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Are you looking for How to Use Instagram Stories Like a Pro to Build Your Audience because you realize how much impact this feature has had on Instagram marketing? If that is the case, you have come to the right place.
This article will cover all the basics and a lot more. So, if you have been struggling with your campaign on this front, make sure to continue reading and salvage the situation.
Structure
First and foremost, you need to look at the name. It has stories, right? If that is the case, look to follow a plan and tell something to your audience in a way that you would a story.
Think of a movie plot. It has a beginning, middle, and end, right? The same structure applies to a story on Instagram. Or at least it should if you are looking to profit from it.
Start by teasing something and slowly build the suspense, ultimately revealing everything at the end.
Do not post the same things on other channels, like Facebook or Twitter. An Instagram story should be unique and rewarding to your followers.
Peak Times and Schedule
Audiences are most engaging during certain timeframes. And the whole thing changes when talking about different days of the week, especially the weekend.
Everyone has different browsing habits. That is a natural thing. However, this does not mean that you cannot narrow down the peak times for your audience and create yourself the best possible posting schedule for both stories and regular content.
Aesthetics
You have a lot of different customization options. Instagram is all about visuals at its root. Dominating the platform without emphasizing this in your plan is extremely difficult.
Most brands that are already well-established have their own style and are recognizable. If you are in the same boat, do not neglect this part and stick to your guns.
Understand Your Audience
It will take quite some time before you really nail down understanding what your audience is like, but if you work towards that it should not be something out of the realm of impossibilities.
Analytics is a great tool to narrow down all the information and grasp when you are doing things right and when things need improvement.
Collaborate
Working together with others has a lot of benefits. And it is not just the influencers. There are plenty of other brands who are always looking to start a relationship with each other and liven things up a bit.
You are bound to end up in a rut with very little idea of what you should do next. When that happens, collaborating with another channel is the way to go.
Using hashtags is inevitable when speaking about Instagram. Be it regular posts, bio of a channel, or stories, you need to put hashtags to good use.
Stickers
Image source: Pexels.com
Stickers have certainly evolved recently and are now widely used on all kinds of content. But when it comes to stories, boosting the engagement rate is quite easy, especially if you get the hang of the basics and test various things.
Poll stickers are perfect to ask your audience to voice their opinions about various matters. People like to participate in these kinds of things, especially on social media.
Quiz stickers are a fun way to educate your followers and help them show off their knowledge.
A countdown sticker could be a good way to remind your audience about what is coming next.
Locations stickers are also quite common as putting them in stories is very similar to tagging locations in regular posts. Whenever someone is searching for that location on Instagram, your story will pop up in their search results.
Product stickers speak for themselves. Even though users on the internet are pretty smart, simplifying things are always appreciated. Thus, whenever there is an opportunity, include a sticker and help your readers.
Reply to Direct Messages
While this one does look pretty obvious, plenty of accounts do not bother with replying to the messages they receive from the fans. You could argue that getting thousands of messages at the same time makes it impossible to respond, but this applies only to the biggest companies out there.
Replies will show that there is a real person behind the account, making it much easier for a fan to connect with you. And it will help with the overall engagement in the long run.
As you see, there are plenty of ways to get so much more out of your Instagram stories campaign. The more of these tips you use, the better your result is going to be. And do not forget that it will take some time before the effect takes place, so be a bit patient.