Unlike permanent Instagram posts that can either be timeless or forgotten later, Stories tend to have more impact on the viewer. Yes, Instagram Stories are a much more candid way that you can interact with your audience, which is why most influencers take to Instagram to promote their brand, grow their personality, etc.
However, just because Instagram Stories can be a great marketing tool for most, doesn’t mean that anything and everything that you post are acceptable. In fact, Stories has its own tricks and methods that help users and influencers maximize their potential. In order to find out these tricks and methods, it takes testing them out and determining which ones work with your audience, and which ones don’t. And, it’s okay to make mistakes, as you learn the ropes.
Here are five of the most common mistakes that you might make on Instagram Stories, and how you can fix them.
1. Inconsistency
Sometimes, a brand will get so immersed into the idea of promoting products and events on Instagram Stories, that they immediately dive into it head-first into uncharted waters, posting anything and everything on their profile. But before you dive in, understand first that it takes time to find the right look for your brand on Stories.
You have to have consistency, in order to make Stories work for you. Your brand’s aesthetic is very important in this case, because it shows people who you are and what you do. Even when you’ve got various social and community media managers publishing posts and promotions, you’ll have to educate them on how to make Stories effective for your brand, and have a pre-agreed plan for your tone of voice and how the imagery and copy should look and feel.
Consider the following objectives, when thinking about consistency:
- Do you want the text all caps or standard?
- What kind of color(s) will you use? Do the colors tie into your brand’s palette?
- Do you want text blocking, a full-color block, semi-transparent color block, or no blocking?
- Is your brand okay with you using emojis and drawings?
2. Trying To Break Down A Narrative
Narrative breakdowns can turn disastrous, especially when using InstaStories to try and cover a live event. Sometimes, users and influencers have that bad habit of publishing their first Instagram Story video or images (e.g. Showing off the venue), and sometime later publishing the next part of the story (e.g. The guests slowly showing up to the event) and then publishing another part of the story, and so on. Breaking down the narrative in such a way will only make your story feel disjointed every time a user tries to go back and watch the next piece.
The takeaway here is that you don’t have to shove parts of the story out the door in an immediate time frame because an event is Live. Instead, try to have the first three or four pieces of your story captured first before publishing them together as a set, so that your viewers are treated to a coherent story.
3. Focusing On Multiple Things At Once
As mentioned above, consistency is key in Stories. Although it’s tempting to post little fragments of everything that’s going on at your brand, what’ll leave a much bigger impact on your viewers is if you stick to showing them one thing at a time.
For example, if you want to show off a new product, then you can use Stories to show the packaging, the feature, give a demonstration on said product, and talk about the special offers that come with it. Doing this lets you focus on one thing, and that one thing only in that Story’s 24-hour lifespan.
Don’t stress out in having to show multiple products in one day. Remember that there’s always tomorrow to promote another product.
4. Not Providing An Interactive Experience
With Stories, you can provide an interactive experience for your viewers. Not bringing them into the experience will only cause a disconnect between you and (what could’ve been) your potential customers.
Interaction means that you should do more than just post a still image of a product that you’re trying to selling. Instead, try filming an unboxing video, where you build up the anticipation as you show and open up the product packaging, and putting the product to use afterward. As you’re filming, remember to communicate to the viewers directly, and say what you like about your product.
Interested in knowing your followers’ opinions? No problem! Throwing in polls and swipe meters let viewers vote on products and suggestions based on how they feel towards them. Videos and on-screen voting tools help you create a more interactive experiences with your audience.
5. Lack Of Creativity
Instagram Stories isn’t Instagram Stories without creativity. The whole point of Stories is to create exciting promotions and experiences for your audience.
Although you don’t have to post live events or product demos all the time, you can still try to come up with other ways to make things social. You could offer discount codes and coupons to viewers who screenshot it or record their response on an on-screen poll that you might set up.
In addition, one of the latest trends right now are boomerangs, which are a fun method of adding movement to your Stories. Boomerangs tend to set themselves up for you in automatically animating the single simple motion you create, so there’s no need for further editing or tweaking. Plus, it only adds motion to a short amount of film that you want reversed and repeated. For example, a person jumping into the water should like them yo-yoing in and out of the water. Forcing Boomerangs to work (or trying to time it correctly) will only make it look jumpy and unpolished. To do it correctly depends on knowing what you want to show.
Conclusion
It’s okay to make these mistakes on your first try, but as you continue to dabble into Instagram Stories, and see what does work and what doesn’t, you’ll be on your way to promoting your brand, driving sales, and gaining loyal followers for many years to come.
About the author
Molly Crockett writes for Bigassignments and Oxessays. As a marketing blogger, she shares her unique lifestyle tips and personal development advice with her audience. She also works as a blog editor at State of writing service.
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