Instagram has had the ability, in recent years, to constantly increase the number of users, thus becoming a social media of absolute importance. Suffice it to say that according to data published by La Stampa at the end of 2017 Instagram had 800 million active users .
Most of these are private users, that is, people who can freely publish practically any aspect of their life. But among Instagram users there are also many activities, companies and businesses that exploit the potential of the medium to make themselves known and to tell about themselves.
In August 2016, Instagram launched a new tool available to users: stories . But what are these stories? And what are the strategies to follow to use Instagram stories for your business?
What are Instagram stories?
Instagram stories are nothing more than content lasting a maximum of 15 seconds that disappear after 24 hours. The content can be varied , from traditional photos to videos and pure text. “Borrowed” from the social network Snapchat, stories have spread globally, especially appealing to the younger ones, and reaching the figure of 300 million users who use them (with numbers constantly growing).
It is therefore clear what potential Instagram Stories have for your business.
If used as a business promotion tool , they allow you to communicate in a much more informal way than the “standard” posts published on the platform. The potential of this new tool has had a strong impact on the social world: numerous studies have in fact demonstrated how the introduction of these new features has increased the average consumption of Instagram by 28 minutes per day .
How to create an Instagram story
Creating an Instagram story is very simple and does not require any special skills other than those already implicit in the use of the “photographic” social network considered here. The first step is to enter the app and click on the camera in the top left. You can also add photos and videos present on your smartphone to content produced at this exact moment, just swipe up to access the gallery.
The features offered are numerous: from shooting videos with Boomerang , to Rewind and Superzoom , without forgetting the possibility of making live broadcasts .
In the business field, however, some general rules must be followed to create appropriate content. Rule number 1 is that you must try to follow a production logic that is connected to the brand itself , thus trying to maintain a certain coherence. Improvising content is absolutely not effective, nor is creating content that deviates from the ideas and principles of the company.
Step 1: Open Instagram and click on the figure in the top left (a camera if you have an Apple smartphone or a + if you have an Android smartphone).
Step 2: Once the camera opens, take the photo you want, or swipe up to open your smartphone's gallery.
Step 3 : After taking the photo you can edit it as you wish. When you are satisfied with your content click on the symbol in the middle of the screen if you have an Android smartphone, or on the + "your story" button if you have an Apple smartphone.
Instagram stories: how to use them
The Stories tool, as we said, allows us to be “closer” to users, our customers and even our potential customers. To carry out a winning strategy, however, you need to follow some suggestions.
Announce new posts published in feed
A first strategy we could follow is to announce to our users that we have published a new post. Instagram stories have the ability to overcome the problems related to the new Instagram algorithm (according to which traditional posts are increasingly less visible in organic mode). By doing so, we could exploit the fact that Stories have an immediate impact to advertise our new content published on the page.
Intrigue users by using the tools made available
As we have seen, Instagram provides us with a whole series of tools that can be useful to arouse our users' curiosity. We can use surveys to ask the user directly what they think, or not directly mention the product and use GIFs and images to arouse their curiosity even more. Here we need to use imagination and fantasy.
--> The example of Mister Wonderful Italy
Mister Wonderful is a very famous brand of diaries and notebooks because it has been able to focus on emotional and emotional communication.
In their Instagram stories they show their products and seasonal news that customers may have missed if they are not subscribed to the newsletter. In this way they also take advantage of the graphic tools made available by Instagram to create a particular content.
Launch exclusive content, discounts and contests
Being a fast tool with 24-hour content, you can take advantage of these features to launch flash content such as discounts , but also real exclusive products for your users, as well as contests to win certain products.
Using geotags in posts
Geotagging is a cool feature because it allows you to localize your posts and, as a result, be discovered and found in your area , especially if you use it consistently in every story.
Show the “behind the scenes”
If you are an already known company, it is important for your customer to know how you work. For this reason, you can use stories to show users the backstage , that is, how you make your products and with what care you carry out your work. This strategy will create a sense of security in the user about the quality of the products and the company itself.
--> The example of Chiara Ferragni
Chiara Ferragni , an expert in the use of social media, has understood very well how to exploit the backstage. In this way she manages to keep her followers glued to Instagram, showing backstage of her work and also of her life. A certainly effective way to show the "behind the scenes".
Positive aspects of stories
Now that we have seen some possible strategies that you can follow in your use of stories for business purposes, let's move on to the positive aspects of this tool.
First of all, the contents , with their speed, will appear to users as spontaneous and authentic , and therefore more reliable. Only you will know that there is a planning process behind it, for the user it will seem like content created in a short time.
Let's not forget the time factor: the fact that we have a duration of 24 hours pushes users to check the social network and the stories more , precisely to avoid the risk of losing them.
The tool also has many more functions that can be used than normal posts: this will allow us to create original and particular content, different from that of the competition and pleasant to the eyes of the user.
The final advantage is therefore that of being able to have a tool with which to create fresh, personal and authentic content , in order to also create a more everyday and professional image of the company.