Instagram Stories aren’t a new thing in the social media circle. In fact, you might remember Snapchat launching something very similar three years prior called “Snapchat Stories.” While Instagram Stories might not be a novel concept, the way we use them is ever evolving. If used in the right way, you could see serious results for your Business. In this article, we’ll be going over the importance of leveraging Instagram Stories in your social media marketing strategies.

1.   Humanizing Factor

Instagram Stories give a humanizing effect to your business. Rather than your audience only seeing the picture-perfect content you post in their feed, Stories allow you to personally connect with your audience through showing them that you too, are human. It creates a connection with your audience that you wouldn’t have otherwise and unlike traditional social media marketing, Instagram Stories allow you to post as much as you want without cluttering your audiences feed.  And the best part about it? The story will be gone in 24 hours.

2.   Gives Your Brand Personality

Instagram Stories can be used to show your companies goofy, lighthearted side, or they can just be used to show day-to-day procedures within your company. For example, I think when most people receive a package on their front porch, they don’t think twice about the process of how it got there because we live in a generation where so many things are automated. But what if your company leveraged Instagram Stories to show the process of packaging & shipping a product in a unique, creative way? Something like this is so simple and doesn’t take much energy, but it does make a difference for your audience. It shows them that your human and lets them into the culture of your company. Use Instagram Stories to reveal the personality and culture of your business on a daily basis, your audience will love it.

3.   Stay Front of Mind

Instagram Stories are a unique way to stay front of mind with your audience. With Instagram’s new algorithm, posts show up in the newsfeed based on what Instagram deems most interesting to you. It doesn’t necessarily matter what time someone posted at, if Instagram doesn’t think you’ll find it interesting then it will appear further down in your feed. This is a huge reason to leverage Instagram Stories. Instagram Stories appear in the top bar of the app and they appear in the order they were posted. Every time someone posts a new story, a colored ring appears around their profile picture in the top bar of Instagram. Through drawing your audience in with your Instagram Stories, you can then direct them to new content you’ve posted that they may not have seen because of the algorithm used by Instagram. This should be a key strategy for your organic social media marketing techniques.

4.   Branding with IG Stories

Instagram Stories can also be used heavily for branding. Stories allow you to add drawings, emoji’s, and text to your pictures or videos. Businesses can leverage this to make the content posted on their stories more eye-catching and engaging. Utilize this tool to add in your company’s core branding colors or an emoji related to your company’s name or mission. Adding drawings, emoji’s, or text is even furthering the idea of humanizing your company. You can take this a step further by tagging a person or company in your story simply by using the @ symbol and that individuals username.

Instagram Stories are a great way to humanize your company, engage your audience, and maintain visibility in your follower’s feeds’ regardless of the ever-changing algorithms of social media today. Social Media Marketing is constantly evolving and it's important to continuously adapt and leverege the new components on each platform – so why not start with Instagram Stories?