With Instagram’s temperamental algorithm that seems to always favour some page’s newsfeed posts over others, it’s no secret that brands and businesses are turning to Instagram stories for more engagement and to generate leads. If you want to step up engagement on your Instagram stories, here are a few tips for you!
1. Use Hashtags on Your Instagram Stories
If you’re not doing this already, you need to start hashtagging your stories. Hashtags on your stories will help your story appear when a user searches for that hashtag. If you don’t want to ruin your post by putting hashtags all over it, create a small line of text and then place a sticker over it to cover the hashtags. This will also help you make your way to the explore page!
2. Add Your Location to Stories
If you’re at a specific location, make sure to add that to your story. If not, at the very least, use your city as your location. This will help more people see your story if they happen to search for that location.
3. Tag Relevant Accounts
Another way to drive engagement to your Instagram stories is by tagging relevant accounts in your story. If you’re using a product that you want to promote or talking about a different account, make sure to tag them in your story! They might repost you, extending your reach and audience.
4. Create Stories that Resonates With Your Audience
If you don’t track which of your stories performs better than others, it’s time that you start. Which of your past stories has driven the most engagement? Take a look at your past posts and create future ones that are similar. A perfect example is using the questions sticker weekly or monthly allowing your followers to ask you anything. You can then answer them in a follow-up story.
5. Promote Your Instagram Stories in Your Feed
If you have a lot of engagement on your feed posts, it’s a good idea to drive this traffic to your stories. Post something relevant to your stories and invite your followers to visit your story to learn more. Instagram puts stories that users engage with at the front of their feed which will keep them coming back for more. Also, if you have enough followers, you can add links directly in your stories, making it easier for users to find you and your products or services.
6. Use Stickers
Stickers are a great way to interact with your audience instead of them just clicking past your content. There are 3 main types of stickers to use for better engagement
Poll Stickers
Use poll stickers to get opinions from your followers, whether this is about your page or their opinion about something else. Make it fun! Your content doesn’t always have to push a sale.
Quiz Stickers
Educate your followers by using the quiz stickers! This is a fun way to keep your followers engaged and help educate them more about you, your products, or services.
Question Stickers
The best way to start a conversation is by simply asking. Use the question sticker to start a conversation with your followers. Be sure to answer the questions in follow-up posts so that you encourage more followers to engage with you.
Enjoy Increased Engagement
Whether you want to connect more with your followers or you want to gain new patients, creating more engagement on your Instagram stories is a great way to step up your social media marketing.
