If you want your business to be taken seriously, you have to have an Instagram account. But you know this already. However, you actually have to be active on Instagram in order to enhance your brand and get more traffic to your page, and you should be using the Instagram story feature too. Don’t worry, though, we have all the secrets and tips you need to master the art of the IG Story.

Here’s how you can enhance your brand through Instagram stories:

1. Create engaging content.

Instagram stories are great. The thing is, though, they disappear after 24 hours. You do have the option to keep it in a Highlights on your page so that people can always go back to it if need be. With that being said, you want your content to be engaging enough during those 24 hours. How?! Don’t worry, we’re here to help.

Post pictures or videos. Obviously, because that’s what Instagram was designed for. Still, you have to be strategic about it or else people won’t be attracted to who you are and what you’re posting. You want to keep them interested and you can do that with high-quality visuals.

If you’re a brand wanting to post photos of your products, you should hire a professional photographer. If you use The Hub to find a photographer to create the content for you, they’ll be sure to give you exactly what you need, which is the eye of a millennial. (Sounds mysterious, doesn’t it?) ~Millennial photographers~ know what matters to people and what those people will engage with. You want clear, high-quality, high-resolution photos and videos; you want to show that your brand is professional, clean-cut, and well-thought-out. 

Use IG story features. Instagram provides fun features for story posts: Countdowns, Questions, Polls, Locations, Music, Hashtags, Gifs, and Quizzes. These are easy, fun, and entertaining and your followers will want to engage with you. Why? People like to participate!

Share/repost content. We mentioned participation… so, let’s get into the conversation of User-Generated Content. UGC is a big thing when you’re a brand looking to expand your business and reach out to potential consumers–in an authentic way. We won’t go too much into it, but basically, UGC is a way in which people (influencers) on social media can create content for you and your brand.

With that being said, if you are doing UGC, you should be reposting their content! Share it on your feed if they tag your business or use a specific hashtag to get your attention. Also, if you see something on your feed or the explore page, feel free to share it. If it’s something that inspires you as an entrepreneur or as a small business, repost it on your Instagram Story and tag them — if it’s a bigger company, they just might notice you and reshare your reshared post.

2. Get creative!

As we briefly mentioned before, Instagram has features that allow you to get super creative with your Story posts. Along with all the engaging buttons (Polls, Quizzes, etc), you can also dive into an artistic side!

Here are Madewell‘s Highlights, as an example. Look at how fun!

Have a color scheme, try out different fonts, doodle or scribble lines, use Gifs, Emojis, Filters, the Boomerang feature. (If you’re one of the lucky ones to have 10k followers on Instagram, you can also add a Swipe Up link too!) You can even use different design websites or apps to create Instagram Story templates.

Keep in mind though, that consistency is key. When you’re first starting out, it’s okay to mix and match with different fonts and colors, but once you get into the swing of things, try sticking to one font and one color scheme. Whatever you decide sets the tone for your brand.

3. Monitor your performance.

Instagram Analytics isn’t the best if you’re trying to see every number and every detail of how your brand is doing online, however, it is great at just giving you the bare minimum to start off.

If you have a business profile on Instagram, you can view your Analytics. IG Analytics show followers, posts, and stories, and all its details. You can see how many people swiped up on a link, how many people visited your profile, how many people have engaged with your posts and your page (followers, comments, likes), and more. It’s important to monitor the performance of your Instagram stories so that you know what people are enjoying and engaging with. You don’t want to keep posting something if they’re just going to click right through! Make note of what they’re enjoying and stick to that.

Want to know a secret to getting more views on your stories? Use hashtags. You can use about 10 hashtags in your stories to get people to notice you, without *actually* seeing that you put hashtags there to get noticed.

—

Using Instagram Stories is one of the best things you can do to enhance your brand. By getting creative and using its features, uploading high-quality content and visuals (thanks to a photographer!), and tracking your performance via Analytics, you can be sure to see success in your brand slowly but surely.