Social media stories were first added to Snapchat a decade ago in 2013: a place to post short videos or photos that would last for 24 hours before disappearing. This ephemeral nature fit well with Snapchat’s brand. However, social media stories quickly spread to Instagram, to Facebook, and even further.
Today, social media stories are used by individuals and businesses again. When utilized carefully, they can be a valuable marketing and promotion asset. So when should you utilize social media stories? Here are five ideas to help you market with social media stories.
Social Media “Takeover”
Social media takeovers are popular in the entertainment world, with members of the cast of a TV show or play “taking over” the social media account for the day. These takeovers are usually carried out in stories. The cast may film videos as they give the audience a tour of the set, interview other members of the cast, or go over their daily routine.
But a social media takeover is not limited to the entertainment industry. You can have members of your company conduct a social media takeover, or even collaborate with an influencer who might take over your social media stories for the day. An influencer can lead to an especially successful social media takeover, as they will bring their audience in addition to your own.
A Limited Time Promotion
Want to put the word out about a limited time promotion? Because stories last for 24 hours, they provide the perfect medium for promoting something that will only be available for a short span of time. Social media posts for limited time promotions can sometimes lead to disappointment if customers fail to look at the date of the post. With social media stories, however, there’s no chance of stumbling across it a week later.
If you have a limited time promotion that lasts longer than a day, make sure to promote it as often as possible in our social media stories while the promotion lasts. This ensures that the information is in front of your followers, but it still won’t outlive the promotion.
Showing Off Positive Reviews
Want to show off some of the positive buzz your brand is getting, but you don’t want to bog down your social media page? Show them in your stories!
Both Facebook and Instagram have a function that allows you to share posts as stories, so you can simply share a positive post from someone else’s social media. You can also take screencaps of positive reviews and post them in an artful way on your stories.
Spamming a social media feed with various posts all showing off reviews can be a turnoff to your followers. It could lead to a drop in trust and engagement. However, your followers have to opt in to viewing your stories, making this a less obtrusive but still effective way of generating positive buzz.
Boost Your New Content
Another way to utilize social media stories is to boost new content. When you post a new blog, promotion, infographic, or ad, you want it to reach as many eyes as possible. This can be difficult when the social media feed is constantly moving. But many social media platforms use algorithms that penalize posts that are shared by the owner repeatedly, interpreting these posts as spam.
Instead, consider boosting your new content on your stories. Although the story will only remain up for 24 hours, your social media stories will not get lost in the flood. They can continue to boost your content all day, for anyone who decides to take a look at stories.
Tease New Content or Projects to Come
Social media stories are also a great way to tease projects to come. You have limited space to share information in your social media stories, but you don’t need much space for a teaser. The point is to pique the interest of your audience, to tell them to keep an eye out for things to come.
Again, because stories are separated from the rest of your feed, you don’t have to worry about your teaser being buried in a lengthy social media feed. And by letting your audience know that something is coming up, they will be more likely to check in with your page for more information as the new project comes closer. Try to include a date of when the new project will launch, as well as something like a cut off picture or short video — not quite a reveal, but enough to stoke curiosity.
