Instagram stories are SO overlooked. Instagram reels get all the love for being an efficient way to grow your community, and posts get lots of love because you can create memes and graphics that reach thousands of people.
While your Instagram stories might not reach as many people (given their short life span), they’re incredible for increasing your sales and building relationships with your most loyal customers. To give you an idea of how valuable they are, you should know I spend the most time and energy creating my client’s Instagram stories when compared to reels or grid posts.
Fun facts aside, let’s talk about what you should post to get the most out of your Instagram stories, for both product-based and service-based businesses.
Product-Based Businesses
The Instagram stories of a product-based business will vary depending on your social media objectives.
Generally speaking, Instagram stories are a valuable tool for selling because they’re where your most engaged customers are. Instagram stories are also set up for selling: you can add links to product pages, take advantage of polls, quizzes, and question boxes to drive engagement, and it’s easy for customers to slide into your DMs right from your Instagram story.
This means you should use your Instagram stories to educate your customers on why they should buy your products.
Share the benefits of your products, how they’ll improve your customer’s lives, how to use them, and what makes your products unique from anything else on the market. Add links to your product pages with clear calls to actions.
But your Instagram stories aren’t only for selling. They should also help you build relationships with your customers, since the customers who are watching them are more engaged than customers who aren’t.
You can build relationships through Instagram stories by sharing behind-the-scenes of running your business, what your day-to-day is like, and most importantly by sharing user-generated content. By sharing user-generated content, your customers will see how others are using (and enjoying) your products, and see that others are interested in your brand and products. It’s a form of social proof, proving that your brand and products are valuable.
Get 15 Instagram story ideas for product-based businesses (plus 15 ideas for grid posts and 15 ideas for reels) with my free guide.
Service-Based Businesses
If you’re a fellow social media manager, or a photographer or designer, your Instagram stories should feel organic and personal because you’re not selling a product – you’re selling *you*.
There’s thousands of social media managers / photographers / designers out there, and a client chooses to work with you because of *you*.
Maybe it’s your sparkling personality, maybe it’s because you have something in common with the client, maybe it’s your unique approach to your work, but at the end of the day the reason is you. So you have to show off what makes you special.
How do you do that?
Treat your Instagram stories like you’re talking to a friend. Pop in, share what’s going on with you, share what you’re working on, show off your latest project, ask how they’re doing, and do this consistently to build relationships with your potential clients.
Try the following Instagram stories to see what works for you and what brings in the most Instagram story reach and content interactions.
Slide #1 – Take a picture of yourself or your desk, say hello, and share what you’re up to that day.
Slide #2 – Share something related to your work. This could be that day’s Instagram post, a new blog post you’ve written, or a teaser for next week’s email newsletter.
Slide #3 – Share something related to your clients. This could be a new case study or testimonial, or a sneak peek of an upcoming project.
Slide #4 – Share behind-the-scenes of your day. As a food & wellness marketer, I try to share any snacks or beverages I’m enjoying, a wellness trend I’m trying, or anything that I think my ideal client will resonate with.
Ready to elevate your Instagram stories? Canva Templates are an easy way to create high-quality Instagram stories without hiring a social media manager or graphic designer. They’re completely customizable to your brand guidelines and can be used over and over again.
First things first, hi! I’m Sarah—social media manager for food & wellness brands. If you liked this blog post and want more marketing tips, tricks, and bev recs, here are a few ways to do just that:
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