You've probably seen them on Instagram and you've watched them, but have you used them yet? Well you should! And for a number of reasons and we'll be going over those reasons in this post today.

1) What are Instagram stories?

They are photos and videos that appear at the top of your Instagram feed, which disappear after 24 hours. They're great for getting out a more personal side to your brand as you can post whatever you like to your stories and it won't mess up the beautiful theme you've created on your main Instagram feed.

It also allows you to capture the behind the scenes and everything in between which creates more of a story than just your posts alone.

2) How do I use Instagram stories?

It's really simple, you click the tiny camera icon in the top left hand corner of your Instagram, when on the home page then start creating! I've included this handy video below for you to watch from Jerry Potter at Five Minute Social Media, which gives you some easy-to-follow instructions on how to use them.

Source: Five Minute Social Media - Jerry Potter

3) Why should I use them?

a) To keep your feed looking beautiful

Stories don't appear on your main instagram page (feed), so you can post personal things or pictures that don't quite fit in with the look of your feed as they won't appear on your main instagram feed.

b) You won't bombard your followers

It's great to post a lot of content, but posting too much can just be downright irritating. Posting to your story means you can post as much as you like without annoying the very people you want to engage with!

c) Giving a glimpse of your behind the scenes, shows a different side to your business

Using Instagram stories allows you to get really creative. With stickers, doodle tools and GIF's you can create videos and photos with a difference that you probably wouldn't want to post on your main feed. Fun and light hearted content on your stories works really well and helps people put faces to names. It helps build relationships & rapport with your audience which we're big on here!

d) Gives you the chance to interact with your audience

Instagram stories has a poll feature on it so you can ask a question and get some votes from your audience

It also has a question feature, so you can ask a question and post it on your story then, people can reply to it

You can also create a quiz on your stories, which is really fun and interactive too

e) Get the engagement to your Instagram you may not usually get

Since Instagram made the changes to the platform and stopped your posts from appearing in chronological order, there has been a platform wide decrease in engagement on Instagram. Only Instagram knows why, but there's a lot of people theorising that it is to encourage the use of paid ads.

However, using stories can override the need to use paid ads because it appears at the top of your followers feed, highlighted by a pretty rainbow to let them know you've got a new Instagram Story available. 

Stories appearing this way means that your followers are a lot less likely to miss your posts and can choose what whose content they want to see (and why wouldn't they want to see yours?! They followed you after all)

f) Instagram prioritises accounts that post stories

Another change that Instagram made was that they prioritise accounts that post stories. So if you do post stories not only does that help you to be seen because your followers will see your stories at the top of their feed, but Instagram will favour your account and you're more likely to have your posts show up in your followers' feeds.
 

Conclusion

Instagram stories are a fabulous tool for gaining an audience, engaging with existing and potential customers and an opportunity to get fun and creative. People love to know what goes on behind the scenes, the story behind your business and your stock and conversation topics. Getting people talking to and about you is always a positive and if you present them with fun, endearing and sincere content in your stories you're on to a winner! People tend to buy based on the person they're buying from, not always what they're buying. So get yourself out there, share what your favourite lunch is and put your dog selfies to good use!