Social media has come a long way from just being a platform for chatting with friends and family to a wide marketing network for businesses and individuals worldwide. Hence, the best way to become a successful business owner with the help of social media is to stay active and know the right marketing techniques.
There are several social media platforms now, but the most popular one amongst them is Instagram. It works wonders for the new businesses. The general idea of acquiring audience engagement on social media platforms is to post at least once a day. Also, you must not post more than three times a day to avoid being an annoyance to your customers. But Instagram stories are a bit different and these rules don’t apply to them.
People on social media get annoyed when they see business pages posting their products or services too many times. If you're a business owner you must understand that spamming people with your posts will lead to a decline in your followers. People should be able to see your posts enough to remember you, so posting at strategic times is important.
On Instagram, the stories are seen in one particular section of the feed. That way it does not get in the way of your customers’ scrolling. Your followers can easily skip the story if they are not interested. There is no way your target audience will be irritated and unfollow you. You will be able to promote your brand without losing a single follower and potential customers.
Well, that doesn't mean you can post as much as you like. Post 100 stories a day is absurd just because not many people will check it. There is no particular rule on how many stories you should post per day. But, there are some aspects that you need to keep in mind based on your business, followers, and posts. Below written are some points that you should consider before deciding on the number of stories you must post without driving your followers away.
1. Post stories that add value to your brand
Every story you post on your feed must contribute some way to the brand. It must somehow engage the target audience. You should not make your stories all about your products or services all the time or it might make your brand look boring to your followers. That is why you need to add some human touch to it. You can post something personal to present yourself as approachable, which is a great tactic for small businesses. You can also post about trendy topics to engage a broader group of audience while keeping the versatility going to get better audience engagement.
2. Make your stories irresistible
Many business owners on Instagram struggle to get the desired attention of the customers even though they follow all the rules of posting on the platform. The main reason behind it is that the posts are probably not that interesting to the viewers. The best way to add that wow factor to your stories is to spice them up. Add interesting stickers and emojis in the captions of the stories. You can add effects to the photos, create some cool animation, or make a short and attractive video with the help of many video editing tools available online right now. This will not only make your stories engaging but make you stand tall in the crowd of your competitors.
3. Don’t overdo the Promotion
There are so many choices presented to the followers on Instagram. And they are just one click away. So, it is necessary that your followers like your stories otherwise, they will move onto the next thing. That is why you must not promote your brand as pure advertisements. Focus on creating a connection with them to keep them coming back. Only post stories that are relevant to the brand and the followers. Do post the same thing over and over again like traditional advertisements. This will make the customers treat you like any other advertisement, which mostly gets ignored. Avoid spamming by not doing over-promotion.
4. Use story analytics for better understanding
Posting blindly without checking on the progress is useless. If you don’t even know how your stories are performing, how will you make any improvements? You need to keep a constant watch on your story analytic within Instagram Insights to see where you are doing well and what parts are lacking. It will also tell you how they are performing at holding the interest of the followers. Going through analytics regularly will tell you when you are losing followers and which stories caused that action. Through constant study, you will be able to master the art of posting stories effectively.
Conclusion
Like other social media platforms, consistency is the key for Instagram stories as well. Make sure to post daily so that your customers never forget you. Do not post everything you have up your sleeves in just one go. Reveal little by little every day and keep the audience hooked.
The truth is there is no right number of stories that bring you success. It depends on the type of your industry, the kind of content, and the interest of your target audience. Research on the current trends of the market and establish a personalized strategy for your stories. Observe your competitors to find out what type of content is popular in your industry and which topics aren’t. Do not overdo yourself because you need to maintain consistency. If you use all your resources in just one story, you will not be able to arrange the same brilliance in the next one. Your followers will be disappointed as a result of which you'll lose business.
Always practice quality over quantity. Make sure the pictures or videos you are putting are of high quality. The quality and not the number of posts is the only thing that keeps your customers coming back.
