Ridiculous to say the least, it’s no surprise that their share price has fallen already, especially with facts like this floating around online:

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“Snapchat growth slowed 82% after Instagram Stories launched”

TechCode, 2017

However, a story is a story, literally. How true is the headline? According to a dozen analytics providers and social media celebrities, there’s been a decline in Snapchat stories usage since Instagram Stories launched on August 2nd, 2016. TechCode also reported in a different article that Stars have seen Snapchat views drop between 15-30%. Social talent agent Charlie Buffin who represents a few former Vine stars explained that “It is clear to us that regular users’ Snapchat usage/engagement have gone down significantly since the release of Instagram Stories”. Not only that, social talent media company Galore’s CEO Mike Albanese says “Influencers that were late to build an audience on Snapchat pretty much abandoned the platform because it was so much easier for them to reach more people through their existing audience on Instagram Stories.”

While Snapchat started this digital marketing trend, Instagram Stories have a significant advantage. they plug into your existing social network, meaning you can automatically see stories from everyone you already follow on Instagram. As well as that, according to a Forrester report, Instagram has the potential to deliver 58 times more engagement per follower than Facebook, and 120 times more engagement per follower than Twitter. If you’re a brand with an interest in maximising your visibility and building awareness, it’s a social channel that you cannot ignore.

1. Share a bit more about the people behind the curated feed your followers already see. This can be done by showing the behind the scenes of your meeting, or even what your team are having for lunch.
2. Offer your followers exclusive content, use stories to stage a promotion or tease the release of a special product exclusively to your followers.
3. Turn your blog content into mini-articles and use Instagram Stories to display teasers for them.
4. Tease your audience with a live video. Everything is heading towards more visual and short-lived content these days and with all the curated and overly edited photos you normally share, why not give your followers something raw? Plus, they’ll all get a notification when you go ‘live’ meaning engagement is likely to be through the roof!
5. Celebrate a company or personal milestone. Member of staff’s birthday? Put it online, however remember to stay on brand. Evoke your brand personality with the right colours and tone, and remind the employees who appear in your video that they’re acting as the face of the company.

These are just a few ideas on how to use Instagram Stories, there are many, many more. However it’s worth noting that not all methods may work for your brand, make sure everything you post is relatable – don’t just “go with the flow”.

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Want to know more about me? I also run @NCLGallery.