If you struggle bringing new followers to your business’s Instagram account, you may find yourself wondering, “Is time spent posting to Instagram Stories time well spent?”
In a word, yes. Here’s why:
Stories Humanize Your Brand
Not a ton of people see business Instagram accounts as a profile they want to interact with. Most posts (the real ones with captions and hashtags that are seen on your feed) on business accounts are to generate brand awareness, clicks, and sales. It’s tough to really connect with your audience if all you do is sell, sell, sell.
If Instagram were a party, business accounts would be the guy that shows up to a pool party wearing a suit and tie, walking around making sure everyone waits 30 minutes after eating before cannonballing in. Nobody wants to hang out with the guy that isn’t personable and doesn’t understand why you want to eat pizza rolls and sit in the hot tub without being lectured.
That’s fine. Those sales-y posts work for some, but they don’t build trust between your brand and your consumer. Instagram Stories gives you the chance to show your personality without having to disrupt the aesthetic of your account’s feed. You finally get to be the guy doing backflips off the diving board. People will interact with your account if you show a bit of personality. You don’t even have to do backflips, but you should anyway.
It Gives a Behind the Scenes Look at Your Business
Nothing makes your consumers realize your brand is made of real humans like showing them the real humans that make up the brand. That’s some real deep stuff, I know. But by showing the day-to-day ins and outs of your work, your followers can see that your product is made by people just like them for people just like them.
Generate Conversation
Instagram is packed with features that allow you to make super engaging Story content. From geo-tags, to doodle pens, to text blocks, to stickers, and even polls, if you can’t find a way to engage your followers you probably don’t have any to begin with. There’s no excuse not to be social on your social media. If you have no idea what I’m talking about you can take a quick crash course.
Be Blessed By the Algorithm
For you data focused folks, get excited that Instagram’s algorithm actually favors accounts that utilize stories. If you consistently post stories, your content will show up more often in users’ Explore tab. That means the more active you are with it, the more people you’ll reach with it.
If your Story is often watched by a user, it will appear more in their feed. That means the more they like your content, the more of it they see. Simply put, if you’re pushing out engaging content regularly, you’ll be #blessed by the almighty algorithm.
There’s an endless amount of opportunity to engage with your audience using the Instagram Story feature. And it’s never been more beneficial to be using it. The only way to see for yourself is to dive right in and see what it can do for your business account. And if you want help, we’re happy to assist.
