04 Dec 8 Instagram Story Ideas That Will Help Your Business Thrive

It takes a lot of pieces of the puzzle to fit together, to get a business to thrive. On social media, in particular, there are so many avenues a business can take their marketing. 

Instagram is quickly becoming one of the most popular avenues for brands. Feed posts, IGTV, Instagram lives and stories are just a few types of options available for brands to get content to their followers.

In this article, we delve into Instagram stories. The raw, behind-the-scene type content, which is allowing brands to reach audiences in a way they have never reached before. 

Ready to try it fo your business? We’ve outline 8 Instagram story ideas to help your business thrive.

1. Share User-Generated Content

 Stories are a great platform for connecting with your loyal customers and communicating directly with them. They’re also a great space for you to share user-generated content (UGC).

UGC is any content such as images, videos, posts, and stories, created by other users, preferably your customers.

To show appreciation and share how much your business is loved, repost UGC to your stories. It’s a great way to:

• thank customers for their loyalty
• get more people to share content tagging your brand
• get more people to perceive you as trustworthy
• make your customers happy

Share the content created by your customers and it will help your business thrive on multiple levels.

2. Trailers & Announcements

 Whenever there’s something big and important happening around your business, you should advertise it properly. Stories can help you do just that.

You can use Instagram stories to:

• announce a new post coming out later that day
• publish a teaser for a new video
• do a countdown until the launching of a new product
• announce a big event you’ve organized
• announce a live stream

Build anticipation and mystery, and you’ll have more people interested in what you have to say or share.

3. Influencer Interview

 Instagram stories now have the Live feature which is one of the most popular ways of communicating with your followers.

You might like to use this option to do a live interview with an influencer you’re collaborating with. Together, you could:

• answer fan questions
• make an announcement
• chat about a new product
• share favorite products
• do an unboxing

Influencer marketing will work wonders for your advertising campaign and Instagram stories are the perfect place to integrate influencers on a more personal level.

4. Q&A

People love when brands engage in honest, direct communication with them. Via theQ&A feature, Instagram stories allow you to do just that.

All you have to do is use their question feature and:

• tell your followers to type in any question
• publish the best questions
• answer them

Your audience will be engaged and they will get the answers to their questions. They’ll feel appreciated and establish a deeper connection with your business. This is a great way to retain customers (and even gain some new ones!).

5. Behind The Scenes

Another great way to use Instagram stories is to share behind the scenes footage of your business.

Whether you decide to go live or you create numerous short videos, your followers might get to see:

• the inside of your office
• how your products are made
• the members of your team 
• what do you do during break time
• a segment of your meeting (sneak peeks for new products perhaps?!)

People will be curious to see how things are done and feel like they’re a part of your brand family. Sharing this type of content on your stories will bring you closer to your audience and will help your business thrive.

6. Share How-To Content

 Stories aren’t there just to be fun or entertaining. They can also be highly educational.

You can use stories to teach your followers something and help them get a better understanding of things such as:

• how to use a product
• how to put it together
• different functions of the same product
• hacks
• useful tips
• pro secrets

This will make you come across as a professional, reliable, and trustworthy brand. The keys to brand success. 

7. Share a Poll

To show how much you care about your followers’ opinions, you can ask them to decide something for you. Instagram stories polls are the best way to conduct a mini-research and see where that takes you.

You can get your followers to vote and choose between:

• two sets of similar product such as dresses or shoes
• different designs for your next post
• future posts ideas
• types of content they’d like to see more

This way, you get valuable data directly from your audience and your followers. Then, you can use that data to create content that converts and gets you more leads.

8. Swipe Up

Finally, last but definitely not least is the swipe up option. 

The Swipe Up/ See More option is placed at the bottom of the story and takes those who click directly to a landing page of your choice such as:

• your e-commerce, where they can buy the product
• your website to read the full blog post
• your YouTube channel to watch a video
• other social media channels

You can use stories to raise awareness of your other sources of information and content, to drive more traffic and make them more popular.

Final Thoughts

 If there’s a platform made for brilliant social media marketing, it’s Instagram. Instagram stories are a valuable addition to your advertising plan, and should be used to their full potential. 

The advice and ideas above will help you understand just how versatile and exciting Instagram stories can be. Use the ideas you find most useful and suitable for your business goals – then get to work and you’ll see the results in no time. 

Kristin Savage is a social media expert who knows how to get your audience going. She combines her creativity and writing skills, that she polishes working at  Trust My Paper and Grab My Essay, to create unique social media marketing strategies. Her passion for writing is her profession and she uses it to share the secrets of success with the rest of the world.