Most social media platforms use stories to increase interaction and conversation. Here are five ways you can use social media stories to promote your business.
Short introduction
Introducing your company and products on social media is a bit like a dating site. Firstly ensure any profile pictures are up to date along with the latest company logo, contact numbers, emails and webpage links. Make sure the intro is short, snappy and catchy. You want to draw potential followers in and not bore them with long drawn out waffle.
👍Remember that first impressions count!
Instagram has a feature called ‘highlights’. This essentially shows followers any stories you want to feature on your profile permanently. It is like a showcase of the best and most likes posts which new followers can see. It’s a small insight into you and what you do and a great way to gain more followers.
Get your followers opinion with a poll
Social media polls are a brilliant way to see what your clients believe/feel you could improve on. It’s also a great way to get followers to share your posts. Get them to vote for their favourite post of the month and then ask them to share it for you. This is could attract more followers leading to potential business. You could also ask them what kind of posts or offers or new products they would be interested to see. You can make the poll just a bit of fun for people, e.g. best biscuit to go with tea, rich tea or digestive? With such stressful and dark times some light relief it welcomed by all. Any engagement will also tell the algorithms to shoe more of your posts to the people who interacted with your stories. It almost works like cookies on your website.
Use quizzes to increase engagement
Social media is all about people interacting with others and also interacting with brands. Using quizzes revolves around the user and not the brand making the user much more likely to share their quiz results with others. Sharing = increased engagement on your page.
Statistics show that around 82% of users will complete a quiz. That’s a very large amount of interaction and sharing for you. You can generate leads without bombarding your user with sales pitches. You can avoid this type of sales push by putting a lead capture form as part of the process into the quiz; more of a subtle way of gaining sales leads but this can be skipped by users if they wish. Also including a link for products related to the results at the end of the quiz can drive sales leads.
Shoutout to customers
‘Shoutouts’ to customers are a simple way of saying thank you. From you to them.
Make your shoutout’s heartfelt. Let your emotions run publicly, professing how much the contributor and their support means to you. Why not go one step better and if and where possible, add a picture of your contributor or even better, a picture of you both together. Visuals and meaningful words are a winner. You could even create a short video. It adds more of a personal touch and shows that you are truly grateful for their support. This will entice others to come and join the campaign. A thank you goes a very long way both personally and business-wise. Just those two words can make a world of difference.
Team up with an influencer
Ever thought of teaming up with an influencer to increase your following? This is a new trend that is being used on Instagram. The best way to implement this for an influencer, of your choice, is for them to take over your posts for a day. It doesn’t have to be someone super famous or someone that has a huge following, just someone that has the same line of business and is happy to share ideas. Tagging their followers in their posts on your page can gain followers for you and you could return the favour. Small businesses are struggling and this could be a fabulous way of helping each other.
It’s always healthy to share ideas with others. Likeminded people working together can make a big difference.
Download your FREE 30-Day Story Content Planner
Need help with your social media and digital marketing?
Download free social media marketing cheat sheets & worksheets
Find tools for your business
Join a social media and digital marketing co-working session