4 Reasons Why Instagram Stories Are A Valuable Platform For Marketers
Social media is always evolving, and one trend we’ve certainly noticed in 2020 is that Instagram Stories are slowly overtaking Instagram Posts as the most popular post type for influencer campaigns.
From April to September, Instagram Stories accounted for almost half of all our campaign post types. Across that time period, we observed an 8% increase in Instagram Story campaigns from 2019 to 2020.
Why is it that Instagram Stories are on the rise? There are a few factors that make Instagram Stories so valuable for marketers. Let’s break them down:
1. Relatability Factor
If Instagram feed posts are a dreamy highlight reel, then Instagram Stories are where an influencer’s personality and real life can shine. There is less pressure to make every Instagram Story frame picture-perfect, making them feel much more relatable and off-the-cuff.
When it comes to brand partnerships, even Instagram Stories are often pre-recorded and approved by the brand before posting, but their reliance on selfie videos, iPhone photos, and behind-the-scenes sneak peeks make them relatable to viewers, much more so than the curated content that goes on an influencer’s feed.
2. Demonstrations Made Easy
Instagram Stories make it incredibly easy to demonstrate how to use a featured product in short, concise clips. Whether an influencer is cooking a recipe, demoing a new technology, showing how to style a piece of clothing, or something else, Instagram Stories are the perfect platform for such demonstrations. With the ability to add text captions and GIF stickers too, there are plenty of tools to create engaging and informative tutorial-like content.
3. Conversation Is Key
Instagram Stories are about community building, and the poll and question stickers, along with the ability for followers to direct message (aka DM) an influencer help cultivate conversation. Viewers can provide feedback, ask questions, and create a dialogue that can last far beyond the 24 hours that a Story is live.
Story interactions are beneficial for 2 main reasons: first, replies, poll votes, and other interactions help increase the Story’s engagement numbers and can in turn boost an influencer’s Story to the front of people’s Story feeds. Second, both your brand and the influencer can receive immediate feedback on the content, product, and partnership. Maybe a follower has a question about how to use a product or absolutely loves the content produced and DMs the influencer to say as much. This instant feedback can help both of you inform future content and strategies for future marketing efforts.
4. Ease Of Conversion
Last but certainly not least, the ability to add “swipe-up links” is perhaps the valuable benefit of Instagram Stories, particularly if you are deciding whether an in-feed Post or Story is more worth your time (and budget). Adding in swipe-up links allows influencers to turn their content into sales conversions and hopefully drive more sales to your brand.
Now that you know why Instagram Stories are all the rage in influencer marketing, make sure you know the ins and outs of Instagram Story analytics so that you can track your campaign success.