Have the views on your Instagram Stories lately decreased? Want to increase the number of Instagram Story views so that more people can see your content?
Keeping your audience interested is crucial, given that over 70% of US companies use Instagram. For consumers’ attention, brands are continuously vying. A great approach to increase the number of people who see your content is via Instagram Stories.
However, given that Stories currently get fewer views than feed entries, how can you guarantee that people see your content?
And how can you entice viewers to stay until the finish of each Story?
This post will explain why companies need Instagram Stories, provide you with three examples of almost flawless Instagram Stories from brands, and give you ten tips for increasing the number of views on your Instagram Stories.
How do Instagram Stories work?
The 24-hour lifespan of Instagram Stories makes them transient bits of material. Include them in your profile’s “Highlights” if you want a Story to last longer than 24 hours. Up to a maximum of 100, you are permitted to share a number of images and videos each day.
Instagram Stories was designed after Snap chat and quickly established itself as a core component of Instagram. There were 500 million daily users of Instagram Stories by January 2019:
People who often use Instagram Stories
And 58% of respondents to a survey commissioned by Facebook said that after seeing a brand’s Story, they were more interested in it.
What makes Instagram Stories so significant?
Instagram Stories must be a part of your company’s social media strategy, given the number of users who engage with them daily. In fact, a company created one-third of the most popular Instagram Stories.
As a result, even though feed posts have a higher reach rate, Stories is still important for your company. They assist you in ways like:
1. Engage your audience.
Asking your audience directly is the only certain approach to learning how they are feeling. And through the use of stories, you can directly communicate with your audience.
You can make sure you are always aware of the opinions of your audience by using engagement features like polls, questions, and quizzes.
2. Obtain immediate feedback
You don’t have to wait until the launch to ask your audience what they think of a new series, product, or anything else if you have an idea.
With Instagram Stories, you can share a snippet with them and receive immediate feedback to confirm your idea and clarify your next steps.
3. Become more accessible and honest
Accessing audiences is a challenge for brands frequently. However, as a result of frequent interactions, customers are more likely to turn to you when they have a problem rather than a rival.
Your brand gets more human as you become more involved.
Stories may also help your audience feel involved in the way you operate. To increase brand transparency and foster trust, give them behind-the-scenes access or sneak peeks.
4. Boost general participation
Because Instagram feeds are highly personalized, each user has a different one and sees their “favorite” creators first. These rumors are confirmed by Instagram’s recent addition of the “most shown in feed” metric.
Instagram ranks content based on user interactions, which are referred to as “signals.”
The likelihood that your posts and reels will be seen by more people if your audience is active is high. Increased median reach and impressions are a result of posting more content, according to research.
Brands that have used Instagram Stories as examples
Many businesses have discovered effective ways to use stories to engage their audience. The following are three of them:
1. Glossier
With 2.7 million active and engaged Instagram followers, Glossier is a makeup and skincare company that got its start online. The strong community they’ve built is demonstrated by the fact that, according to founder Emily Weiss, 70% of their online sales and traffic come from peer-to-peer referrals.
They are experts at using Instagram Stories to maintain such a sizable, active community. They ensure that they are at the top of their customers’ minds by posting engaging and imaginative content. They use stickers and playlists to link to their website, where they publish more in-depth content from their Stories.
2. New York Times
The New York Times provides examples of how businesses in various industries can use Instagram. The adage “go where your customer is” is effectively applied by them.
They link to their well-liked articles on Stories with creative’s connected by a common theme. To keep their audience reading until the end, they also use stickers and compelling hooks.
3. Starbucks
Since Starbucks has been using Instagram successfully for a while, the third example shouldn’t come as a surprise. They have a sizable fan base to keep interested, with over 17 million followers.
They use Instagram Stories to share content posted by their customers, promote new products, or bring attention to a specific issue. They use slider stickers to ask simple questions like, “How important is coffee to you?”While using a carefully constructed narrative in each Story.”
They ensure a high level of engagement by focusing on and asking questions about their clients.
Ten methods for increasing Instagram Stories views
You can increase your Story views using a variety of techniques. Nevertheless, there are some “popular but dubious” methods that you must severely avoid, such as using bots, apps, engagement pods, or groups.
How, then, can you expand your reach naturally?
Here are ten suggestions to help you get more Story views:
1. Share a story.
A compelling story is highly regarded by people. Create your Instagram Stories in a way that tells a story, just like you would any other excellent book or film. It should include the following:
- Beginning
- Middle
- End
Structured stories will maintain interest in your audience and reduce the rate of early departures.
When making your Stories, Instagram wants you to make use of as many features as you can. Use all available formats, including text, GIFs, videos, boomerangs, and images, to create a well-rounded collection of content.
Using a storyboard is a straightforward method for creating structured narratives. It enables you to draught a frame-by-frame outline of your Story. Consider it a basic outline of each Story you intend to post.
Your stories should be conceptually consistent as well as visually appealing. Make sure the graphics in your Stories are consistent with your page’s theme and brand style.
An effective way to ensure that no Story frame looks out of place is to experiment with different themes, fonts, and colors using a storyboard. Apps like Visme can help speed up and simplify the process. You can find inspiration and tools for creation in Visme’s static and animated Instagram Stories templates.
2. Caption your stories
Make sure to include captions whenever you record face-to-camera videos.
Lots of people use their phones silently or without any volume to scroll through Stories. You are losing out on this section of your audience if there are no subtitles. Additionally, subtitled stories guarantee that more people can access your content.
