that allow users to purchase gift cards or order food from selected businesses and stickers that allow users to showcase their support for small businesses.

Repurposing engaging content

Stories can be a great platform for brands looking to repurpose their top-performing content. The scrollable nature of Stories means they can act as a vehicle for page-by-page content, much like a carousel post.

Blog posts, infographics, videos, FAQs, and other educational snippets are perfect for this medium. Brands should be careful not to include too many stories at once - users may get bored and skip them instead!

A great example of this is how news outlets utilize Instagram Stories. The New York Times often uses Stories as a means of showcasing the news in a more visual manner.

Similarly, the Harvard Business Review also uses Instagram Stories to showcase top tips and summaries gleaned from their articles.

On their Instagram page, their link in bio connects their Instagram posts and Stories directly to the corresponding articles on their site.

Working With Influencers on Instagram Stories

In addition, marketers have to be on top of their conversations with any influencers utilizing Stories to keep track of their work and measure results.

Social Influencer Marketing Tools integrate story tracking to help marketers with their campaign and reporting needs. Use an Instagram Influencer Marketing Platform to see the full picture of your influencers activities.

If an influencer with whom you collaborate mentions your brand or hashtag in their Story, you will be able to view the content of that Story even after the 24-hour limit and subsequently analyze their performance with indicators such as unique views and received messages.

To measure the performance of the Stories posted by influencers, they must have an Instagram Business account. The vast majority of influencers already have one. Otherwise, they can easily convert their Instagram account to a Business account by following these simple steps.

With Meltwater's Social Influencer Tool, you can:

• Discover the influencers that are already talking about you. Our influencer search engine includes 500 million profiles so that you can find ones that fit your brand. Search for influencers by their influence score, niche, and much more.
• Optimize your campaigns. A dedicated workflow to activate your chosen influencers. Get their contact information, manage your outreach and export data.
• Measure results. Analyze the impact of your campaigns, follow updates from your influencers, and measure your ROI in real time.

Interested to find out more? Fill out the form at the bottom of this post to schedule a demo!

What Next?

By now, we've fully espoused why Instagram Stories are a great way for brands to make full use of their existing Instagram audience and to connect with potential customers.

However, posting content is only one half of the equation. Marketers must prove that their efforts lead to tangible results. This is especially important in the case of influencer campaigns, which can last for an extended period of time and involve multiple influencers and accounts.

Beyond reach and engagement numbers, how else can you calculate your success with a type of content that expires after 24 hours?

With more data going private and ephemeral content increasing in popularity, measuring Stories' can become time consuming and difficult to keep up with.

Using a unified approach to reporting makes it easier, more efficient, and more accurate to gather metrics for all your social marketing efforts. Read our guide on Unified Reporting for more insights!

In a Nutshell

Now that you've familiarized yourself with our complete guide to Instagram Stories, you're more than ready to kickstart your own Stories marketing campaign.

Remember - Stories don't have to be an echo of your posts. Experiment with different tools and functions to find the content type that best resonates with your audience. Don't be afraid to trial and error - you'll find the key to your success in no time!

Looking for more tips and tricks for Instagram marketing? Check out our Marketer's Guide to Instagram.

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