By now you’ve heard about and probably played around with the new feature Instagram rolled out early last week, Instagram Stories. Similar to Snapchat, Instagram Stories allows users to post “in the moment” images and videos that are visible to their followers for a short 24 hours. Where Snapchat has been the place for instant news, live streams of events and candid, quick videos and pics from friends, Instagram has been the platform for beautifully curated and perfectly filtered images. With the introduction of Instagram Stories the platform has added the “live” element to the app in hopes of increasing daily traffic by adding a sense of urgency to catching the latest of the 24 hour streams. Since the stories aren’t added to the user’s collection of photos in their profile there is less pressure to stage and snap the perfect pic – bringing back the instant nature to Instagram.

“Instagram Stories, a new feature that lets you share all the moments of your day, not just the ones you want to keep on your profile.”

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If you’re a business that already uses Instagram to connect to your audience and have an engaged following, the addition of Instagram Stories are a great way to reach your followers in a new way. Many businesses have shied away from Snapchat due to the challenge of building a following from scratch on an entirely new platform while others simply didn’t have the ability to keep up with posting fresh, daily content. Using Instagram Stories businesses can now publish the same live feed content without the need of Snapchat and can reach the audience they have already built. This is a perfect way to showcase special events, behind the scenes exclusives and candid moments without feeling pressured to produce live content every day when they may not have any.

 

Having the ability to reach followers with beautifully planned images and in the moment stories all in one place takes the work out of managing multiple social platforms and also makes it easier for followers to digest a business’s content without the hassle of jumping from one app to another. ways you can start incorporating Instagram Stories into your social calendar with weekly employee spotlights, event set up, and sneak peeks of what’s moving and shaking in your business. Play around with the new feature without fear of creating the perfect content, after all it will be gone in just 24 hours.

 

If you’re interested in learning more about how to leverage your business on social media, creating unique social content or would like to learn more about managing your social media strategy we would love to chat!