Experiment with these Instagram Story ideas to get more views and engagement.

Unable to increase your followers or establish a robust presence on Instagram? Well, you’re not alone and that’s why we’re sharing some Instagram Story ideas that will help you unlock a wider audience reach and at the same time truly engage the platform’s users. 

While everyone else is talking about the content to post on Instagram, hashtags and running ads, we think Instagram Stories need to have an independent place in your marketing strategy. 

To put things into perspective, each day, more than 73% of Instagram users watch stories. It is one of the fastest ways for them to consume content rapidly as they follow hundreds of accounts – personal connections and brands they’re interested in. 

However, think about how you usually browse through Instagram Stories. The rapid scroll action often ends up with consumers missing the point when it comes to what the brand has to say and that can be a lost opportunity to truly engage an audience. 

This is where your Instagram Story ideas need to get creative and we have done some groundwork for you! 

Before getting started though, let’s look into some key Instagram statistics that prove the channel is worth the effort. 

Instagram Statistics 2022

Instagram is expanding its set of features and content formats continually, giving businesses an opportunity to experiment with different marketing and advertising strategies. The ever-expanding user base also adds to the reasons why businesses should be using the platform. 

• According to Instagram’s global advertising audience reach statistics, there were at least 1.440 billion users on Instagram worldwide in July 2022  
•  In 2022, 58% of marketers intend to use reels and stories to engage their target audience 
• 70% of users regularly view Instagram stories to consume content and interact with accounts 
•  On the platform, more than 100 million photos are posted every day 
•  Each month, 130 million users tap on messages about sales
•  The engagement rate for business accounts with between 10,000 and 100,000 followers is 0.93%
•  Every day, 4.2 billion Instagram posts are liked by users
•  Instagram is used by more than 25 million companies to market their goods and services
•  Users who view branded stories make up 67%
•  81% of Instagram users use the app to look up new goods and services
•  On Instagram, 90% of accounts follow at least one company
• According to the most recent Instagram statistics, 83% of users utilize the network to find new goods and services
• When they view advertisements on Instagram, 50% of Instagram users get more interested in a brand
•  Instagram ads can reach a total of 1.39 billion users (including Story ads)
• Women make up 47.2% of Instagram’s global user base
• Men make up 52.8% of Instagram users worldwide

Now that you know the potential of Instagram, let’s look into the different Instagram Story ideas that can help you reach a wider audience. 

Instagram Story ideas to get get more views and audience engagement 

There are numerous ways to use Instagram Stories owing to the stickers and other interactive add-ons the platform has to offer. But here are some of our favorites: 

1. Add Eye-Catching Quotes

Quotes are succinct, to the point, and shareable above everything else. Motivational, intriguing, amusing, business-related, or pretty much anything else. Find a quotation that suits your brand on the internet, then copy it and enter it into your Instagram Story.

2. Use Countdown Stickers

Your viewers can be informed of the specific time your next post, live broadcast, product release, or other events will occur by using a countdown sticker on Instagram Stories. By this, your audience is aware of what you are counting down to. Specify the date, time, and title. Additionally, your followers may share the countdown on their stories and create an alert to be notified when it ends, increasing your engagement.

3. Request Suggestions

You can get ideas for new content and learn which of your solutions your customers prefer by asking them what they want from you. The ‘ask me a question’ sticker is the best suited for this Instagram Story idea to not just boost engagement, but also garner insights for key business decisions. 

4. Ask Questions 

Instagram Stories should contain a compelling call to action that entices your audience to engage with your content in significant ways. Use question stickers to engage with your followers and maybe carry out some unofficial market research. Adding a question sticker is the best method to engage in conversation on Instagram Stories. Respondents can be contacted directly via DM, or you can use their messages in your upcoming story. The basic call to action is simply asking questions, which encourages participation from your followers.

5. Drive traffic with the Link Sticker

The link sticker, a recent update to Instagram Stories, is a fantastic opportunity for you to direct your followers on Instagram to your other online properties. The link sticker was created to take the place of the previous swipe-up link feature and makes it simple to include external URLs in Instagram Stories. You can use this sticker to point people to your most recent website, blog, or even online store.

6. Reshare UGC 

As consumers start engaging with your brand, they may also tag you in Instagram Stories uploaded on their accounts. Don’t let them go unnoticed; reshare them on your Instagram Story with a cute sticker to thank them for the word of mouth promotion. It is also a great way to make your customers or followers feel acknowledged. 

