Social media is an amazing tool for small businesses to use to grow and optimize their platforms. It allows your followers to stay up-to-date on your upcoming plans and get to know you and your business personally. Posting regularly on all platforms is essential to keeping your business fresh in the minds of your consumers. Instagram stories are an awesome way for you to post multiple times a day without blowing up your follower’s feeds. Plus, your followers are able to view them whenever it is convenient for them. You will likely see more viewers on your stories than your posts due to the new Instagram algorithm. While posting on your regular schedule, you can use stories to give updates, stay current and create a personal experience for your followers. Here is how I have used Instagram stories to grow my business.

Match your brand/Stick with theme 

Instagram stories can be a fun avenue for you to express some creative freedom. Pick a theme that matches your brand and stick to it. If your brand is greenery with marble accents and tons of pink then incorporate that into your stories. You can create some backgrounds that allow for you to insert text or images that make for a cohesive story. It makes your stories more visually appealing and lets your followers see how much effort you are willing to put into your business. If you go with the background idea, be sure to have multiple images that you rotate through. It will keep the viewer interested instead of looking at the same background with different text every single story. If you are posting pictures or videos, pick a filter that matches your theme and brand and stick with it. It allows for everything to flow from one image to the next, rather than different backgrounds and filters that clash together. 

Make it a personal experience 

I don’t know about you, but I love to see the face behind the business. I want to get to know the people that are running the account and feel a personal connection to them. I am more inclined to follow someone if they are present and personal on their account. Instagram stories is a great way to achieve this without covering your business account’s main feed with personal pictures of yourself. You can share pictures of your day, videos of you telling stories, and other personal things on your stories that make people excited to watch them. It makes you a more relatable business person. You aren’t just an account that posts about your services, you are a person that has a passion and wants to share it. Even if you are camera shy, hearing you talk in the background still puts a voice with the name and allows your viewers to hear your point of view from your own words. Being relatable and humanizing yourself is a great way to grow your business and Instagram stories is the perfect place to put yourself on display. 

Tease/promote new products 

This is a great way to ensure that people feel they are getting something from your stories. Sometimes people watch stories because they feel a connection to you and sometimes they watch them for the behind the scenes and promotions. It is essential to hit both of these aspects by doing things like I mentioned in the last paragraph; as well as, promoting and teasing new products. Simply talking to your followers about exciting, upcoming things within your business will keep them wanting more. As I said, the Instagram algorithm sometimes works against us and doesn’t show our followers everything we are posting. It is possible that you made a post about a new product, blog, or whatever your business is and only half your followers saw it in their feed. By also promoting these new things in your stories you will be reaching a wider audience and ensuring everyone knows about it. Make your followers feel special and in-the-know about all things in your business. It creates trust and a desire to come back and see more. 

Make it visually appealing 

Last, but certainly not least, your stories must be visually appealing. I mentioned this above about sticking with a specific brand and theme to keep it cohesive. This is important to keeping it visually appealing but it is not the only part. When you present yourself on your stories you want to ensure that you look nice. After all, this is your business and you don’t want people to think you run your business in your PJs with dirty hair. You want to dress nicely and put on a good look for your followers. You may not have everything completely together but at least it looks like you do! If you are constantly coming on your stories looking like a mess with little care in the world your followers will see that. As I said above, you have to show your followers how much effort you put into your business. You are a serious part of your brand so dress up and look your best. Trust me, your stories will look so much more visually appealing if everything, including yourself, is clean and cohesive. 

Instagram stories are a great resource for your followers and can be a great tool to getting your business out there. I personally love making Instagram stories because they are fun to create and allow me to build a connection with my followers. Follow these tips and tricks to using the Instagram stories to your benefit and you will see results.