5 things marketers need to know about Instagram Stories

Facebook, after the failed attempt of acquiring Snapchat, recently rolled out a Snapchat of their own - Instagram Stories. Instagram Stories or Snapstagram (as I like to call it) is making news due to its innovative but uncanny semblance to Snapchat. In this “buy or build” story of its own, let’s see what marketers need to know about Instagram Stories.

1. Run storyline campaigns

Stories will roll out targeting users who love posting their daily routine online through images, videos and GIFs. This is a more “real” version of what you would post on your main Instagram feed. Instagram Stories would provide for an excellent platform to run campaigns with a storyline or a storytelling side.

2. Snapchat-like 24 hour timeline

Abracadabra! And, your Stories vanish.

If you love adding photos on social media, but don’t want the audience to see it beyond a 24 hours or after the event fades away, Instagram Stories is a cool feature to work with. For marketers, this means putting out less casual content and more fun (even unmoderated!) content using Instagram Stories.

3. Real-time engagement on content and campaigns

As you add more photos or videos on your story, they automatically arrange themselves in slideshow format. The UI is easy on the eyes and the user no longer has to worry about the pitfalls of over-posting and reckless engagement.

Enliven the campaign with real-time photos and video sharing features that appear as feeds and stories. From a marketing standpoint, you have better chance of engaging audience who love behind the scenes and daily engaging updates.

Keeping real-time consumption and Snap-like auto-disappear features of content in mind, use Instagram Campaigns to generate a sense of urgency within your consumers.

4. Intuitive UI/UX and easy to follow and track stories

Despite its one-day shelf life, users can easily track each story. Thanks to colorful rings and dots flashing on top of the feeds, you will get prompt alerts on what’s new and what’s not.

For marketers, it is easier for you to grab more eyeballs with such enticing graphic-friendly alert on feeds. Note that lot of “older” audience is not on Snapchat because they feel the interface is complicated. This is not the case with Instagram Stories and I feel this is a real win for them too.

5. Know your followers

With one swipe on your feeds, you can see the list of people who viewed your story. However, it still does not give you an alert if someone screenshots your story. That being said, it is good to be able to view, analyse, and segment your followers based on regular viewers of your stories.

The traction for future

In the past, Instagram’s Poke, Slingshot and Bolt, all disapprovingly failed to grab attention and traction. However, Stories has all the features to boost sharing and control the promotional value of each campaign on a real-time basis. Do expect a few more filters, stickers and of course lenses to give users the edge on clicking instant pics with shareable content quality. After all, we know where it’s all coming from!

With over 500 million Instagram users currently, it would be worth checking out how many users actually take to Stories and give it a candid shot at their online stardom.

KEY HIGHLIGHT: As a marketer, plan your Instagram Stories like Snapchat campaigns but with a broader target audience and an incredibly larger viewer reach in mind - and with adults loving it too!