Instagram is home to over a billion monthly active users—that is, a billion potential audience members to your brand’s content. Of these Instagrammers, over 86.6% actively use the stories feature daily, and that number is only growing.
Instagram’s wildly popular stories feature is used widely by Millennials and Gen Z, whether for posting their own content or reposting their favorite brands’ posts. So how can you capitalize on this and encourage your audience to want to promote your content on their own personal stories? In order to ensure your brand is at the forefront of your followers’ minds, here are our best tips for creating shareable content that is worth reposting:
1. Start with a Strong Image
19% of all impressions are from Instagram Stories, and one-third of the most-viewed come from businesses. In this new virtual era, creating eye-catching content is key to standing out among the competition. Appeal to your audience by ensuring your content is aesthetically pleasing and visually stimulating. Users tap through thousands of images every day, so you don’t want your brand to get lost in that influx of visual content. Fortunately, there are hundreds of applications that can make in-house graphic design easy and fast. Some of the best apps to use include Mojo, Planoly, and Canva.
This story by White Limozeen is animated with bright graphics, movement, and an eye-catching image. The Champagne Jell-O shot looks mouthwatering, and there’s an option to swipe up and see more information.
2. Keep it Consistent
Find the right balance between posting stories along with your regular posts so that your audience looks forward to seeing your content but does not get annoyed by it. The average posting frequency for companies is around five stories per week, with each story being made up of about eight frames. These frames offer you the chance to tell a story with your content. Storytelling is an important factor in creating shareable content because it will give your audience a relatable, engaging, and vivid perception of your brand.
The White Limozeen Instagram account has a charming and whimsical aesthetic, immediately recognizable due to its vibrant pinks and pops of color. The photos paired with the captions, always pithy and playful, make for very identifiable branding.
3. Keep Up with Trends
Generating new and relatable content doesn’t have to be difficult. You can repurpose trending ideas and topics in a way that organically represents your brand. Trending topics cycle fast, so pay attention to what your audience is attracted to most. Stay on top of things like what your target demographic is watching, listening to, and laughing about.
4. Engage with Your Followers
Your followers are the key to your brand’s Instagram success. When all is said and done, they are your current and future customers, so you want to maintain strong customer relationships. Plus, it helps to have an engaging account so your followers feel like they’re interacting with real people instead of a robot. Show some personality by hitting “like” on their posts, leaving fun comments, and re-sharing relevant content. You’ll receive positive feedback and your customers will surely appreciate interacting with the brand. In fact, 71% of consumers who have positive social media interactions with a business are more likely to recommend it to their friends.
Above all, remember to stay true to your brand’s values. Capturing your followers’ attention should not mean compromising your brand’s image. You know your audience best, so by matching them with what they want to see, you are sure to have them itching to share your content on their stories for others to see.
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