February 12, 2018 | By:

How to Use Instagram Stories to Promote Your Business

We all know that establishing a solid social media presence is essential for businesses in order to stay relevant in today’s digital age. With so many social media platforms available at our disposal, social media marketers often overlook some of the non-core features of a platform.

Instagram, in particular, is mainly known as an avenue to post photos and short videos, but it takes more than just merely posting photos of your business to maximize the full marketing potential of Instagram. Instagram Stories is a fairly new feature on Instagram that has been proven to be an effective marketing tool for businesses. With over 300 million daily active Instagram Stories users worldwide, it has great potential in reaching your target audience.

However, not all marketers are familiar with Instagram Stories and how it can be used for your business. To help you get started, here are tips on how to use Instagram Stories to effectively market and promote your business.

What are Instagram Stories?

Instagram Stories are photos or videos that disappear from your profile and Instagram Feed after 24 hours, unless you add it as a highlight.

Highlights, on the other hand, are Instagram Stories that you choose to appear on your profile permanently until you take them down.

Here are the basic steps on how to post photos or videos to your Instagram Story:

  1. Tap the  button at the top left corner of your screen. You can also swipe right from anywhere on your Instagram Feed.
  2. Tap  at the bottom of the screen to take a photo, or tap and hold to record a video. You can also choose a photo from your phone’s gallery. Just swipe up anywhere on the screen.
  3. Tap  or  to draw, add text or a sticker to your photo or video, respectively.
  4. When you’re done, tap Add to your story to share to your story.
Tips on how to effectively use Instagram Stories for your business

Instagram Stories, with its ephemeral appeal, offer great opportunities for you to promote your business in ways that are different from posting more permanent content to your Instagram Profile. Here are tips on how to effectively harness the power of Instagram Stories for your business:

1. Offer flash promotions

Since the content that you post on Instagram Stories disappear after 24 hours, it’s a great place for you to run flash promotions for your followers. This technique provides a sense of urgency and a feeling of exclusivity, which will more likely prompt your followers to be more loyal to your brand.

2. Launch new products

You can use Instagram Stories to introduce new products to your followers. You can also provide teaser content or a sneak preview of a product launch to add more excitement and hype. This will further encourage your followers to stay connected with your brand, knowing that they will get instant and exclusive access to your latest updates.

3. Post behind-the-scenes content

What customers love more than ever is to feel connected with your brand, and the best way to achieve this is to show them the people behind your business. You can post behind-the-scenes content on your Instagram Stories, such as a work-in-progress update of your blog post, a video on how some of your products are made, or daily events in your physical store or office. Whatever you choose to post, however, be sure that you’re comfortable sharing it to the general public and to potential competitors.

4. Include links and a call-to-action to your Story

If your Business Instagram account has over 10,000 followers, you can add links to your Instagram Stories. Adding links, coupled with a call-to-action, can help you effectively drive traffic to your website, blog, or landing page, and increase your CTR and conversion rates too.  Here’s how to add links to your Story:

  1. Take a photo or video for your Instagram Story as you normally would.
  2. Click on the link button at the top, which is just beside the button.
  3. Enter and paste the link

Your followers will then get to see your link when they’re prompted to swipe up.

Invest in paid Instagram Stories ads

Instagram Stories ads function the same way as a normal story, but it offers more targeted ways to reach audiences who aren’t necessarily your followers. Instagram Stories ads are full-screen, vertical-format ads in both photo and video (maximum 15 seconds in length) formats. This can be created using Facebook’s Power Editor or Ads Manager.

For a step-by-step guide on how to create ads on Instagram, refer to our article How to Effectively Advertise Your Business on Instagram. A key thing to remember with Instagram Stories ads, however, is to choose Reach as your objective, which is currently the only objective enabled for Instagram Stories ads.

Instagram Stories are just one of the many free tools Instagram has to offer for businesses. If Instagram is one of the social media platforms your brand is focusing on, it’s high time to include Instagram Stories to your social media marketing strategy, if you haven’t already.

If you want to know more about promoting your business using Instagram Stories, or if you’re interested in working with Ilfusion for your social media marketing needs, give us a call at 888-420-5115, or send us an email at [email protected].

