You can upload a photo or video. You can also take different types of videos such as boomerang, superzoom, and rewind, among others. All these features enable you to produce creative content.
However, Instagram Stories have a lifespan of only 24 hours.
So, it’s a great way to pique the interest of your target audience if you have a new product, an upcoming event, or a limited period offer and build a sense of exclusivity or urgency.
You will need to post stories when your users are most active to generate instant engagement.
Lowe’s has been using various features of Instagram Stories to its advantage for some time now.
Through a series of videos that perfectly fit Instagram’s video screen, the brand showcases a wide range of its DIY products designed for home improvement.
One of the videos shows how to turn a neglected space in a house into a kid’s playroom.
Instagram floods with thousands of videos and images every day. Your content is most likely to get lost in this crowd if it lacks creativity or isn’t unique.
Fortunately, Instagram offers plenty of features that will help you create snappy, funny, and eloquent content.
In other words, you need to add a bit of soul to your Instagram posts.
Ben & Jerry’s is known for making flavorful and unique ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sorbet.
The brand is also admired for its playful, witty, and creative marketing approach on Instagram.
Be it a spinning wheel made of different ice cream toppings or showcasing their products in a mathematical equation, Ben & Jerry’s never lets you down when it comes to creative content.
The best part is, being funny, users often feel like sharing the content with their friends and peers.
This simple strategy generates authentic and free publicity for the brand across multiple social media channels.
Remember, the more creative your content is, the more likely are your customers to engage with your brand on Instagram.
User-generated content (UGC) lends authenticity to your Instagram marketing, increasing user engagement, and sales conversions further.
It also makes your brand look more humane and people-friendly.
Almost 80% of people say UGC highly impacts their purchasing decisions. Consumers are also 2.4X more likely to say user-generated content is authentic compared to brand-created content.
You can take advantage of user-generated content in many ways. You can run online contests or ask users to share product reviews or rope in your customers (with significant followers) as your brand ambassadors.
Aerie, a lingerie lifestyle retailer and intimate apparel brand, ran a campaign called #AerieREAL, which leveraged the power of user-generated content.
They asked women to post their photographs wearing Aerie’s swimwear.
The campaign was open for women of all ages, ethnicities, shapes, and sizes who were willing to share real photos without any filters.
This thought-provoking campaign has earned much publicity for the brand not only on Instagram but also on other social media platforms.
On the other hand, The Everygirl, an online publication offering real-life tips and guidance for women from all walks of life, uses a slightly different UGC marketing strategy.
They promise to feature user-generated content with the hashtag #sharetheeverygirl on their site and social media feed.
As they don’t have any products, allowing targeted users to publish any images or videos of their own is the best way to grow their overall social media presence.
Without the right hashtags, it is simply impossible to promote your brand on Instagram.
Hashtags are the keywords that your target audience will use to find the information they want.