The holiday season has been trending. Weeks back, Alibaba’s Singles Day sales set a new record, grossing over $38 billion in 24 hours, surpassing 2018 figures, making it the biggest shopping day yet. In you need some holiday travel inspiration, check out the best travel instagram accounts.
Below is an image showing search results
for the hashtag #thanksgiving as of Thursday, November 28, 2019. The
thanksgiving hashtag has featured in over 17 million posts, with millions of
other similar hashtags being used.
Source: Instagram
Black Friday is hours away, with Cyber
Monday in tow. All of these remind us it’s the season where shoppers get the
best and the most deals.
With features like Instagram Stories
brands can promote their products/services, connect with and engage fans and
followers on a personal level by sharing important moments.
Launched in August 2016, over 500 million people now use Instagram Stories daily, Instagram Stories offers smart brands like yours an opportunity to
create awareness, promote branded content, connect with new and existing
customers, deepen relationships and ultimately drive conversion.
In
this piece, we analyze what Instagram Stories is, the importance of Instagram
Stories this holiday season, and finally, some Instagram optimization tips for
improved sales this holiday season, but first
What is Instagram Stories?
Instagram
Stories allows users to share multiple images and videos which appear as
slideshow also known as a reel. A brand’s Instagram Stories is featured in the
bar at the top of a
follower’s Instagram feed and disappears after 24 hours.
Using text, stickers, emoticons, filters,
masks, and doodles, Instagram Stories allows brands to promote their products
and services using videos and photos taken throughout the day with the right
blend of holiday fun this holiday season.
Why Instagram Stories is Important
this Holiday Season
Instagram
has over 1 billion monthly
active users, 500 million of which use Instagram Stories daily.
Stories is like a show glass allowing marketers to showcase and promote their brand, product or services to millions of Instagram users. With the holiday season buzz, brands like yours can use Stories to take your audience on a daily tour of your brand, products/services, offers, and deals this holiday season.
If you are driving traffic to your blog from Instagram, you should understand the types of CPMs you see for each season.
Secondly, Instagram
Stories enhances discoverability. Followers and non-followers can view it,
increasing your chances of wooing, wowing and converting them.
Thirdly, the Instagram
Stories linking feature allows brands with 10,000+
followers to link to their individual website or e-commerce store, thus driving
valuable traffic.
Some Examples of Brands Nailing
Instagram Stories
Source: Instagram
Urban
Decay Cosmetics uses their Instagram Stories to advertise their products
without appearing too salesy. They are clearly keen on offering value first.
This wins viewers over and eventually results in sales.
What we love
- Great visuals
- A bold and catchy headline
- A call to action for viewers.
2.
Fabletics
Source: Instagram
This
workout apparel company for women uses their Instagram Stories to show that
they pay attention to their followers by constantly posting user-generated
content from followers who use their workout gear. This makes customers feel
valued, special.
What we love
- Great visuals
- A call to action
- A countdown to when the sales
will end. This helps to create a sense of urgency.
3.
Forever21
Source: Instagram
This
fashion brand uses their Instagram Stories to showcase their various pieces,
host polls, Q&A’s and competitions. It is a way to visually engage with
their teeming followers from across the globe.
What we love
- Great and simple visuals
- A call to action
- A bold and catchy headline
4.
Disney
Source: Instagram
Known
for their creativity, Disney is already creating the holiday season mood with
their Instagram Stories by hosting a poll based on a Christmas themed movie.
What we love
- Simple imagery
- Driving engagement by
creating an interactive poll - Use of holiday-centric themes
and colors.
5 Instagram Stories Optimization Tips
To Thrive This Holiday Season.
1.
Keep It Simple and Engaging.
Create
simple, engaging, valuable, holiday-focused content your audience will love.
The quality of your content determines if viewers will love them enough to
stick around longer on your Stories and engage with your brand.
Spice
up your Stories by adding fun holiday stickers, hosting polls, Q&As,
sharing behind the scenes and user-generated content that captures key aspects of your customer journey. This will help you connect
with your followers on a more personal level and also enable your followers to
engage fully and stay glued to your brand this holiday season.
Also,
don’t forget to stay active on your DM so as to quickly respond to messages and
comments. This will show your audience that you’re paying rapt attention.
2. Post
Frequency and Consistency
Keep
your brand at the top of people’s minds this season by posting frequently and
consistently.
This
will help you stay at the top of your audience’s news feed. It is also vital to
maintain a consistent holiday theme, style and message in your Stories. This
will help followers to easily recognize your brand this season.
3.
Utilize Hashtags and Location
Stickers
Create
your holiday Stories using hashtags and location stickers. This will help you
to appear in related hashtags and location searches.
By
using these stickers, there is also a possibility of your Stories being
featured on the Instagram Explore page.
This
helps to give your Stories a center-stage, increasing its chances of being
viewed by potential customers who will be exploring Instagram this holiday
season.
How to add Location sticker
Add
your location sticker to your Instagram Stories by tapping the Stickers button and then select the ‘Location’
option. You can then search for your location among the list of nearby
locations or use the search bar to help you find the right location. Simply tap
the location and it will be added to your Stories post.
How to add a Hashtags sticker
Add
a Hashtags to your story by tapping the hashtags sticker. Select and write your
hashtags which will appear on your Stories post.
4.
Use Links with Call-to-Actions
Capitalize
on the attention from viewers of your Stories to Increase traffic to your website,
generate leads and boost sales by adding direct links to your website,
e-commerce store, and blog post article or lead-generation form in your
stories. (It’s important to note as stated earlier that only brands with
10,000+ followers can access this feature).
Also,
add a compelling call-to-action to tell your viewers what to do after they
click the link in your Stories post. This will encourage them to swipe up and
also, help to drive your desired action from viewers this holiday season.
5. Make Your Stories Sharable
Optimize your Stories to
enable followers to advertise your brand by making your stories shareable by
viewers as direct messages to their contacts or friends. This will help to
increase the reach of your Stories to people who can be converted to raving
fans and paying customers.
Conclusion
The
competition among brands to get the attention of their target audience never
ends and the holiday season won’t be different.
Stay
at the top of the competition this holiday season by implementing the above
Instagram optimization tips to help your brand succeed in achieving its
Instagram holiday marketing goals.
Author Bio
Amos Onwukwe is an
AWAI trained Business and Ecommerce Copywriter who also covers Tech and Social
Media. When not writing, he’s thinking of writing or making music. He’s been
featured in Huffington Post, Dumb Little Man, Ecommerce Nation, eCommerce
Insights, Understanding Ecommerce, Result First, Floship, GrowMap, Self Growth,
among others.
You can connect with
him on
Twitter: @amos_onwukwe
LinkedIn: Amos Onwukwe
