There are two things going hand in hand today; Instagram and Social Media Influencers. If you open Instagram, you’ll certainly feel as if it’s ‘the influencers’ world’ and we are just living in it. As an influencer, you have to constantly create content in order to keep your followers hooked on it. You should also make sure that you don’t create the same type of content, otherwise, your followers will get bored of it and it is not very hard to find the next best influencer today.
Let’s face it, being an influencer is extremely competitive in today’s world and you should keep looking for new content ideas and experiment with them. Along with experimenting with new ideas, you should also explore the tools and features that Instagram offers on its platform. One such feature is Instagram Stories!
Content creators or Influencers often don’t realize the potential that Instagram Stories hold. They can increase your visibility and invite engagement in more ways than you can think of. Before we get into the ways Influencers can use Instagram Stories for more engagement and followers, let us know what are Instagram Stories and why are they important.
What are Instagram Stories?
Instagram Stories are a carousel of photos or 15-second videos that disappear from your profile in 24 hours. By default, the photos uploaded on Stories are visible for seven seconds. Many other social media applications have a feature similar to Instagram Stories.
Instagram also gives you a lot of options to create something unique through the Stories option. If you want your Stories to be displayed on your profile permanently, you can create separate Highlights that will be displayed below the Bio and About section of your profile. Instagram also has a feature that allows you to relive your memories by displaying the Stories you uploaded on the same day in different years. You can also go and see those Stories in the Archives option.
Why are Instagram Stories a good option to use for influencers?
Instagram Stories are popular and they are a great way to always be in front of your followers’ eyes and on top of their minds too. Options in your Stories like creating a poll, adding stickers and gifs, and using hashtags and mentions are great ways to keep your followers engaged with your content.
Creating as well as watching Instagram Stories also doesn’t take a lot of time which is a win-win for influencers as well as followers. It is a great way for influencers to display the most interesting piece of content in a short span of time and followers get to decide whether they are interested in it or not. So, in the end, influencers can also make out what kind of content is working for them. Now that we have jotted down what and why are Instagram Stories so important, let’s see some ways influencers can use them:
12 Best Instagram Story Ideas for Influencers
1. Promote a brand/product
When you are an Influencer, people naturally look for product or brand recommendations. Depending on the category in which you create your content, you can suggest and even promote the brands that your find useful and feel that everyone should try. For example, if you are a fashion influencer, you can share your go-to clothing brand and why you like it with your followers. Being someone who likes your content or fashion, your followers will genuinely be interested to know this kind of content.
2. Create polls
Creating polls is a great way to engage your followers. Everyone has an opinion and when people are presented with a poll, it’s a ‘this or that’ situation in front of them. This feature on Instagram Stories can actually help you not only increase engagement but also know what your followers are interested in. You can compare two different kinds of content that you create and ask your followers which one they like better to clearly know where you should put your efforts and where you shouldn’t.
This is also a great way for small businesses to know what kind of products their customers want to buy and what they should be selling on their channel.
3. ‘A day in the life of…’
If you are an influencer, people are always curious to know what a typical day of being an influencer looks like. People imagine influencers waking up and heading to Starbucks for their expensive and delicious coffee and then heading about with their day, which may or may not be true but letting them is surely a very interesting concept that every influencer can try.
Influencers can create similar stories with some other influencer that they may collaborate with or a friend who is often featured in their content or maybe invite a follower and join them in their day.
4. Feature your fans/followers
Sometimes your followers may create content similar to yours by getting inspired. They may create similar videos, re-create outfits, apply similar makeup and tag you after they are done with it.
You should keep an eye on the followers who are doing an amazing job and feature them on your Insta story and also appreciate their efforts. It might as well make their day! If you want to use this technique more effectively, keep one day separate to just feature some of your followers so they keep checking your story. You can also give it a name, for example, #FeatureFridays.
Alternatively, you can use special occasions to make them extra special for your followers. You surely might get requests for birthday wishes here and there. Use this as an opportunity to make your follower’s birthday special and feature them in your story! They will definitely be ecstatic and you will also create a stronger bond with your followers.
5. Create short tutorials
You may have received a lot of DMs asking you how you created something on your profile. It may be a video, a simple post thread, an infographic, or anything easy. You can easily address that question by creating a short tutorial using Instagram Stories. You can either create a video and post it on your story or you can also create it in easy steps with one story being one step.
6. Ask questions or let them do that
Yet again, you can use the ‘Ask me anything’ option to ask specific questions to your followers or let them ask things they are curious about. You can then answer them one by one and post them on your story. This feature, similar to the poll feature will help you directly know what can you do to perform or create better.
7. Use the other tools
Similar to the poll and questions option, there are many other tools that you can use to increase engagement. You can create a quiz on your Instagram story to make it fun for you as well as your followers. Explore all the options that are available on the app, like, stickers, gifs, emoji sliders, creating avatars, and based on your area of ‘influencing’, create away!
8. Giveaways
Everyone (EVERYONE) loves giveaways! Giveaways can also improve engagement to a great extent. You can simply ask people who want to be part of the giveaway to comment, like, share and tag their friends. This is something anyone would be willing to do in exchange for goodies, hampers, and coupons. What you want to give to your followers entirely depends on you just make sure it is interesting and catchy enough for your followers to engage with your content.
9. Participate in trends
The newest ‘Add Yours’ feature allows you to create a trend that people can join. For example, you can start a photo thread with the title ‘the best photo of the sky that you have ever clicked’ and let people add their clicks to this thread.
10. Make a countdown
Creating a countdown to an important event is a great way to lift your followers’ spirits. It could be an event that you are attending or a sale that you are going to host. You can also use countdowns for huge announcements that you want your fans to be excited about! This feature will also allow your followers to click on the timer and set a reminder so they get notified when the time has finally come.
Also Read: Instagram Notes Ideas: 70+ Best and Short Instagram Notes Ideas for your next Instagram Note
11. DIY something
To keep your account, content, and stories spiced up, keep trying new things and get your followers involved in it. This could be anything from trying a new hobby to learning how to change the tier of your car. Even if it is an epic fail, I am sure your followers will give A1 for trying and may also be motivated to try something they have been meaning to do.
12. Celebrate your wins
From 100 followers to 1 million and further, it’s a super long journey. No matter which number you have reached right now always celebrate the people who have always appreciated your content and have stuck with you on this journey. Celebrate them and appreciate them for engaging and being your well-wisher. Let’s face it, an Instagram influencer gets more credibility because of his/her followers.
These are some very simple and effective ways that will help influencers use Instagram stories to increase their engagement and get more likes and shares. You can also try using reels, posts, and stories together to see further improvement.