Tags: , ,

Categorized in: , ,

Featured Articles

February 1, 2018 | By: Ilfusion Team

How To Start an SEO Campaign in 6 Steps

Starting a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) campaign can be tricky for any digital marketer. How do you begin? What is the most important element to implement? How do you know if it’s working? Don’t be overwhelmed, though. Starting an SEO... view more

September 26, 2017 | By: Tinny

5 Signs You Need to Hire a Marketing Agency

Marketing is a crucial part of your business strategy. It’s what keeps the gears turning and the driving force of your company’s sales. For small businesses, marketing is important in getting the word out there that your company exists and... view more

September 21, 2017 | By: Tinny

Key Advantages of Video Marketing for Your Growing Business

There has been a rise in the use of mobile devices to access the internet, and there are no signs of it slowing down anytime soon. In this era where most people thrive on living on the go, video marketing... view more

September 13, 2017 | By: Tinny

5 Things You Need to Know: Image Optimization for SEO

If you’re a company whose content strategy relies on images, or if your business blog is image-heavy, it’s high time for you to think about optimizing your images for SEO — if you haven’t done so already. While there isn’t... view more

August 2, 2017 | By: Tinny

Tips on How to Choose the Best Keywords for Your Website

When you have an SEO or PPC campaign, it all starts with one basic element: keyword research. Keywords are the driving force that enable web crawlers and indexers to find your page through the throngs of websites in the world-wide... view more

July 26, 2017 | By: Tinny

Top 3 Search Ranking Factors You Should Know About

Landing on the first page of Google’s search engine results is one of the ultimate marketing goals of many website owners. While Google is keeping mum on what exactly gets you to the top of their SERPs, there are factors... view more

June 28, 2017 | By: Tinny

The Importance of Social Media in SEO

Nowadays, social media has inarguably become an indispensable tool in any marketing strategy. SEO, of course, is also one of those tools that have evolved with the many trends and changes that has occurred through time. This leads marketers to... view more

April 27, 2017 | By: Tinny

5 Ways to Dominate Google’s Search Results in 2017

Here’s how to place your website at the top of search engine results. Creating a website that doesn’t rank well in Google’s search engine results page (SERP) doesn’t translate well to your overall business effort. In recent years, Google has... view more

July 2, 2015 | By: The Conductor

Let’s talk about “The Fold”

We hear it a lot; client feedback that is focused on what content is and is not “above the fold”. To be perfectly honest, this old newspaper term can be a cause of frustration when it comes to good user... view more

June 3, 2015 | By: The Doctor

The Turbit

This crazy ol’ world of ours is spinning faster and faster everyday. Not literally, as we would all be slung to our spacey-doom. I mean figuratively we are all moving more quickly and filling every moment with some bit of... view more

May 6, 2015 | By: Ilfusion Team

How Your Website Can Survive Mobilegeddon

Think your website is mobile friendly? Think again. Google’s new functionality changes have created a frantic need for websites to be optimized for mobile. Mobilegeddon is upon us, and your website could be at risk. See infographic below.

April 23, 2015 | By: El Jefe

Website Cost: A Day at the Ballpark

A question that I get on a regular basis (read: every day) is, “How much will my new website cost?”. To which I typically say something like, “Well, that varies based on the amount of work that’s required to complete... view more

April 7, 2015 | By: The Inventor

Are you a Webspammer?

SEO practices are very different today than how they were even just a few years ago. The number one key to ranking well in search engines today is to create unique quality content. First post it on your website or... view more

March 25, 2015 | By: Ilfusion Team

Social Media Happenings

Ilfusion loves to bring you news on the newest social media functions and trends. Recently, there have been three major happenings in the social media world. Meerkat, a new app that has risen to fame due to the 2015 music... view more

March 12, 2015 | By: The Conductor

The Big Picture

Whether you’re laser-focused on a specific project, or taking a comprehensive approach to your marketing efforts, one aspect doesn’t change: always look at the big picture. Companies often shop at least a few agencies when they’re considering engagement with an... view more