Instagram Stories is one of the fastest-growing features ever introduced in social media history. More and more businesses and marketers use Instagram Stories as a part of their digital marketing strategy to boost engagement, drive traffic and increase sales. Buying Instagram views and followers, on the other hand, is a perfect way to boost your brand’s strength because it will increase your brand’s reputation and social proof, allowing you to stand out from the crowd and get recognized.
As per Instagram stats, over the years, brands and influencers on Instagram have published various creative and innovative stories to gain traction in a crowded marketplace, which has since been an inspiration to marketers and creators around the world. These stories are proven to result in engagement and action among followers.
Here are 15 creative ideas you can use to create Instagram Stories that capture attention and engage followers.
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Answer Questions
A sure way to engage followers on the platform is by answering questions about your business. Get started with a question sticker that says ‘Ask Me Anything’ in your story.
This will encourage your audience to interact with your Instagram story and help you establish yourself as an authority on the subject. Take it a step further by creating a video of answers and saving it to story highlights.
Initially used by celebrities and influencers, this has gained popularity among businesses and brands.
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Promote Posts
One of the best Instagram Stories ideas is to share your latest post on the platform with followers.
This will ensure that all your story viewers have seen your new post even when they don’t see it on their feed.
Tease the post by posting an obscured screenshot to spark some curiosity and increase the number of views.
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Conduct A Poll
The poll sticker on the platform lets you ask a question to your followers with two choices.
Polls are effective as they help engage your audience with a single button click rather than having to type answers. You can also ask your followers for feedback to help guide a key decision for your brand.
While this is an age-old marketing technique, it still does wonders when driving engagement on Instagram. This can also help you better understand your audience, guiding future content.
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Use IGTV
You can link your Instagram profile with the IGTV video app and show a short preview of the channel as Instagram Stories.
Make your story attractive enough to encourage viewers to check out your IGTV channel.
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Host A Live Session
A golden ticket to engagement, going live gives you a chance to interact directly with the audience and pushes your story to the front of their feeds and in their notifications bar.
Instagram Live boosts real-time engagement by allowing users to comment on the live video and convey questions and feedback they may have.
The trust and authenticity built with a live session cannot be replicated any other way. Even if you aren’t confident with your presentation skills, most viewers tend to be very forgiving.
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Create A Series
One of the most interesting story ideas is to create a series where you post regularly about a specific topic.
This consistency sets your brand apart and gives your followers something special to connect with you. Make sure you choose a topic related to your business and keep the content fresh and interesting.
For example, Bustle holds a series named ‘Be My Guest’, in which various Bustle employees provide a tour of where they live. This can also compel viewers to follow your page and increase engagement with your posts in the future.
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Promote Products
Your Instagram story is the perfect place to announce a product launch. It is a far more interesting way to showcase a product than a regular post which may not create so much buzz.
There is a better chance of engagement, and you can expect some valuable feedback from story replies. You can also use product stickers to direct viewers to the purchase page for some instant conversion.
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Host A Contest
Contests are effective ways to drive engagement. Ask your followers to respond to your story, tag you in their story, or like a specific post.
Keep an eye on the notifications and announce a winner. Share a video of winner selection as your story and tag the winner’s account.
A glance through some historical contests launched by brands on Instagram should make the level of interaction and activity surrounding these events quite evident.
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Use Behind-The-Scenes Footage
Everybody loves some behind-the-scenes stuff that shows how a product is made, how employees work, or even how your office looks.
Use your Instagram story to give your followers a cool, BTS look of your brand to build trust and transparency.
The best part of this idea is that you don’t need something fancy to show off – you can even share a view from your workplace.
Here again, the authenticity and exclusivity appeal to followers, so you need not emphasize the quality of the video or try to stage your workspace.
Based on the nature of your business, sharing before and after results in your story can be effective at grabbing user attention.
It works for services where you can show how your service changed your client or situation over time.
This can also cover many reveals like how your logo, products, or brand has changed.
Many design studios and freelance designers use this to gain plenty of traction on Instagram. This can work similarly for other brands and businesses if you put up visuals that attract attention and appeal to followers.
The best content is the one that provides valuable information for followers. Your Instagram story is an amazing platform for tips, tricks, and how-to tutorials. Bloggers and influencers often post makeup tutorials to engage with followers and give them useful advice they can use in their daily lives.
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Jump On The TBT Bandwagon
ThrowbackThursday or TBT is a popular hashtag for throwing back old memories.
This hashtag also makes an incredible idea for your Instagram story. Pick a picture from the past and share it on the story with this hashtag to engage audiences.
You will be surprised to see how followers like seeing where your brand originated and how it has evolved over the years.
This is also a great way to target newer audiences. Since this is a worldwide hashtag, you should see increased engagement and follower counts beyond just your existing followers and target audience.
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Use countdown sticker
A countdown sticker is another powerful Instagram Stories tool to boost engagement. Set the sticker to an upcoming event and customize it to convey what it is about to your followers.
It can be a product release, brand anniversary, sale, contest closing date, holiday reminder, or a new store opening. Your followers can tap the sticker to set a reminder for the end of the countdown.
Apart from sharing responses to question stickers, you can share a screenshot of some follower DMs on your story.
This is effective when the follower has left a testimonial for your service or product. Such a story idea gives your brand social proof and encourages other followers to interact with you, boosting engagement on the platform.
This is a fairly simple Instagram story idea but can prove to be an effective one. Share any quote you like – motivational, funny, or emotional. Make sure the thought suits your brand identity, and your followers appreciate it.
One of the best ways to use quotes is to post a motivational quote in the story with a popular hashtag every morning.
Final Thoughts
If you haven’t yet started using Instagram Stories to promote your brand, there is no better time than now. Stories give you a chance to show the real side of your brand to engage audiences and connect with followers.
These are a few Instagram Stories ideas you can get inspiration from. It is a great platform to experiment with ideas, so use it to the best of your creativity to maximize results.
Shubham Kansal is a bit addicted to the latest happening in the political and sports world. He loves to watch anime & manga, suspense, and Horror web series. He used to search and writes about the latest political, sports, and popular celebrity biography.