Have you ever wondered how to make the most of your Instagram Stories? Today we’re going to dive into all the details of my 6 favourite Stories strategies. We’ll be talking about everything from challenges to story telling, selfies to captions, and all sorts of things.
Looking for Instagram Stories tips for 2021? Check out our updated guide to Instagram Stories!
Today’s episode is sponsored by the All-in-Whin Marketing Method. I’ve been working hard at updating my signature course for 2020, and the next cohort opens in February. Click the big yellow button below to get all the details and register for early bird access.
Instagram Stories Challenge
I have LOVED Instagram stories ever since last June when I ran an Instagram Stories challenge for me and my followers called #Whinningit. I wrote up a prompt for each day of the month, and then went on to my stories every single day to have a chat and make sure I included the word of the day in my story.
Lots of people joined in, including a few people who posted to their feed as well as to Stories, so you can still catch up on the posts if you go to the hashtag over on Instagram.
6 ways to make the most of your Instagram Stories
I learned a lot from doing the challenge and from getting feedback from all those who joined in, and then spent the rest of last year watching what other people were doing and testing out ideas. Now I want to share with you SIX specific things for you to try which will help you make the most of your Instagram Stories.
- Use Stories to tell stories
- Put your face in your Stories
- Always caption your videos
- Talk about your business and about yourself
- Actively encourage people to connect and engage
- Check the insights for your Stories to find out what people like to watch.
Questions about Instagram Stories
Before recording this podcast I posted to find out if anyone had any questions about Instagram Stories so I could answer them during this podcast.
“I’m confused about when to use Instagram Stories and when to use the main feed – any advice?” – Lorna
I keep the feed for the pretty stuff, and the long term stuff, and use the Stories for day to day, less polished stuff, as well as chatting and asking questions. But there are so many different ways you could break it up, people do all kinds of things in both places! The key thing really is to make sure you’re measuring what works in both parts of the platform, and then try out different styles and ways of creating content to see what resonates with your audience.
“Is it worth hashtagging in Stories? No one seems to view Stories by hashtags yet?” – Jo
In short, yes, if you’re making Stories to appeal to new people. You need to choose the right hashtags in order for this to be effective.
“How many slides is too many?” – Fiona
If you use insights to check when people drop off, you can start to get a sense of what your Stories “half life” is – so for an average sequence, how many Stories do you get through before half your audience drops off? You want to keep it around that length, or a few Stories longer. Alternatively, you feel your engagement is pretty low already and you want to bring it up, try using fewer clips in a sequence, and make sure you’re squeezing as much value as you can into them.
Get in touch
Instagram is one of my favourite topics, so if you have any more questions you’d like me to answer, feel free to send me a direct message. My Instagram handle is thewhinco. I’d love to feature some listener questions in future episodes!
Feel free to email me if you prefer, and of course you can subscribe to Whin Big on Apple Podcasts.
