Maddy Washburn June 3, 2018

5 Ways to Host Successful Instagram Story Takeovers

Want to host a successful Instagram story takeover? Check out our 5 tips below.

With Instagram’s ever-changing algorithm, one of the last pieces of chronological content we have is Instagram Stories. Since launching nearly two years ago, Stories are now used by almost everyone on the platform, with new features being released every few months.

Related: Find Creatives Near You

We now have GIFs, mentions, filters and more to choose from when posting. This may be why Instagram Stories have become so popular with brands, as well as “takeovers” quickly becoming more regular. Hosting a story takeover for a brand is a great way to increase your following, grow your audience and create a relationship with that company along the way. Here are 5 ways to host a successful Instagram Stories takeover.

How To Host Successful Instagram Story Takeovers

BRAINSTORM IDEAS

Before you even begin to start snapping photos and videos, you should start by brainstorming your takeover.

Some brands will give you guidelines ahead of time for length, hashtags and more, while others will give you more creative control. If you have travel plans or a vacation coming up, that could be a great opportunity to get some great content and show to the brand’s audience.

Depending on your niche, you may be able to host a Q & A takeover and allow their followers to ask you questions throughout. If you decide to go this route, we recommend gathering the questions ahead of time so you can plan out some great answers.

ENGAGE YOUR AUDIENCE

Some of the best takeovers are also the most fun. Your audience is more likely to stick around to the end if you continuously engage with them throughout the story.

Instagram Stories has so many features that make this easier than ever now. For example, you could use the Poll feature to pose questions to your followers, get their opinions and more.

The Poll feature is especially useful if you want to know what the audience wants to see next. You can even experiment with the different fonts, filters, and GIFs for added fun.

PROMOTE YOUR TAKEOVER

Hosting a takeover is not only for the brand’s followers but also your own. And the more people that tune in to your takeover, the better the numbers you can show for it after. Before starting your Stories, let your own audience know ahead of time what time you’ll be hopping on.

We recommend letting them know the day before as well as the morning of in case they want to watch it live. Many brands will also have you do a quick video introducing yourself on their Story beforehand or post a quick photo tagging your handle. Once your takeover has ended, don’t forget to remind your audience to watch it before it expires.

TRACK YOUR STATS

This can be an easy step to forget, but you always want to track your analytics both during and after your takeover. Whether you screenshot the views or in-app analytics, this is crucial information to have. You can use these stats later to pitch brands in the future to show how effective your campaign was, how many people stuck around until the end and how engaged your audience was.

You can also track how many followers you’ve gained by the end of the takeover and see if your own Story views have gone up. If the brand is okay with you saving your stories, you can even post them to your Story Highlights in case people aren’t able to finish watching within 24 hours.

BE PROFESSIONAL

This one goes without saying, but we’re going to say it anyway! Always, always, ALWAYS be professional when hosting a takeover. All brands have different vibes and while some may be more “fun” or “open” than others, here are some key points to remember: no swearing and no nudity.

Like we mentioned before, some may have stricter guidelines than others, but you don’t want to burn any bridges with the brand or have them remove your content.

From fun features to chronological order, Instagram Stories have become popular with brands for reaching new audiences and gaining followers for your own profile. Many apps such as Adobe Spark also make it easy to create cool graphics and effects like fade-in color and moving text.

Don’t be afraid to reach out to your favorite brands and start creating some awesome content. Do you feel ready to host your first Instagram Stories takeover? Let us know on social @h_collective