Facebook & Instagram Stories - Essential Tips To Keep Viewers Engaged

Last year, Instagram and Facebook passed 500 million daily Story users.

People love Stories. They are a great way to connect with your audience and show the human side of your brand. Social media platforms are really prioritizing them because they help people get more visibility.

There’s something about Stories that makes them so cool. Instagram co-founder, Kevin Systrom revealed why Instagram created Stories:

“The bar for what was ‘Instagram-worthy’ was so high that its users were starting to get intimidated. The biggest problem [people had] with Instagram is feeling the pressure of sharing really amazing photos. People want to actually share a lot more, but they don’t want it to hang on the gallery wall.”

With Stories, you can test out different topics and conversations, and post content you wouldn’t necessarily post on your wall.

But the question every business owner is asking is….

How to use Stories in your marketing strategy to keep your audience entertained and have them come back for more?

We put together a bunch of tips in today’s training to show you how to use Stories to build your brand, generate more leads, and engage your ideal people.

Facebook & Instagram Stories – Essential Tips To Keep Viewers Engaged

#1. Spark Engagement

Think of Stories as a way to start a conversation with your audience. Instagram reports that one in five organic stories from businesses gets a direct message, which means more conversations can result in a sale. Here are a few ideas you can test out:

invite people to vote (post a picture of two outfits and ask them which one they like better)
ask for recommendations (a good book, the best gym, dessert recipes, etc)
do a poll (“are you a cat/dog lover?”) or quiz (“what city inspired our latest collection?”)
do a countdown (“2 hours left till your promotion expires”)
ask questions (“how many hours of sleep do you get per night?”, “how late do you eat dinner?”, “do you drink energy shots?”, “how many times a day you drink coffee?", etc.)

Take your Stories to another level by adding fun stickers, mentioning people, and using hashtags inside your story.

Pro Tip: Don’t be afraid to mix it up: anything that will make people want to pause on your Story and interact with you or your brand.

The whole point of using social media is to create engaging conversations, so you need to find creative ways to get to know your audience to serve them better.

#2. Do More of What Works

If you have a Business or a Creator Instagram account, you can check insights to see which posts and Stories performed the best.

Pro tip: Go back once a month and review the content you’ve put up to identify what has worked really well (and what didn’t).

Once you see what worked, you can zoom in on that content and spin it out. You can either reuse it or build upon it. The whole idea is to create content that people love watching.

#3. Don’t Overdo It

Many Story users are wondering if there is a formula for how much content should we post.

The answer is, you definitely don't want to post too much and overwhelm your audience.

Pro tip: Post around 5 to 10 story clips throughout the day. The thing is you don't want to post them all at once...try to spread them out throughout the day. Every time you post a new story, it brings it to the top of the story newsfeed.

#4. Mix Up the Modality

Human beings crave variety. Whether it’s the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the makeup we use—we get bored easily, so we enjoy diversity.

How can you translate this into your storytelling?

By showing up in different ways. Take a picture, or a selfie, record your screen, do a TikTok video—you can use various techniques to post to your story and show that element of surprise.

#5. Make Them Visually Appealing

Research shows 85% of video on Facebook is watched without sound. Adding captions can help people understand and improve viewership, because:

most of your viewers can’t turn their sound on when watching
some of your audience might have hearing difficulties
some users can't understand your accent or don’t speak your language

Pro tip: There are apps like Add Subtitles you can use to add captions. You can shoot your video inside Add Subtitles first, and then it will automatically add the subtitles.

To make your video Stories more catchy, add music, lyrics, GIFS and integrate branded elements like logos. This is how you show up with optimized, fun content for a better reach.

#6. Create Intimacy

Stories are a great way to show your followers your authentic side by opening up and letting them in. Sharing stories that make you a bit vulnerable is what will help you build a strong community.

Think about what do you talk with your best friend that you can share with your followers?

DOs:

Share a success journey
All of us have been through some crazy situations, but then we came out of them and learned valuable lessons. Sharing those journeys and our advice could help a lot someone who’s going through a similar situation.

DON’Ts

Share stories that make people feel sorry for you
Taking people on the journey with you and being vulnerable is a big deal, but it’s a fine line between what’s okay to share and what’s too much information.
Be unprofessional
We don't need to know everything about you.
Get obsessed with gaining followers
Instead of being too fixated on growing your audience, focus on the followers you already have, and how to build a deeper relationship with them.

BONUS TIP: Ideas for Stories

Check out these genius ideas you can use to keep your viewers engaged.

Share something valuable, like what apps you are using
Do simple How-To tutorials
Showcase funny parenting/couple/marriage moments
Share what you’re doing at the moment—what book are you reading, what movie are you watching, what song are you listening to.
Do an employee or customer takeover
Host a contest/giveaway
Share how something is made (your products)
Share behind the scenes
Promote a recent blog post
Post a Story takeover

Do you have some extra tips to share with us? Let us know in the comments below.

Additional Resources to Help You Build Your Business:

Want to Know What Tools we Use to Build Our Business and Our Brand?

Resources - we often get asked what tools we use and recommend, so we put together one page with all our favorite resources. Enjoy!

Feel free to share this with anyone who might enjoy it and also comment below on your favorite tip or your biggest takeaway. We can't wait to see your comments!

Email: support@mylifestyleacademy.com

We are home business and lifestyle experts, personal branding and online marketing strategists. We pride ourselves on helping thousands of entrepreneurs and network marketers all over the world build their home business empire leveraging Social Media.

PS: Listen up! Each Week we Bring You the Most Current Social Media Tips and Strategies, Interview Top Industry Leaders and Share Real-World Advice. Join us and Get Everything You Need to Build a Profitable Home Business Around your Life.

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Facebook & Instagram Stories – 5 Essential Tips To Keep Viewers Engaged