It is no surprise that Instagram, a visual social network with a growing community of 700 million users, has been doing a great job at keeping up with the times and finding ways to beat other social competitors through out the years. Think about all of the users that Snapchat lost once Instagram rolled out Stories back in August of 2016 and think about all the updates that has happened since then to make the platform a more engaging one. From boomerangs to gif’s – Instagram Stories is the creative, engaging and FUN place to be in 2018 and if you haven’t jumped on the bandwagon yet, you’re already behind. But – good news! There are ways to optimize your Instagram stories for maximum reach and maximum engagement. Here are 6 Ways to Optimize your Instagram Stories:
Use Polls
Here’s to one of the best features of Instagram stories – Polls! What better way than to easily engage your audience with a simply “A” or “B” question. Polls help you learn more about your followers, they give your followers a chance to add their value and their feelings to a topic and they increase your engagement rates.
Add a Location
Just like adding a location to your posts, you can expand your reach and get more eyeballs on your Instagram story if you tag a location. You can do this by clicking the sticker emoji in the top right corner of your screen, hit on the location button and search. Keep in mind – you can only choose one location to add to each story. So if you’re gearing towards increasing your reach and exposure, you may want to choose a popular city near you.
Add #Hashtags
By adding hashtags to your Instagram Stories – just like adding a location – you are expanding your reach and will get more eyeballs looking at your story. But there are a couple ways to do this. You can add a sticker hashtag where you can only add one sticker at a time or you can add a hashtag as plain text. Here’s a tip: add 10 hashtags as text then make the font smaller by pinching your fingers on the text. Eventually, the text will disappear and you will have a clean, hashtag-less look on your story. The good news is – your story will still show up on those hashtag threads!
Drive Traffic with Links
If you have a verified account or a business profile with over 10,000 followers, you can add links to your stories. By using links you can drive traffic right to your brands website to a product, new blog post or even a freebie.
Save as Highlights
Stories last 24 hours on the Instagram news feed page. But if you highlight a story, it’ll last forever on your business or personal Instagram page. If you have an important message, a new product to showcase or tips, for example, split your stories into organized categories. Don’t add too many, and be sure not to overload your highlights.
Tag Users
Since this one isn’t always needed, I kept tagging users for last. If you are speaking about someone in particular, or if your sharing an idea or product from another brand, be sure to tag them to gain their attention and reach too.
There you have it – 6 ways to get the most out of your Instagram stories. And it sure doesn’t stop there. What other tips would you add to the list? Let me know in the comments below!
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