Your reach will increase because Instagram has made adding captions as simple as adding a “Captions” sticker.
A summary of your Stories can be included at the end if you don’t want to caption every single word. The goal is to convey your message to the audience, even if they aren’t actively listening, by providing context for them.
3. Utilize Hashtags
Hashtags can broaden the audience for and visibility of Stories just like they can for feed posts. Stories are limited to ten Hashtags per frame, while feed posts can contain up to 30 Hashtags.
But where do you look for the right Hashtags?
The idea is still the same as it was for grid posts. Search for the trending Hashtags while keeping in mind that your target market is. Next, select a combination of Hashtags that includes both well-known and less well-known Hashtags. Don’t forget to use your brand’s unique hashtag, such as Nike’s #JustDoIt.
4. Engage your audience.
You might be tempted to post anything because Stories can be posted on the go. However, you must keep in mind to consistently post content that is pertinent to your audience. They won’t return if they can’t relate to the material.
Use Instagram stickers to continue the conversation and strengthen the bond.
You can pick from a variety of stickers. But only apply them when necessary:
a) A test sticker
To give your audience the option of multiple choices, including a quiz sticker. Take Amazon Prime Video as an example:
(b) Question sticker
Ask them questions, including a question sticker. Starbucks, for instance, made videos of their staff signing menu items in American Sign Language and used question stickers for polling their customers about what they’d like to learn to order in that language.
c) A voting sticker
To find out their thoughts on something or to engage in game play, add a poll sticker. Netflix, for instance, uses the sticker to involve their audience in activities like “Never Have I Ever:”
D) Slider for emoji:
To ask them to rate something, include an emoji slider sticker. Taking advantage of this sticker are some companies like Netflix, Starbucks, and ASOS:
e) A counter sticker
For a sale or event that is approaching, include a countdown sticker.
f) Hashtag bumper sticker
Make sure you post content that is relevant to your audience by adding a hashtag sticker for your company or a trending subject. Using brand Hashtags also motivates people to mention you on social media:
Two things should be considered in order to increase sticker engagement:
Request information about your audience. Instead of bombarding them with requests for feedback like “Rate our Stories” or “What do you think about our posts? Inquire about their day or monthly objectives.
Pose inquiries in which everyone can take part. You want as many people involved as you can. Therefore, make simple inquiries.
When numerous users interact with these stickers, Instagram learns that your Stories are interesting. As a result, it promotes your content to a larger audience.
Instagram also appreciates it when you use all of its features, as was already mentioned.
5. Responding to messages
Whenever someone responds to your Story, you must make sure to do the same. Remember that engaging in conversation and forming connections is the whole point of being on Stories. Additionally, it will inspire more responses from your audience, increasing engagement.
6. Declare gratitude
Reshare your customers’ content on your Story if they frequently talk about your brand or tag you in posts. The content created by your peers can also be shared.
The sharing of your Story increases as a result of such shootouts. You’ll reach a new audience, even though it might not result in an increase in views for every Story. You’ll also expand your audience and grow your fan base if you do this frequently.
This will help you establish social proof for yourself and encourage your audience to write about you.
7. Start with a solid “hook.”
Make the first slide of your Story engaging. The majority of users are passively scrolling through Instagram, which means they aren’t really focusing on the content.
Grab the attention of your audience from the outset if you want them to pay attention to your Stories. You could
- Submit a query
- Include a divisive statement
- Use a programmable sticker
You can use these strategies to gain support from others right away. Additionally, they’ll be more likely to stay.
8. Utilize location tags
Like Hashtags, location tags increase your visibility to new people who will be interested in your content. If your business is location-dependent, a location tag could also be a great way to get people’s attention.
When someone looks up a Geotags, there’s a good chance your Story will be listed under that location’s Stories.
9. Stay consistent
One-off Story posts are rarely effective at increasing engagement on Stories. It’s crucial to maintain consistency with Stories because they are only accessible for 24 hours.
You can choose your own frequency, whether it be one Story per day or one Story every three hours. Sticking with it is crucial.
To avoid inconsistencies, scheduling Stories in advance is a good idea. Additionally, it will aid in the development of a coherent storyboard with a clear call to action.
The problem is, how do you schedule Stories?
Currently, Instagram doesn’t allow the scheduling of Stories directly, so you might need to use a scheduling app like Icon square:
10. Use the analytics on Instagram.
As soon as you start using the right strategies to increase Instagram Story views, you’ll need to keep checking Instagram analytics to learn more.
You can use the crucial data provided by Facebook Business Suite and Instagram Insights to enhance your content and build on the things that your audience already finds engaging. You learn, for instance:
- Number of impressions a story receives
- Amount of shares
- opens a new link and clicks it
- Getting responses
- quantity of exits (number of people who skipped to the next Story)
- Reach
- Instances of forward taps
- The number of backward taps
You can address that specific issue by using these Instagram Insights to determine when your audience is becoming disinterested.
Boost your Instagram Stories views
Your brand can maintain contact with your audience using Instagram Stories. By giving you more visibility and enabling you to receive immediate feedback from your customers, they raise your overall Instagram engagement.
You run the risk of getting shadow banned by Instagram if you use sketchy strategies like engagement pods or bots. Instead, cultivate your community by writing and publishing Stories in the proper manner.
If this post was helpful to you, be sure to read our tutorial on how to increase your TikTok views.
