A major goal of social media content is for your content to resonate with audiences. Before you can build a long-lasting relationship with audiences, you need to be able to attract and keep their attention. An excellent way to achieve these content objectives is to harness the emotional power of social media storytelling. Indeed, you can use social media storytelling tools to build brand awareness and foster audience loyalty and conversions. Here, we’ll consider how to use social media stories to promote content like a pro.
What are Social Media Stories?
Social media stories are usually short and impactful snippets pieced together by individual pictures or videos that last around 10-15 seconds each and disappear after 24 hours. Common formats for social media stories include text-based posts, memes and images, long and short-form videos, and live streams. Examples of social media stories include selfies, a task for the day, and short, engaging updates.
The stories feature has become very much like another news feed on social media platforms. Statistics from Meta reveal that up to 73% of people in the U.S. consider stories to be a door to new and unusual experiences. Likewise, 57% of people acknowledge the crucial role that stories play in giving them a sense of inclusion within their larger community. It is, therefore, not surprising that social media brands and marketers include the use of stories in their social media marketing arsenal.
How to Use Social Media Stories to Promote Your Content
Close to almost a billion accounts post stories on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Snapchat daily, so it’s essential to stand out. As a brand, you must do all you can to present your content before your target audience ahead of content from your competition. Fortunately, you can seize the opportunity that social media stories provide to connect and engage with your audience in real time.
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Snapchat Stories for Business
The first social media platform to present the Stories feature was Snapchat. The platform boasts a 78% population of 18- to 24-year-olds amongst its users, so it’s a great platform for brands that target a younger demographic. This naturally means that your Snaps need to be lively, short, and sweet to attract the attention of the typically impatient young audience.
You can also use the Discover section to present your content before users who are searching for content that is similar to yours.
How to Create Snapchat Stories
- Tap the Profile icon in the top-left corner.
- On the Profile screen, scroll to the bottom and select ‘+Create New Story.’
- Choose the type of Story you want to create.
- Follow Snapchat’s guidance to complete your Story.
- Save your Story to share on other platforms, if desired.
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Instagram Stories for Business
Following Snapchat, Instagram joined the Stories game in 2016. Within three years, they have amassed over 500 million daily active users, and the platform records about 2 billion users every month. Today, top brands still use Instagram Stories to highlight behind-the-scenes processes. Examples of content that brands use Stories for include live events, fan content, contests, how-to content, inside look, and product promotions.
How to Market with Instagram Stories
Tap the camera icon in the top-left or swipe right on your Feed.
Capture a new image or video, or swipe up to upload from your library.
Use the text, draw, or sticker tools to customize your Story.
Remove any unwanted elements by dragging them to the trash icon.
Share your creation by tapping ‘Your Story’ at the bottom left
Facebook Stories for Business
Amazingly, up to 3 billion users engage with Facebook each month. Facebook stories are therefore a great way for brands to create awareness and be found by prospective users. Marketers often bypass the news feed and use Facebook Stories as a means of establishing an authentic connection with audiences. Brands typically use Instagram Stories to promote their products but you can incidentally also use Facebook Stories to promote your business or products by sharing product details in a story and then guiding prospects to posts that contain the promotional content.
How to Create a Facebook Story
- Open your News Feed and navigate to the Stories section (top right)
- Select ‘+ Add to Your Story’
- You can then type in your update
- Add text, photos, or videos.
- Choose who can view your Story (Public or Friends).
- Tap ‘Share’ to publish your content.
Tips on Using Social Media Stories to Promote Content
- Know Your Audience: Knowing and understanding your audience is important before sharing Stories. That’s how you’ll be able to tailor your content to suit your audience and make it resonate with them.
- Speak in their Tone of Voice: You’re sharing your Stories with your customers, so speak in their tone of voice and make them the centrepiece of your story. This will make them harmonize and identify with it. For instance, you can interview customers about their feelings and emotions about your product and note their words and tone of voice.
- Make Your Customer the Hero: It’s not always about you. You’re Building a Story Brand, so make your customer the hero of your story. Tell it from their perspective.
- Leverage Instagram’s Engagement Tools: Instagram Stories: A secret to making your Instagram Stories more engaging is to make use of music, gifs, polls, and countdowns. You can also ask audiences to send you a DM.
- Incorporate Videos: Video content makes for great social media storytelling. Use them to connect with audiences and quickly get your message across. In this case, sharing Stories can help build anticipation for your full video.
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Best Practices for Social Media Stories
- Consistent Branding: Maintain a consistent tone of voice and style and make sure it reflects your brand identity. You should have a social media persona specifically for your brand and stay true to it in all your content.
- Show, Don’t Tell: Always use compelling visuals and appealing narratives to “show” your brand story – with emphasis on ‘show’ rather than ‘tell’.
- Be Responsive: Be prompt in your responses to customers. Make good use of trending topics and incorporate user-generated content.
- Humanize Your Brand: Your content can tell about your brand, employees, and customers. In addition, you can offer a peek behind the scenes, showcasing your team, workplace, or processes.
- Engage with Contests and Giveaways: Spice things up with contests and giveaways. They are great ways to reward engagement.
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Tools for Promoting Social Media Stories Like a Pro
Here are great tools that you can use in your content creation and content promotion process to ensure your social media Stories are appealing.
- Canva: You can use this for designing and editing. It has excellent templates that are tailored for social media stories.
- Midjourney: This tool can help you create stunning art. You can simply enter your ideas as text, and the AI art wizard will generate awesome graphics.
- Sprinklr Social: This is an end-to-end social media management tool that brands can use to manage their online presence.
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Elevate Your Brand with Social Media Stories
You can make use of social media stories to improve your brand’s visibility and audience engagement. This includes using the unique features of platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook to create compelling content that resonates with your audience. Do not forget to tailor your storytelling approach to your audience’s preferences, incorporate engaging visuals, and remain consistent with your brand identity. This way, you will promote your content like a pro and also foster lasting relationships with your audience.
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