What should a business be sharing in Instagram Stories, anyway?
Honestly, a lot of stuff.
Stories are so underutilized and I don't want to come off as rude here, but if you're not strategizing them you're doing it wrong. Because to be clear, they're not underused, they're just not being used as strategically as they should be to really help your business thrive on the app. They're for a lot more than just resharing your posts.
Connection
If you're not new here you've heard me talk about connection before. And it's even easier to do in stories! When you show up and connect in stories, you increase the "know" and "like" factors (of the coveted know, like, trust trio needed to sell) and therefore increase likelihood of getting the sale.
Examples of things to share:
Your to-do list for the day
BTS of how you do your work
Sneak peek of upcoming offers
Ask Me Anything question sticker
Games where people can get to know you like 2 truths and a lie
Market Research
As a mom business owner, you don't have time to waste on social media strategies that don't work. Instagram Stories provides a way to focus on what does work by giving you real-time feedback from your audience. You can use Stories to conduct informal market research and see what content your audience engages with the most. This information can help you save time and focus on creating content that resonates with your audience and generates sales.
You know when you see a promotion for something and it hits so hard you feel like whoever wrote it was in your brain? That's because of market research.
Example market research questions you could ask your audience in story polls:
Which are you struggling with most in [your industry]? Pain Point A, Pain Point B, etc
Would you rather... Desired Outcome A or Desired Outcome B?
What is your biggest goal when it comes to [thing your offer does]?
How would [concept of offer/outcome of offer] change your life?
Use this information when creating content, sending emails, crafting your offers, etc. Be sure to make note of the language your audience uses in response to your market research stories, using it in your content and adding in those keywords will make a WORLD of difference in your copywriting. It helps your target audience find you but also speaks to them in words that they relate to.
Engagement
More engagement = more reach = more potential leads seeing your stuff.
Getting more engagement in your stories helps boost your content and get it in more people's feeds! Use interactive stickers in your stories to boost engagement. It can be as simple as showing your morning coffee/tea and asking what your audience prefers. But anytime you can bring it back to your brand or things relatable to your target audience the better!
Selling
Did you know that the people who watch your Instagram Stories are the ones who engage with your content the most? That's right, they're your most loyal followers, and they're more likely to buy from you than a follower who doesn't see your Stories. So, why not take advantage of this by using your Stories as a tool to sell your offer?
By using Instagram Stories to showcase your products, you're providing your audience with a more personalized and interactive shopping experience. You can use features like the swipe-up link, product tags, and shoppable stickers to make it easy for your audience to purchase your products directly from your Stories.
Here's a quick template to try:
1. "How much do you want [transformation/solution to pain point]?" *sliding scale sticker*
2. 3-5 stories of education around this topic. Why solving the pain point is important, how it will help them
3. "I've made an [offer] that will [transformation] for you!" *link with strong CTA*
4. 2-4 slides of social proof. *link with strong CTA on each slide*
Also, please know that if you haven't been active in stories it'll take some time to build up viewers and engagement, don't give up!
You can totally see how having an informed strategy for stories and social media, in general, is SO beneficial. It ensures that all that time and energy and hard work you're putting into your business's social media content is actually moving the needle for your business.
What's worse than wasted time as a mompreneur? Not much. No one has time for that!
And since you made it all the way to the end of this blog post, you get rewarded with a discount of your very own!
I offer Personalized Strategies so that mom business owners can spend less time on their social media all while growing their accounts, getting more engagement, and making more sales. Even if they don't have a ton of followers and even if they don't spend a ton of time on social media.
And the best part is, I'm a mom too. I know you don't have hours of time to devote to engaging and posting 3 reels a day to grow like some "gurus" say. My strategies are realistic and sustainable. They focus on quality over quantity so that your new followers are in your target audience and more likely to buy from you.
If you're ready to spend less time on content planning and creation while making more sales from your Instagram account, use the code BLOG to save $100 on your very own Personalized Strategy. Learn more here!
