August 22, 2020 Saloni Piplani

Stories: Rising Face of Social Media Marketing

The Story format of social media will soon overtake feed-based messages. Invented by Snapchat and amplified by Instagram, Stories could become the next best way to communicate on social media.

That’s because Stories form a great medium to share multiple short video clips all day.

Stories has been a bit of an internet buzzword. The hype is well earned with the emergence of Instagram and Snapchat Stories.

Infact, nearly 1.7 billion accounts use the Stories format daily. Isn’t it huge?

More than any other form of content, Stories deliver the promise of the internet, breaking through the clutter of news articles without the time-consuming search to discover.

Story Marketing is Essential to Build-up Your Brand

Stories today can mean articles from magazines, opinion pieces, editorials, podcasts and more.

It seems like each medium has its own version of Stories, but in the end, what the format is all about is: users and readers want consumable information packets with enough scope to be relevant, but not overwhelming.

Stories require depth by nature so they can be used to drive readers more deeply into the content they’re interested in.

In addition to this, Instagram provided marketers the opportunity to run commercials and obtain actual business expertise in the field from Stories.

HubSpot uses its Instagram Stories to support a wide range of its own services. It also use Stories to give their followers helpful tips.

Hubspot Instagram

Source: https://skedsocial.com

It is a step that shows the important role Stories play not only for customers, but also in working to build a new business business model.

As more and more users are digitally linked and more information becomes available, all they want is access to content that is more associated with their greatest interest and not just headlines.

Benefits Offered with Story Marketing

An image creative or blog post is no longer sufficient to create a brand and tell the story that connects a brand with consumers.

You need content and depth: do your homework, write down what you want to say and add photos and multimedia to enrich your content. And convert the material into several stories that can be shared with your audience.

Interact with Your Audience

You can either communicate with your audience with Instagram Stories, or reach a new one.

Even if your stories last 24 hours, the advantage is that not only those who follow you can see them, but also Instagram stories can be found, and those who don’t follow you can still see your posts.

This could be a perfect opportunity to meet a new audience and more creatively communicate your ideas.

All you need to do is be imaginative, use an artistic photo / video with a catchy storyline and don’t forget one important thing: you send a message via your post.

Live Streaming

Stories promotes the use of real-time marketing-building an Instagram campaign that focuses on existing, appropriate content and consumer immediate reviews.

You can share real-time content with your audience with the help of live streaming options.

Instagram Live not only helps you to create a broadcast but it is also a means of interacting with viewers in different ways and gaining new followers.

It’s also an excellent platform for brands and companies finding new and enjoyable ways to engage with their customers.

Optimize Lifetime Value

Most stories have a longer shelf-life than just when posted and that’s why Instagram and Snapchat introduced features that enable you to archive, save and share stories beyond their initial 24-hour lifetime.

Leverage your stories’ long shelf life and share them in different ways and numerous places, from social media sites to Reddit to YouTube, and more.

Repurpose your Blog Post 

When you have a piece of content on another site that performed well you can replicate the content and share it with your Instagram Story.

Make some really good photos, and through them tell your business story. It will improve your brand’s credibility and increase your chances of being heard.

Increase Transparency Amongst Your Users 

Show some videos with behind the scenes to give the people a glimpse of your brand and resources.

Make a video of you and your staff, or take a picture during your lunch, try to make your audience a special part of your regular moments.

Repurpose Influencers’ Stories to Brand Stories

It is a perfect way to offer an exclusive look at goods, services, and features to your fans behind the scenes.

To repurpose the tale of an influencer on your own branded page, the influencer would need to include your brand in the post, that will increase brand visibility.

How to Adapt With This Emerging Trend of Stories

As this change happens, marketers must be at the forefront of this phenomenon to stay valuable to their customers.

Now it’s time to start with your brand Stories and grab the user’s attention. It can be a great way to increase your interaction with your audience.

Incorporate Story Marketing to:

  • Highlight thought leadership and company culture
  • Improve credibility with audiences
  • Build content funnels that lead to strategic CTAs
  • Create serialized stories that engage and encourage audiences

The more you incorporate the Stories into your social strategy, the easier it is to give them the right exposure.

Are you ready to step into this trend and build Stories that will illustrate the message of your brand and how your content stands out.

Let’s learn more about the power of visual content and how basic creative skills will help you with your tasks from now on to become even more effective.

Social media keeps evolving but that doesn’t mean we have to stay behind!