Visual story telling with Instagram Stories
Opportunities in visual storytelling continue to evolve each day, and as digital nerds we are constantly strategizing what content should go where, when and targeted to who.
A definite contender for brands would have to be Instagram Stories, which launched in August of last year. (And the newest contender Facebook Stories, which launched a few days ago.) What was initially a feature of flattery (essentially another Snapchat), has evolved into something more robust (and in my opinion) surpasses Snapchat in many ways.
With Instagram Stories you can
– tag users (handy to call out partners, influencers, etc.),
– link to a website within the Story itself (it’s all about those web clicks and conversions my marketing friends), and,
– include Boomerangs (a personal fave where you can put it in a mini video mode that plays forward and backward).
These features, along with the usual editing capabilities (stickers, tags, filters, etc.), have led to over 150 million users a day posting to Instagram Stories.
Many brands jumped on board quickly, as it allowed for an established and often much larger audience (than Snapchat) access to the content. Instagram stats show that 1/3 of the most view Stories on the app are from businesses, which makes sense when over 70 per cent of users are following a brand (or two).
Today brands continue to use Stories as a spot to share
– promotional info and events,
– how-to tutorials,
– discovery content, and,
– authentic and exclusive behind the scenes experiences.
So, with the value of organic Stories proving itself in under a year, it’s no surprise that ads are now available. Fashion, beauty and alcohol brands were some of the first to test ads on Instagram Stories earlier this year.
With additional objectives and calls to action expected, there seems to be great opportunity for brands that want to integrate the vertical video, mobile-first approach, which according to this year’s Facebook Retail Summit is the way of the digital future, into their digital strategy.
Of course the effectiveness of the ads will depend on the audience, targeting and quality of the visual storytelling, which can (hopefully) suss out with detailed metrics.
Sarah Rogers is a digital account coordinator at ruckus digital. For more digital insights or to chat about your strategy, drop us a line.