Want to boost your relationship with your followers? Then Instagram stories are the perfect tool! They are a great way to be a bit more informal with your audience, have some fun and share some behind-the-scenes of your day-to-day! As they are almost exclusively shown to just your audience, stories are one of the best ways to build a strong connection with them & let them get to know you better. Our guide takes you through all you need to know to optimize your Instagram stories to build trust and boost your engagement (and sales!).
Instagram stories in 2024
Thanks to their interactive nature (thank you stickers!), stories make engaging your audience both easy & authentic. Sharing stories regularly that your audience enjoy watching and find engaging, means your content is more likely to get pushed to the top of the feed and your stories to the front of the queue, making it easier for more people to see your content and increase your engagement!
The optimal size for Instagram stories is 1080×1920 pixels (full screen, 16:9 ratio). Creating stories in this size ensures that your content is displayed correctly on users’ screens and won’t be stretched, pixelated or leave gaps. Once posted, a story remains displayed for 24 hours on your account after which it disappears unless saved to a highlight.
Increase your engagement with Instagram stories
The temporary nature of Instagram stories means that they evoke a sense of urgency that encourages users to view your story before it disappears. To exploit this, share stories that involve:
- Promos & special offers: sharing limited-time promotions, discount codes or flash sales that will encourage your audience to take action quickly.
- Exclusive previews: share a sneak peek of new products, services or upcoming content to tease users and give also a feeling of exclusivity.
- FAQs: to encourage interaction and make your audience feel connected and involved.
- Behind the scenes: people are nosey by nature so show your audience what goes on behind the scenes in our business & give them a glimpse into your life outside of work!
- You: let your audience see your face regularly by popping on to say hello or sharing your opinions or expertise. This will help them to build trust and feel connected to you & your brand.
Story stickers to increase engagement
One of the best things about Instagram stories is the range of stickers you can use to encourage interaction & engagement. These stickers include polls, questions, quizzes, countdowns, links and reaction sliders. Here are some ideas on how you can use them:
- Collect reviews & opinions: use the poll or comment stickers to ask the opinion of your audience on specific subjects to gain valuable insights.
- Encourage participation: polls & quizzes are not only good fun but also enable you to get a better understanding of your audience’s preferences.
- Increase personal interaction: by responding to questions submitted by your audience via stories, you created a more personal connection.
Tip: don't forget that when you create stories you can choose who can see them! You can create a “close friends” list to target a specific section of your audience.
Recently, Instagram also released a new feature that allows you to share a post comment in a story which is a great way to make people feel closer to your brand. Read more on how to add a comment to a story here.
Story highlights
Instagram also allows you to extend the lifespan of a story by giving the option to share a story to a “highlight” which is positioned below your bio. To be able to save stories to a highlight offers some strategic benefits. Not only does it extend the lifespan of your stories allowing users to view them for as long as you keep them within a highlight, but they also allow you to share important information & messages about your brand. You can then organize your highlights accordingly, naming them appropriately (e.g. About, Gallery, Reviews, Services, Products etc.).
Story highlights can serve as a showcase for your business, allowing you to create a strong and engaging first impression for new visitors to your profile.
Don’t forget to add on-brand covers for your highlights to keep your page looking consistent and professional! The ideal size for these is 1080×1080 pixels, but don't worry too much about this as the size is not exact and Instagram will adjust your images to match the standard format of 161×161 pixels.
Highlight categories
Certain highlights are particularly useful for showcasing your business and encouraging users to view. Here are a few popular categories:
- About: share key information about what your business does, who you are and how people can buy/work with you.
- New products (or services): add new products (or services) to showcase your latest offers.
- Client/customer testimonials: sharing feedback and testimonials from satisfied customers builds trust and encourages purchases.
- Tutorials: share tutorials, guides & demos relating to your business activity to showcase how to use your product and position yourself as an expert.
- Behind the scenes: share behind the scenes of your business, including how your products are made, employees at work, and your office, to humanize your brand.
- Events and launches: cover special events, product launches, and participation in trade shows and exhibitions.
- Promotions and special offers: announce your latest promotions, exclusive sales, or discount codes to encourage sales.
- FAQs: answer your customers ' frequently asked questions, for easy access to important information.
- Your story: tell the story of how your business came to be & the journey you’ve taken along the way.
- Tips and advice: offer practical advice & tips relating to your industry to help your audience & position yourself as an expert in your field.
In carefully choosing the categories of highlights, you not only strengthen your brand voice by getting across key messages about your business, but you also offer valuable resources to your audience.
Story likes & DMs
Did you know you can “like” a story? You might have noticed when viewing stories, there is a small heart at the bottom of a story between the “send a message” option and “share” icon. In the same way a like on a post or reel works, a story like is a quick way to let someone know you really like what they are sharing! It is also a great way to increase engagement and give the algorithm a nudge to say people like your content. You can view who has liked your story by swiping up on your story to see who has viewed it and any likes will be viewed at the top of the list with a little red heart next to them. So don’t be shy, ask people to like your story and give your engagement a little boost! You could write or say, “like this story if you agree” or “like if you want to see more behind the scenes like this”.
In addition, stories are a great way to drive traffic to your DMs. DM chat is one of the best ways to communicate with people on the platform so use stories to drive chat to your DMs by encouraging people to use the “send message” function at the bottom of a story.
Be consistent
We have said it once, and we will say it again, consistency is the key to attracting and keeping people’s attention on Instagram. Posting regular content that is interesting, and relevant to your target market, ensures that your brand remains anchored in the minds of your audience. When it comes to stories, it is also important to vary the type of content you share, alternating between different formats (such as images, text, graphics, videos etc.) to keep your stories feeling fresh and captivating.
Sharing stories daily is great and due to the informal nature of stories, this can be pretty easy to do. But don’t forget to be mindful of your workload and don’t over-commit. You can even use a scheduling tool like rapidely to schedule your stories in advance to take the pressure off. And if you find yourself stuck and lacking inspiration for what to share on your stories, rapidely also gives you tailored ideas in line with your brand voice, strategy and goals.
One last tip! Did you know that if you interact with your followers’ stories or interact with them in the DMs, they are more likely to see your stories first at the top of their feed? Try it out for yourself and see! And finally, don’t forget to analyze your stats to see how your content (including stories!) is performing to allow you to adjust your strategy accordingly & plan going forward.
Instagram Stories are a powerful tool for increasing your engagement & interest in your brand thanks to their temporary nature and their interactive features. In creating a sense of urgency and using interactive stickers, you can grab your audience's attention, encourage engagement, and get your stories to the front of the queue. They also help to build a stronger relationship & deeper connection with your audience, making them feel closer to you. In short, if you’re not using stories as part of your Instagram strategy – you’re missing out! They should be a central part of your strategy and work alongside your posts & reels to build a strong brand image and sense of community with your brand.
To find creative and original story ideas that fit your business perfectly, you can use rapidely and ask the AI to do it for you (for free!).
