Nov 1, 2017
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Instagram Stories Take-Over
By now, anyone who is actively on Instagram is aware that the addition of Instagram stories has become a big feature on it’s platform that is used quite frequently by users. As an active Instagram user, I have realized that most of my time on the app is actually spent looking at instagram stories of my followers as well as creating stories for my own personal account. How crazy is that? The app that was created for users to post images and videos to their home page for followers to view indefinitely (unless deleted) is being taken over by stories that last up to twenty-four hours. And now with he addition of highlights, a user can take archived stories and add them to highlights that are visible on one’s home page.
According to a Sprout Social blog by Brent Barnhart, “Stories are no longer seen as a novelty. At this point, they’re a staple of Instagram itself.” One feature that was intended to add to the overall picture of Instagram is now taking a seat at being one of the main reasons people open Instagram. If stories are taking over, how is this helping businesses? Well Sprout social helps us out here by giving us five types of stories that businesses can try:
How-To’s & Tutorials
Sharing User Generated Content
Behind-the-Scene-Stories
Time-Sensitive Offers, Deals and Promos
Special Announcements
All of these tips offered from Barnhart are great strategies that businesses, influencers and users can implement into their stories as they are all ways of letting viewers in on a brand and what it has to offer. They are quick to the eye, and are most likely relevant to the time of which a viewer would view the content. For me personally, I post graphics for my organizations, tag friends in birthday pictures and show highlights of my personal day on my stories. I do this because these events are more time sensitive, and really only need to be viewed on a specific day rather than clogging up my feed. While this new staple of Instagram is growing, questions to reflect on further for this topic:
How are stories hurting brands? How is not using them hurting brands?
What is the future for Instagram? Can stories truly take-over?
Do Instagram stories help gain the audience’s trust?
Sources:
Barnhart, Brent. (2020, January 25). Sproutsocial.com.“Instagram Stories: Best Practices for Your Brand.” Retrieved from: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/instagram-stories/
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