Growing your views on Instagram Stories is easily one of the best ways, at this time, to convert eyeballs into sales. It’s a powerful tool to focus on because Instagram has provided us with Insights – where you can see relevant statistics that’ll help your biz grow. And we know that users are engaging more with Stories than they are on your profile page.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that you must get serious and work on developing your Story skills! That is, if you care about expanding your reach, in business or personal. Getting those views up is going to depend on how you craft your Stories. They’ve got to add value.
Number one, Direct to camera content (DTC).
Meaning, you’re holding up your iPhone and talking directly to your iPhone. This is exactly how I filmed my PiYo infomercial – which, did I mention, was a number freakin’ one infomercial. It’s still on TV. If you’re reading this in the wee hours, you’ll see it on TV right now.
Direct to camera content should never look produced. If you have amazing sound effects and music and graphics flying around, it’s not going to feel authentic to the viewer.
Views in IG stories go up based on authenticity.
When people see something that’s highly produced, they don’t feel like it’s their friend taking care of them. They feel like they’re being sold to.
Number two, Layer instructions.
Over the image, layer the message (with text or GIF, etc.) you want to convey to your audience – making sure it doesn’t get missed.
For example, you might want to alert those checking out an important graphic in your story that they can simply press down on the screen to pause. (Not everybody is aware of this feature.)
Number three, Good quality.
There are times you might need to repurpose old(er) content. Great, but it shouldn’t look degraded. You always want to get as close to the original file as possible. Perhaps it was uploaded to Dropbox or still lives in your phone. Cool. The problem arises when your original content was saved multiple times, and lost quality through every step.
Number four, Delete outdated CTA videos.
If you store all of your content in Dropbox (or other online hosting service), go through your files and delete all those that:
- Involve content you’re no longer promoting
- Have information that is outdated
- Are no longer time sensitive
Number five, Cross promotion of other content.
I will use Instagram stories to let my peeps know there’s a new podcast up or an impactful blog post.
Number six, Generate interest in user-generated content.
Posting other people’s content that references YOU. For instance, if someone tags me in their Story, I’m going to see it (usually).
Now, if that user content is interesting and would serve my audience, I’ll repost it! This gives my audience incentive to tag me, too. Who wouldn’t like a little shout out, right?
User generated content grows your account because others are promoting your account. Simple as that. It’s people spreading the word about what it is you do. That’s how you create traction for free.
Number seven, Value-based.
Remember, the goal should be that people think of your Stories as educational, inspirational and entertaining. So, yeah, don’t forget to be funny, relatable, sarcastic, and post fun content. But most of all, educate.
For the remaining 4 tips – and my personal story on how I communicated ALL these tips in an email directive to my staff – you MUST check out: Instagram Story, 11 Tips to Create Sales Conversions on Build Your Tribe NOW!
Let’s be honest here, Instagram Stories is basically adding a whole new social media platform! It’s not like, “Oh yeah, I’m on Instagram and on Snapchat.” Snapchat offers one major thing, really. But Instagram feels like three different social media platforms in one. It’s becoming more and more powerful and you need to listen to the podcast to really up your game!
