Instagram Stories for Small Businesses

Instagram is one of the most cost-effective and interesting means, people and organizations use to connect and engage with their customers whether it’s by posting pictures, live videos, shoppable tags, or IGTV. And, Instagram continues to introduce new ways for people and businesses to interact with one another on the social media platform, leading to more engaging customers and improved customer experience. One of such ways is Instagram Stories.

What is Instagram Story?

Instagram Stories are the featured content (non-promoted, organic stories) that appear on your page only for 24 hours. These stories can feature pictures, GIFs, and video in a slideshow format and can be edited with drawings and text emoticons. It’s a great tool for business promotion, especially for small businesses in the digital world where most consumers create an impression of a brand by looking at their presence in social media. Businesses today often use Instagram stories to highlight new product features or to answer customer queries in real-time.

Creative Ways Small Businesses Can Use Instagram Stories to Accelerate Growth

Highlight One of Your Recent Project or Events

Many businesses do this really well today. By combining still pictures and videos to let your customers and prospects know what’s been going on like – a team marathon or a plantation program. You can combine cool graphics with behind-the-scenes footage to create an engaging, fun, and playful Instagram story.

Make Quick Announcements

As Instagram Stories are instant in nature, they give businesses great opportunities to make business announcements such as new onboarding, a new product, and general updates. These moments are an excellent possibility to post behind-the-scenes footage that wouldn’t necessarily earn importance on your main page. Your followers will get a feeling like they’re privy to the latest information about your business. This consequently helps boost brand awareness and customer engagement.

Collaborate

Instagram Stories is a great way for brands and influencers to collaborate. Small businesses can team up with relevant businesses or influencers they think their followers could benefit from. This gives both organizations a host of new exposures.

Create a Giveaway

Running online contests and giveaways can be effective ways for small businesses to grow their following on Instagram and engage prospects and customers with their brand. This can help create extra buzz around your business.

Create Story Highlights

Instagram Story Highlights have been a game-changer since they were introduced in 2017. For Small businesses, being able to pin Stories to the top of their profile essentially acts as an extension of their company intro. Small businesses can utilize highlights to tell people who they are and what they offer. Create stories for highlighting, with an eye-catching cover. They’ll transform your Insta page into a corporate brochure!

Steps to Set Up an Instagram Story

Posting of an Instagram Story can be done in four easy steps:

  1. Launch the Instagram app on your phone or computer.
  2. Touch on the camera icon at the top left of your Instagram page or swipe right from anywhere in your Insta Feed.
  3. Tap the circle icon at the bottom of the Insta feed to take a direct video or picture. You can also choose a video or picture from your gallery by swiping up. You can also resize the picture by pinching in or out.
  4. To add text or sticker to your photo or video, tap the editing icons. Save once you are done with the editing and click publish.

The role of Instagram stories for small businesses’ growth is crucial in this digital age. One important thing to keep in mind when you are using Instagram stories is that you should plan what you are going to publish on your story, they don’t necessarily have to be super high production content. The whole concept of stories is to be short, real, personal, and authentic.