58% of users surveyed by Instagram say they have become more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in Stories. Instagram Stories can be a useful yet often overlooked marketing tool that can increase audience engagement with your profile. It is also useful to help you sell more or spread information more quickly. Here are a few ways you can use your Instagram Story as a marketing tool to your organization’s advantage:

The Swipe-Up Function

If your organization’s profile has over 10K followers, you have the ability to use the swipe-up function on your Instagram Story. With the swipe-up function, you can embed a link to your story so your audience can swipe-up and visit the webpage. Many organizations will embed a link to their product page or their ticket site. This gives the audience a chance to learn more about the product, performance, or service before deciding to buy. 50% of Instagram users surveyed say that they have visited a website to purchase a product or service after seeing it in Stories.

The swipe-up function is the most important marketing tool to use on your Instagram Story if you qualify. Instagram for business accounts will give you insights into your Story’s engagement. It will show you who and how many people viewed your Story and how many link-clicks the Story received.

Additional Content = Additional Eyes

If your organization only relies on regular Instagram posts to get the information out there, you miss out on additional eyes that may miss your regular posts. Years ago, Instagram would show posts in chronological order in people’s feeds. They now use an algorithm that places certain posts in their feed based on other engagement factors, so regular posts are more often missed than before.

Once you have over 50 views on your Instagram Story, yours will be placed first on the list of Stories. Since Instagram Stories are at the top, most people will look at Instagram Stories first before their feed. It is important to create additional content specifically for your Instagram Story that is visually different from your regular Instagram posts.

Engagement Tools

Instagram offers a variety of marketing tools that will increase audience engagement with your Story. One popular tool is the Countdown function. Organizations can post a Story using a Countdown sticker to incite anticipation and excitement for the organization’s next product launch. Countdown stickers are most effective when they are posted within the 24 hours leading up to an event. Instagram allows you to choose the color or gradient of the Countdown sticker so that it matches your content. Just set the date, and the sticker will begin counting down by the seconds to your organization’s event.

Another popular engagement tool is the Question and Answer sticker. This sticker gives your audience a chance to interact with you by answering a question. Most organizations will use this sticker as a feedback marketing tool. For example, let’s assume your organization is a professional dance company. Posting a question sticker on your Story that asks for your audience’s feedback on the performance will result in engaging responses that you can share onto your Story for other people to see. If someone in your audience answers your question with a question, you can share the user’s question and provide an answer through video or type. The Question sticker allows for stronger two-way communication with your audience.

The Possibilities are Endless

There are many other engaging marketing tools that Instagram Stories have to offer. Hopefully, you will use this blog post as inspiration to help you get started. Use your Instagram Story to your advantage and begin increasing your engagement, growing your following, telling more stories, showing more information, and strengthening the two-way communication between you and your audience with these marketing tools.