Social media can be a crucial tool to build customer loyalty and generate sales. But your business might be underestimating the untapped potential that can come with creating Facebook and Instagram Stories.
What are Stories?
Separate from your traditional social media feed, Stories are a sort of slideshow of photos or videos that disappear after 24 hours. Each photo in a Story is seven seconds long, while every video runs for 15 seconds.
After a Story is published, a colored ring (blue on Facebook and pink on Instagram) appears around the creator’s profile picture, which signals to its followers that there is new content.
Why should my organization use them?
Creating Stories can be beneficial for small businesses in these ways:
- They appear at the top of your follower’s feed. Posts on your traditional feed are pushed farther down on other’s algorithmically-ranked feed as new content is published on Facebook or Instagram. Your Stories, however, will show at the top of your follower’s feeds no matter what — in other words, you can’t beat the optimized placement. And this top placement doesn’t cost anything.
- They can humanize your brand. Stories are meant to be informal and fun, which can be a great way to show off the personality of your brand. You can build interest in showing your followers something they don’t normally see — like your business at a trade show, community event, or job site.
- They help audiences engage with your business. Research suggests that users look at Stories more than traditional posts. They’re quick and easily digestible, which bodes well with people’s low attention spans. It has been shown that 50 percent of Instagram users visit an organization’s website after viewing its Story.
How do we start?
Making Stories doesn’t have to involve a great deal of extra effort. If your organization is planning to post a photo or a video to your Facebook or Instagram feed, do so and then share it to your Story. Using content you already have is a great way to begin. You can also start slow — try creating stories once a week, for example.
As you become more comfortable with Stories, they offer features that can help businesses. Using “stickers” on Instagram is great for driving sales. The Link sticker allows you to link to a product on your website, while the Countdown Sticker allows a company to promote a new product release or sales event.
Need help mastering the Facebook and Instagram Stories? RSPR can help your organization with all things social media. Contact us today to get started.