Social media stories have become one of the most popular features on apps such as Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat. Due to its short and heavily graphical nature, a story allows brands to interact with the audience and create real-time engagement. It is also important to note that, unlike regular posts, they are only available for 24 hours, which is why they provoke users’ activity so much.
When done tactfully, it is evident that these ‘social media stories’ do not just create engagement but can also create a sale. In this knowledge-sharing article, we will share tips on utilizing social media stories to build awareness, reach the audience, and drive conversion.
1. Creating Attention-Grabbing Content
The first strategy that people should employ when addressing social media stories is always to post content that grabs their audience’s attention in the first instance. Given that the stories usually run for a maximum of 15 seconds, the first few seconds must be inviting and mesmerizing for the consumer to stay tuned. Choose professional images, videos, and striking graphics that correlate to your business. One can also add the use of superimposing texts, filters, and effects that assist in coming up with good stories for the particular visibility material.
“To keep your audience interested, vary the content with short behind-the-scenes clips, sneak peeks, or non-professional people’s footage that creates genuineness. Combining multimedia and brilliant slogans is one way to help make an emotional appeal that fosters engagement and interest in any brand,” says SEO Consultant Youssef Hodaigui, Founder of Mindflow Marketing.
2. Utilizing Interactive Features to Increase Engagement
Besides engagement tools, the stories section of social media contains multiple interactive features that brands can utilize. Anything in the form of a poll, a quiz, or a sticker that poses a question will make a user more engaged in the narrative since they will feel like a part of it. Thus, through these engaging additions, brands may gain certain information and receive more engagement in return.
“One could run a poll asking followers which product they would choose or conduct a quiz relevant to the company’s brand, which would go viral and result in engagement. The more individuals engage with your content, the more likely they will remember your brand and purchase a product,” says Sarah Jeffries, Director at Paediatric First Aid.
3. Incorporating Behind-the-Scenes Content for Authenticity
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4. Showcasing Products with Shoppable Stories
Using shoppable tags in social media stories can increase sales. Both Instagram and Facebook display the products within the stories, and users can click on them to go to the product description or make a direct purchase. This feature allows brands to present their products in realistic use-situation scenarios.
Lauren Taylor, Marketing Manager at Emergency First Aid At Work Course, shares, “Embedding shoppable links would direct viewers to the online store. Stakeholder engagement can also be done through product descriptions, flash sales, or exclusive time-bound discounts through shoppable stories. These help the company get more user engagement, as they do not want to miss out on any offer.”
5. Sharing Limited-Time Offers and Flash Sales
“Stories are appropriate for time-sensitive offers because they are temporary and fit for the passage of time. Because Stories disappear after 24 hours, they are suitable for promoting flash sales, limited-time offers, and exclusive coupon codes. This results in fear of losing out (FOMO) among the viewers, forcing them to make the call. Countdown stickers or running text should show how long the offer is valid to make the offers timely. If available, incorporating a swipe appearing above the link or using a ‘swipe up’ link makes it convenient for customers to work out the whole purchase based on the offer.” asserts Graham Grieve, Founder of A1 SEO.
6. Using Story Highlights to Extend the Lifespan of Your Content
Although the stories posted on social platforms last only 24 hours, there is a feature called story highlights on most social media platforms. The latter feature lets you sort interesting stories according to the results and save them to your profile so new followers can find them. Essential information won’t disappear after a day. This is particularly advantageous for product and customer reviews and making content relevant for a long time.
Put your highlights in categories such as New Arrivals, Customer reviews, or, better yet, a behind-the-scenes look. Furthermore, such action will continue creating interaction long after the first 24 hours, thus increasing the time potential customers can spend with your brand and the chance of making a sale.
7. Collaborating with Influencers for Wider Reach
Influencer marketing can significantly benefit social media stories, giving your content a larger audience. Sponsored content lets you engage the influencers’ followers and, as a result, reach more people interested in your brand. Your product, service, or message you want to spread can be narrated in stories by influencers, which will work as referrals to followers.
Ben Bodrero, Marketing Director, Seat Covers Unlimited, inserts, “Could you ensure that the storytelling commissioned from the influencer matches your preferred brand personality and campaign goals? You can co-promote giveaways, product releases, or special offers, but such information will go through the influencer’s story content and promote reach and sales.”
8. Utilizing Story Ads for Greater Reach
Besides organic stories, business people can use story ads to expand their market. Story ads are vertical and immersive display advertisements that appear between regular stories and help brands extend beyond the reach of their immediate followers. These are very catchy adverts, and the best thing about them is that they can easily be associated with a specific landing page; hence, they are ideal for use where one wants to convert. Compared to universal advertisement formats, story-based advertisements seem less obtrusive since they integrate into the regular edition of the story, thus being more likely to grab a user’s attention. Brands can benefit from getting and sharing more traffic, engagement, and business with visually engaging, sophisticated copy and an emotionally powerful call to action throughout the story ads.
