How to Create Engaging Social Media Stories
Maintaining a social media presence goes beyond simply posting on a regular basis – if you want people to interact with and share the content you’re posting, you’ll want to focus on engagement. Posting stories on your social media platforms is a great way to promote engagement, and there are a few strategies you can use to your advantage while curating these stories.
Tell a Story
While it can be tempting to just throw a photo up there, take the time to make the experience more enjoyable for your followers.
Craft your instagram story like you would a verbal one; give it a beginning, middle, and end. You’re also more likely for people to tap through all of your stories if they are engaged and interested in the story you are telling.
Add Captions or Let Viewers Know to Keep Their Sound On
Instead of just being a talking head in a video, take a little time to write out what you’re saying to maximize your audience reach and response.
This is a good idea for several reasons; viewers who are hard of hearing will have an easier time following your message, as well as people who are at work or somewhere they are unable to have their sound on. It is also scientifically proven that reading something while you are also listening to it improves information retention! There are apps like Veme.ly available to auto-generate captions for you so you don’t have to take the time to type it out yourself.
Use Stickers!
Instagram stickers are a fun and cute way to make your stories interactive.
There are two sticker types, in particular, that can help brands boost their story engagement:
Question Stickers
Although you can simply prompt your audience to ask you a question in your stories, using the question sticker will give people a notification that their question has been answered by you.
Poll Stickers
People love polls! Use the Stories poll sticker to get in on your audience’s preferences, and let them help you make choices in your business, or provide general feedback.
Use Prompts
You can use relevant prompts to increase time spent on your story, or retain viewership throughout multiple stories:
Hold to Read
Try adding longer text messages to your Stories posts, and prompting viewers to “hold to read” the full content. Beginning your message with a powerful/suspenseful/cliffhanger first sentence will make more people want to “read more”.
Tap for More
Start your Instagram Story with a tile which asks a question, and add “Tap for more” after the question. The next tile (or few tiles) can be videos of you giving information, or static images of the relevant info.
Get Ready To
The “get ready to” prompt can create anticipation and excitement, and help you set the tone for what’s coming next. You can prepare your audience to take a screenshot of the next slide, turn their screens horizontally, or even just simply turn their sound on.
'Screenshotable' Stories
You can offer several things for your audience to “Get ready to screenshot” – here are some examples:
Fill in the Blanks
You can have a lot of fun with fill in the blanks Instagram Stories. You can make them simply for entertainment, or to gain further insight about your audience (think of it as a survey) which you can then use to create products, services, or content.
Wallpapers
Wallpapers are an easy way to add value and give a little something to your audience. Your wallpapers can be quotes, or simple images – increase audience engagement even further by featuring user-created wallpapers that are relevant to your business or service.
Stories Contests
Gamifying any experience can be a great way to increase engagement. Apply this mentality to your Instagram Stories – you can award a prize to people who fill out your survey, or create a standalone giveaway using the screenshot and repost prompt.
DM for Download
Ask for a DM in order for your viewer to receive a freebie. This can be anything from a downloadable checklist to an eBook; people love free stuff!
Through this, you can build a list of people who you know are interested in a particular subject – and you’ve already started a direct conversation with them, which is more engaging than simply adding them to your email list.
In Summary
Learning how to engage with your social media following can take some time and some tweaking; one person’s audience may respond well to a story that someone else’s audience will hate. Utilizing stories to collect data and interact with your viewers is an invaluable part of growing your platform as a whole, so doing your research and identifying ways to boost interaction on your page is well worth the payoff. If you’re in search of a more hands off approach, give us a call! White Fox Studios is happy to manage your social media accounts, so you can spend more time on the things that you love.
