- If you're looking to grow your business on Instagram,
stories are a great way to engage with your audience
in a way that feels really personal.
But while we all find it super easy
to share stories on our personal accounts,
coming up with ideas for our businesses and brands
can be a lot more tricky.
After all, you can't really just share snaps
of the brunch you ate that day
or selfies with their friends
or photos of your day out and about.
So we did all the groundwork for you,
and we put together this list of 10 Instagram story ideas
that every brand in business can use
to grow their engagement and reach.
Sounds like a useful list, right?
Let's go ahead and get into it.
(upbeat music)
Up first is a sneak peek of your products.
This is a great way
to build excitement among your followers,
and it's listed as the first and easiest idea
because it's super simple to create this
using a template from InVideo.
All you have to do is head over to invideo.io
and sign up for a free count if you haven't already done so,
and then we're gonna check out some 9 by 16 templates.
I'm just gonna search products
to find a more specific template,
and then I'll take the template
and plug in some product images that don't show too much,
but just enough to generate excitement.
And then you can do basically the same thing
once you actually released your new arrivals.
So I'm gonna go ahead and choose a new template,
and then this time I'm really gonna show off the products.
The reason a product to video is a great idea
is because people have really short attention spans,
especially when it comes to Instagram stories.
We click through them in a matter of seconds.
So a video is gonna be a lot more eye catching
than a still image and it might get people to stick around
for a few seconds longer
and maybe even swipe up on your link.
The next idea is to share what you're doing
behind the scenes.
People love to get a little bit of insight
into how your business runs.
So next time you're creating new products
or shipping your products,
take a video and then post it on your Instagram story.
This works especially well if you're a handmade business
or a small business with just a few people running the show.
A behind-the-scenes video
makes your audience feel like they can get to know
the people running the business
and it helps your brand appear more personable.
Next, let's talk about the polls feature.
Polls are super fun for your audience
because they get to just tap on one of the options
and see the results instantly.
The first and simplest way to use polls
is just to ask a yes or no question.
So showcase your products, ask a question like,
"Would you like to live in this bedroom?"
And then users will just get to respond yes or no.
Another great way to use polls
is to get input on your products.
Show two photos of two different products
and then ask your audience which one they liked better.
This is also a great way to do some market research.
Or you could also just use polls
to get to know your audience better.
Ask them simple questions like coffee or tea,
cats or dogs, night owl or early bird, things like that.
Again, it's a little bit of market research for you
as well as something fun for your audience.
The next idea is quizzes.
Quizzes are also really easy.
You can add them just by tapping on the sticker
on Instagram.
And this is another fun interactive features
that a lot of users enjoy
because it's a little bit of a challenge for them.
So what you can do is ask questions about your products,
that way you're promoting your product's features
a little bit, and you're helping your audience
remember your products better.
Another fun idea is a Tag That Friend Challenge.
We all know at getting people to share your content
is a great way to grow on social media,
and Tag That Friend post is meant to be shared.
When you share it on your story, you'll tag a few people
and then they'll tag a few more people, and so on.
This one also has an InVideo template
which you can find in the description.
Up next, we have a GIF Challenge.
This one's really fun as well.
You basically use GIFs as a way for your audience
to get to know you a little bit better,
and this one is also meant to be shared.
Your followers might screenshot it
and then post their own GIF Challenge.
And again, there's a template for it.
So you can go ahead and just change the template
so at the top it says your brand name.
The next idea is to create a series.
Something your audience can expect to see from you
again and again.
Usually weekly stories work really well,
like for example, Motivational Quote Monday
or Try on Tuesday if you're an apparel brand.
What you can do is pick out an InVideo template
that you like,
and then use it every time you're creating a story
to go in that series,
that way the series always has the same look to it.
Next, you can share a Day in the Life video
or a mini vlog to your story.
This one will take a little bit of video editing,
but it's really easy.
You're just gonna take a few clips throughout your day
and then upload those clips into InVideo.
You can add some cool titles and music,
you can add a voiceover
to explain what you were doing at the time,
and you can have a video done within minutes.
And our last idea is to get an expert in your niche
to do a takeover for the day.
This is such a great way to collaborate
with another creator who you admire,
who's really knowledgeable in the same area that you are.
This is a great way to collaborate with another creator
who's really knowledgeable in the same niche that you're in,
and then you get to introduce this crater to your audience.
And probably some of their audience
is gonna come over to your account
because they know that they're doing the takeover that day,
so it's definitely a win-win.
Those were 10 Instagram story ideas for 2021.
Let us know in the comments
which one of these was your favorite.
And if you're looking for more Instagram content,
feel free to join me over in this video
and we can talk about some ideas for reals.
I'm Therese with InVideo and I will see you in the next one.