9. Using User-Generated Content to Build Trust
Sharing users’ content, as any other User-generated content (UGC), is an excellent opportunity to increase your audience’s confidence in you. With actual customer ratings and feedback on your products shared online, it is a boost that can sway a potential buyer. This way, you can also get your customers to create their own stories with your product, and instead of programming their posts, you use a specific hashtag to repost them.
“User-generated content (UGC) not only gives a genuine voice from the customers but also fosters a community built for the brand. This makes the other users want to be part of it since it is apparent that real people are using and enjoying your products/services,” says Martin Seeley, Senior Sleep Expert at Sleep.
10. Providing Educational Content Through Stories
Publishing educational content is a good way of adding value to your consumers while making your brand popular. Whether it is tutorials, tips, and tricks, or information about some events, new products, etc., educational content can help retain the customer’s attention and make them visit your channel more often. In the case of academic stories, you can gain your readers’ trust by providing solutions to issues they are likely to encounter.
For instance, a beauty products company can provide short training; companies making makeup products might share makeup techniques on their app. When you share stories with your audience, you get them to interact with your content and build trust, leading to more conversions because users will start to turn to your brand as their source of information.
11. Running Engaging Contests and Giveaways
Competition and gifts are the best marketing strategies for enhancing engagement and sales through social media stories. Users are asked to like the post, comment on the post, tag friends, or share the story with friends to stand a chance to win the prize. This gives you more comprehensive coverage and helps bring traffic to your page, where interested customers can get more information about your products or services.
“Offering participants a product they need is always more appealing than giving them some cash they could spend elsewhere; you can use this as a factor when presenting your stories,” says Josh Pather, Founder of Photo Booth International.
12. Engaging Followers with Q&A Sessions
It is important to mingle with the audience, and in stories, the favorite concept for engaging the audience is Q&A. In particular, Instagram offers options for submitting questions in story feeds and answering them publicly. Such engagement creates a feedback system in which followers get their say, making them feel important. QA effectively informs customers about your products or services, responds to their concerns, or provides information about your company. This increases your audience’s engagement with your content and teaches your audience about the products and services you offer, thus strengthening the bond and ultimately moving the needle on sales.
13. Analyzing Story Performance and Refining Your Strategy
As part of the ongoing management of your social media story strategy, you need to assess the effectiveness of your stories. Many reveal how many people scrolled through, clicked, or engaged with your story. Please check the completion, engagement, and click-through rates to know what content will get the most engagement with the target audience. So, you can use this data to sharpen your approach.
“If an interactive story gets more engagement, more polls, quizzes, or questions could be devised. In case product stories influence sales, one should work on generating shoppable content more often,” says John Tappan, Mortgage Advisor of BD Nationwide.
14. Highlighting User Success Stories for Social Proof
Using success stories or testimonials from your customers gives prospective customers a solid reason to buy your product. Stories about customers who successfully used the product or received services show the company’s clientele that they would benefit from it, too. This method is preferred because it relays real-life situations influencing the purchase decision, overcoming purchase hesitation. Customers can be encouraged to give detailed feedback through videos, photographs, or written testimonial success stories, which can be captured and featured on a profile. Proving what your product has done to another person can make people buy because they’re convinced others have benefited from your selling.
15. Using Hashtags and Location Tags for Discoverability
One way of keeping your stories visible to those who do not follow you is to incorporate popular hashtags and geo-tagging. If a hashtag is used, every story will show up in the search results of a particular topic, and if a location tag is used, all the content will show up for users in the specific region it was tagged. That will prove particularly effective for regional companies or brands focusing on a particular geographic area. Hashtags ensure your story appears under the feeds of several users who you think are interested in your content. Like the other categories of advertisements, location tags enable you to target geographically limited end-users who may be likely customers. This increased visibility can lead to improved customer engagement and, eventually, an increase in sales.
Final Thoughts on How to Use Social Media Stories to Drive Engagement
Promoting your stories on social media is a fantastic way to connect with your audience, help push for sales, and be time-limited and enjoyable. Thus, engaging with the audience, using eye-popping posts, appealing to shoppable, and dating with influencers will help increase brand recognition and boost conversion.
This temporary form of media gives it a clear advantage as it is the best approach to implement, for instance, the ‘while stocks last’ campaigns, one-day sales, and offers notifications. The idea is to constantly watch and refine your story to your audience to create a better bond with them, increasing interactions and sales.