This is a user generated content for MyStory, a YourStory initiative to enable its community to contribute and have their voices heard. The views and writings here reflect that of the author and not of YourStory.
Instagram Tip — Tell Your Story to Your Customer without Clogging Up Your Profile Stream
This is a user generated content for MyStory, a YourStory initiative to enable its community to contribute and have their voices heard. The views and writings here reflect that of the author and not of YourStory.
Instagram Stories was launched in august 2016 and it was an instant hit. This meant, any user could curate their entire day in the form of small videos and linked images that can be streamed on a feed that is separate from your profile feed.
What are the things that set Instagram Stories apart from other social media video streamingtools and plug-ins?
1. Your video and image stories play chronologically as you keep adding content to it throughout the day.
2. All the videos and photos cannot be commented on as they are a part of a separate feed. But a follower can send you direct messages from the Stories slideshow(s).
3. You can see who are following your Instagram Stories in real-time. You can choose to share specific portions of your stories to your main feed by using the share button.
4. You can also add text, emojis and finger-paint to each of your stories.
5. Every Instagram user has access to Instagram Stories, and they can reach you through the slideshow directly.
If this seems like a déjà vu to you,then you are probably right. This is Instagram’s answer to Snapchat Stories that had created a massive uproar among the young technophiles last year.
But the real question is how can you use Instagram Stories to boost your sales and strengthen your brand name? Here are a few ideas that you will find useful:
Generate a strong buzz
Instagram Storiesis a wonderful tool to create buzz about upcoming events, offers and holiday special celebrations. If you want to remind your clients how special they are, you can simply create an Instagram story dedicated to them and share it on your main feed. If you are out to look for new customers, select your target audience and give them a sneak peek of the coming offers.
From real estate agents to doctors, every individual can make use of Instagram to create a buzz about their brand and profession. For example, if you own a dental health website, you can create a small video about how eating the Halloween cadies affect the teeth of the young ones. Include a word about discounts and promotional offers for people who show up before Christmas! Encourage them to share your videos and comment on the same.
WoM is a strong instrument that can build relationships with new clients and strengthen old ones.
Get more followers on Instagram
This is easier said than done. Instagram has some of the world’s best potential markets, provided you know how to find them. The primary step towards harnessing the power of Instagram for social media marketing is gaining a healthy number of followers. But you may have to put your thinking hat on before you go around looking for new followers.
A few tactics always work when you are working with Instagrammers. You can open some form of interesting contests or debates that will draw attention of Instagrammers from around the world. For example, if you are the owner of a healthcare organization looking for a newer clientele, you can create a “Miss Perfect Smile” contest where the winner gets a year’s worth of free dental checkup from your clinic.
This is a wonderful way to boost friendly dental SEO marketing without paying massive fees to the SEO experts or digital marketers.
Always create extra content
Who does not like to feel rich in content? You can definitely boost your social media presence by piggybacking on the Instagram Stories. Instagram Stories gives you the brilliant chance to create new stories and campaigns using snippets from the Instagram Stories. These are great for the much lauded “throwback Thursday” posts and “catch us again” posts. All in all, always make your Instagram Stories keeping in mind the “reuse” factor. You can always reach the people outside the boundaries of Instagram with the same photos and videos.
And did you forget about your ongoing Facebook and twitter campaigns? Well, no worries! You can always drive traffic to your other ongoing campaign using Instagram Stories. This is the beauty of creating video and image stories since they can contain elements from other social networks as well. Instagram Stories work as fun reminders to jog memories of your followers. You can remind your followers about ongoing campaigns and contests with interesting but info rich short videos.For example, if you have some kind of oral cancer campaign running on Facebook, you can always put in a word about it along with a live URL in your Instagram story. All in all, there is no better tool that Instagram Stories to redirect traffic to your other ongoing campaigns.
The Live Video Update
This is the motherload of all marketing strategies that has been ushered in by Instagram. Using the Live Video update you can update “of the moment” actions on your feed. This is a massive upgrade!When someone is streaming a video, a section of their followers are updated so they can stream, share and comment with the person streaming live. Everything associated with Live Video takes place in real-time.
Just like Instagram Stories, a section of all your followers are privy to the updates. This selection is made on the basis of their interests and recent activities. The Live Video update is indeed a wonderful way to stay in touch with your fans, followers and potential clientele without any fiscal engagement.
Whether Instagram has taken a leaf out of Snapchat’s marketing strategies is still debatable. But that does not stop the smart marketers to take advantage of the cool new features when they are still hot. Instagram offers the best tools that help all entrepreneurs excavate new domains of marketing and expand their fan base beyond the usual tangible dimensions.