How To Use Instagram Stories
Today I'm here to talk about one of the reasons why my Instagram grew: by having engaging Instagram stories. I went from 400 followers to 1800 followers in only a few months. You heard correctly I have less than 2000 followers but you'd be surprised by how you don't need a large social media following to get local clients.
In 2021, having an engaged audience means that you have people listening to what you have to say. These people are more likely to actually buy your product or service so that's why you'll be hearing more from me how to engage and get leads versus how to grow numbers - because an increase in numbers is an indication that your brand doing well.
Make your text short and simple.
Use easy words and big text. This is a fundamental marketing technique to get people's attention right away and you don't have to think more about it. Even if you don't have a brand or if you aren't artsy enough to create visually appealing work, this is a tip for everyone.
Get a bit creative to stand out from everyone else posting stories.
If you don't know how to use the basic Instagram features like highlighting or drawing doodles and the like, I have two phone app recommendations for you: are you ready? Canva and Unfold. Canva is accessible on web browser so if you'd like more control over what you do, I recommend going on a desktop, use one of their story templates and create on there, and then just log into your Canva app on your phone, go to "Recent Designs" and save your story from there. Unfold is much more minimalistic, I usually use it to frame my photos in a more visually appealing way than the standard Instagram photo upload feature.
Before you go all crazy on the numerous Instagram story templates -my next tip comes to play:
Stick to your brand.
No matter who your audience is, if you're still on social media in 2021, you are immune to tactless ads. People are now more invested in a brand, a story, versus a blank canvas of sorts that doesn't have an idea of where it’s going. So if you don't already have a brand for you and your business, take a step back and reevaluate your brand. What do you want to portray to your audience? Having a brand is crucial to start being known as an expert, a professional. Now in terms of actions to do: if you have a minimalistic brand, don't go off using fancy overbearingly colorful templates. Take the time to edit the template to match your brand or choose something else. In the same way, if you have a business, don't post photos of your partying in the middle of COVID. Stand inside people.
People love Behind-The-Scenes or sneak peeks.
And I'll tell you why: it gives your audience something to look forward to. The next time you're working on your next big project or product, remember to post about it! Doing this will keep you relevant and it can lead to further conversations. People may DM you asking "hey what camera do you use?". And this is good! You'll get your audience curious to learn more about what you do.
This next tip is definitely the one thing that boosted my story engagement strictly because in order for it to work, you need to have an engaged audience.
Use the Instagram story features like Tags, Questions, Polls, etc.
This requires your audience to make a decision to participate. And here's the catch, the more engaged your post is, as in the more people you get voting your poll, the better the chance Instagram will push your story to the front of your follower’s highlight bar. Obviously being at the front means you have a better chance at getting views and getting to their front page in the future when you may promote your next product or service. Be very careful though, I would suggest using this tip may be one of these once a week. If you use it every day, people will kind of get sick of you. So although it's very effective, be smart about it.
Show up at least once a day.
If you wanted a number for how many times you should post an Instagram story to maximum your outreach, I would say show up at least once a day. I know I personally don't follow this rule especially now when I don't have any shoots because of local restrictions, but whatever you do post, make it its valuable content in some way. I recently got a hold of Retouching Academy's Photoshop panel, so I made a post about it on my Instagram story. This will leave an impression of "oh wow, she's still editing photographs and "I know nothing about Retouching! I'm impressed she's so advanced as a photographer!" ;) You honestly don't have to overthink this. If you're working on something relating to your business, document it and turn it into the content. Let me know on my Instagram if you'd like me to make a master list of what you can do for Instagram stories.
Also a small quick tip: Tag any brands that appear in your story. For example, I tagged the Retouching Academy’s Instagram and they ended up sharing the highlight! Companies love it when you show off using their products and this is an easy way to get views.
Mix up audio with only text posts.
I personally don't have my audio on all the time so when I come across a story of someone talking directly into their phone with no text describing what they're talking about, I skip the entire story. If you're passionate enough to talk about something on your story, I would suggest including a caption of text to give context about what you're talking about. While your Instagram account is run by you and you have full control and choice over what you post - I'm here to tell you how to grab people's attention, and from my experience, only audio without any text isn't the best way.
Speaking of videos, don't post long stories.
This is especially true when you post stories because depending on how long your video is, it can be up to 6 stories long! This also applies to photo highlights of the same thing. You won't be able to keep the retention of your followers if you have so many stories to go through. Sure maybe a short portion will view it, but I can guarantee you, if you looked at the first post with views versus your last one, you lose a lot of people. I personally make sure I don't post more than 3 a day, I'll 4 posts if I feel like I gotta show something off, but remember it's not about you. It's about your audience.
Be selective about what you share.
Since Instagram introduced its sharing feature, I've seen some people share literally every content that they see on their feed - and I always instantly mute you (the mute feature was a blessing). It's okay to be passionate about other's opinions, especially during times of civil unrest and political debate, but other times, when you're posting memes - be smart about it. Frankly, others don't care about your opinion on a topic if the post has nothing to offer them. So like the previous tips, know your brand and stick to it, and don't spam.
That concludes my guide as to how to use Instagram stories in 2021. While my main target audience is new photographers, I’m sure this post can be helpful for anyone trying to use Instagram for their business.