7. Conduct a poll 

Another Instagram Story idea we really love is conducting polls. Since polls require people to pay attention to the content, it stops them from scrolling past stories too rapidly. You can add the poll sticker and create a series of Instagram Stories to get inputs or opinions from your target audience. 

8. Create a quiz 

Similar to a poll, if you want your target audience and followers to pay attention to the content on your Instagram Stories, conduct a quiz. Walk them through a series of questions and option-answers that they can engage with to reach a conclusion – this could be something as simple as a shoutout to the person who gets the most number of right answers on your business account! 

9. Create Short tutorial and Hacks

Tutorials have two functions – they demonstrate how to use your product to prospective buyers, and they assist current users in utilizing it more effectively. Include brief tutorials in both your Instagram Story Highlights and your Stories so that followers may watch them whenever they want. Answering and demonstrating solutions concisely promotes the brand’s credibility. 

10. Show people behind the brand 

Not just personal brands should be personalized. Give each member of your team a chance to shine by having them introduce themselves, their role, and a humorous tidbit in their own words. To offer your viewers a flavour of your company’s culture, you can combine this Instagram Story idea with others and ask a teammate to take over a story or document their day behind the scenes. This kind of story might also help recruiters find your business more appealing. For instance,  Consider conducting an office tour.

11. Consider influencer collaborations 

Another Instagram Story idea that can help boost the engagement on your account is collaborating with popular influencers. Similar to employee account takeovers, you can have influencers take over your account stories for a day, sharing their experience with your products, their day to day topics or their visit to your studio/ office/ workspace. It’s a great way to draw attention from the influencer’s followers as well and gain more followers! 

12. Conduct an AMA 

Show your audience how transparent you can get with them and how willing you are to share information with them. Open up an AMA to get questions from them and share answers to the queries you receive on the Instagram Stories that follow. Make sure you save these answers in highlights so that followers can refer to them at a later time. 

13. Start a chain 

Use the ‘add yours’ sticker on your Instagram Story to get users to contribute and create a series of posts around a topic. For example, if you’re a swimwear brand, you can ask them to add their beach pictures in your collection – this not just gets you more UGC, but also gives them a chance to get discovered by other accounts. 

14. Go live 

Another way to boost your account engagement using Instagram Stories is to go live. You can use different occasions like product launches, events and others to start a live session wherein your audience can join in to ask questions and see you answer them all in person. This also helps increase face time of your audience with your brand, leading to higher trust in what your business has to offer. 

15. Share positive reviews 

Most businesses use Instagram Stories to share promotions or pictures of their products; that’s exactly why users tend to scroll through them rapidly like flipping a book. Break the chain and get them to consider these products you share by sharing customer reviews and testimonials on them. 

16. Use interactive stickers 

From getting them to rate something on a scale of 1-100 with a swipe of heart or using festive/ occasion-based stickers, get creative on your Instagram Stories. These interactive stickers unlock a whole new audience reach for your account owing to the purpose and goal they’re built for. For example, the Christmas Stickers that are going to come up and show under trending as soon as December kicks in. 

17. Share Job Postings

Finding and keeping staff costs money. If your viewers are also your ideal candidates for employment, you can think about posting a hiring announcement on Instagram Stories. Draw in top talent from those who are already enthusiastic about what your brand has to offer. 

18. Add a location 

If you’re attending an event or are opening a new store, don’t just announce it on your Instagram Story. Use the location sticker to get indexed and discovered by users in the area – this is a tried and tested Instagram Story idea to drive location-specific engagement. 

19. Add some music 

Just like a background score on the main character’s entry, add some personality to your Instagram Stories. This not just makes your Story a lot more engaging, but also helps it get discovered by those who have shown interest in the same music. 

20. Use hashtags 

Instagram also allows you to add hashtags to your Story. But at the same time, it is important to know that you can’t add too many of them as it may look all too spammy! Make use of the hashtag sticker to add the most relevant hashtag (phrase) to your story – this acts similar to how hashtags work in Instagram posts. 

Turn your Instagram Stories into an engagement channel 

Instagram Stories offer an untapped opportunity to businesses and accounts. But they often get used to only reshare what gets posted on the feed – posts, carousels, videos and Reels; we recommend having a complimenting strategy leveraging the Instagram Story ideas above! 

But the true hack to getting the most out of Instagram Stories, is to stay consistent with your efforts and continually experiment with the content you share on them. It’s also important to analyse how your target audience interacts with it and optimize your strategy accordingly. 

You can do this with the help of smart social media analytics tools like Radarr that come with listening, monitoring and sentiment analysis capabilities to help you create an Instagram marketing strategy that actually work. 

Want to see how? Book a demo of Radarr today.