Instagram, since its creation, has gone through a number of different updates and changes to become the social media sensation it is recognized as today. With static posts to IGTV videos to stories, the platform has always tried to introduce the latest features to optimize user experience and increase reach. And all the brands and influencers have not shied away from using all these features to increase traffic on their accounts
Although posts are the best way to let your content stay on your page for a long period of time, Instagram stories are another way of reaching more people. And Instagram is about to launch a new feature called Instagram Reels that will give users a similar experience as the trending platform TikTok. From GIFs, stickers, polls, questions to filters, boomerangs, and a number of other features, Instagram stories are slowly becoming the new cool. In this blog, we talk about how you can use Instagram stories to boost your reach.
Use Polls, Questions, and Other Features
Use polls on Insta stories to determine your audience’s preferences of products or services or their likes or dislikes. The questions and quiz stickers are a good way to interact and know more about the audience, to test their knowledge of your business or content related to your business, and also to ask their opinion on how you can make your page better. If you have an Instagram business account you will have a lot more features available to you like shopping and other tags. Instagram also allows you to post different DM, Countdown, and Challenge stickers in stories for you to have better interaction with the audience.
Drive Traffic to Your Posts
You can share your feed posts, either new or old ones, on your story and drive your audience to click on the post and interact on it. You can also add copies, challenges, countdowns, questions, or polls in these stories regarding whatever your post is about. This can help increase engagement and boost your post reach.
Use Hashtags
It’s important to use Hashtags in your stories as much as it is important in your regular posts. Although in the latter you use hashtags specific to your post, in the stories you can use a general range of popular hashtags, as long as they have relevance related to your content.
Post Stories Every Day
Your Instagram stories disappear after 24 hours, so make sure you’re posting on your story every day even if it’s just a motivational quote you want to reshare from another page. Keep your account always on display in the story feed of your followers. It doesn’t just make people engage with your account more but it also makes your account’s name memorable for even those who don’t interact with you instead of them forgetting they follow your brand because you’ve been quiet for so long.
Maximize on Mentions
Whenever you post a story that has another brand or service in it, make sure you mention them in the story. This makes those brands not only watch but also reshare your story to their own page. This can help people get aware of your blog and follow you if your content is something they can relate to. Always remember to mention other brands and accounts in order to increase traffic on your account.
Use Instagram Ads
Have you ever noticed how when you’re swiping through your friends’ stories you usually get to see sponsored stories from accounts you’re not even following? That’s another way you can use stories to boost your reach. Post ads of your posts on Instagram stories and make your audience find you through them. It’s a good way to find your target and can lead to a better engagement campaign for your brand.
Use the Swipe Feature
The swipe feature is available on accounts that have a follower list above 10K. So if you have that huge a following, you can easily use this feature to make your audience swipe up to open your website, another page, or anything you want their attention directed to. Even if you don’t have that huge a following, this can be a good motivation for you to strive to get there.
Be Creative
Make your stories as aesthetic and creative as you can, so long as they are relevant to the tone of your brand. Many design tools like Canva allow you to design Insta story posts and also provide you with different templates you may get inspired by. Use such tools to optimize your stories and make your audience look forward to your brand’s message.
Collaborate with Other Accounts and Brands
You can also use Instagram stories for collaboration purposes with different brands or accounts. Whenever you get a PR package or even if you ordered something on your own, you could add an unboxing video to your story and tag the brand in it. You could also host live sessions with different accounts relevant to your brand. Or you can go live on your own to share tips or educate people on topics they’re interested in. Collaborating with bigger accounts than yours can help increase your reach among bigger influencers who you can further make collaboration plans to make your account get a higher number of impressions. Instagram stories are a good way to achieve all of this with ease.
Post Different Type of Videos
Instagram gives you the option to choose different types of videos and a variety of filters that you can use in them while shooting or capturing your boomerangs, zoom-ins, or just regular videos. Make sure you’re utilizing all of these features to make your stories more aesthetic and add a variety to them.
Once you’re done posting stories, you can also add them as Highlights to your profile so that people may view them from your feed even years after they’ve disappeared from your actual story. The features available on Instagram stories are advanced and a very easy and effective way to reach out to your audience. So be sure to make the most of all of the tech available at your fingertips!
