How can brands leverage Instagram Stories for Influencer marketing campaigns?
Leverage Polls
Influencers can make their target audience feel like they are engaged through Instagram’s Polls Sticker.
Here’s why:
When an influencer asks their users a question, it makes them feel like they are involved in the content. That’s why they are more likely to engage with Stories with Polls.
Host Q&A Sessions
Another way of getting engagement via Instagram Stories is by hosting a Q&A session. In the session, you can answer any questions that your audience has. Think of it as an engaging interview session.
Wondering how this strategy fits into your brand’s influencer marketing strategy?
It’s simple:
Get influencers to use Instagram Stories to host Q&A sessions where their audience can ask anything they want.
Host Social Media Takeovers
Facing a creative block? Want to create engaging content but don’t know what to create? Give the reins of your account over to an influencer for a day. Let them create content on your behalf.
They can post sponsored Instagram posts, videos, or even create tutorials for your products. The idea is to get traction by bringing the influencer’s followers to your social media account. It’s a smart way to take your social media marketing strategy to the next level.
Display Your Latest Products
Launching a new product? Showcase it to the world in influencers’ Stories to create buzz. In their Stories, influencers can also create tutorials to give their audiences a better idea of how to use your products. Additionally, influencers can also offer discounts to drive sales.
What’s more, you can create unique URL or promo code for each influencer that you partner with. This can help you keep track of how well your influencer marketing campaign is performing.
Give a Behind-the-Scenes Sneak Peek
Want to show your brand’s fun side? Let influencers show your audience what goes on behind-the-scenes or in between shoots.
From bloopers to relaxation time, influencers can get creative with this type of content. If they are able to mention your brand subtly, it won’t even look promotional.
DETERMINE HOW MANY SEGMENTS INFLUENCERS SHOULD INCLUDE WITHIN SPONSORED STORIES.
Once you’ve found a set of influencers who have demonstrated high-quality and frequent Instagram Stories, the next step is to lay out formatting expectations for the sponsored content.
An Instagram Story consists of segments, meaning it contains multiple pieces of content that appear within a “carousel” slideshow format. This is usually a combination of both photo and video components. To get the most out of a sponsored Instagram Story, we recommend at least three segments. Anything less might not be impactful enough to drive awareness or user action – it’s too easy for users to swipe past a single segment.
Instagram Stories have proven to be quite ingrained in daily user interaction, thus making them an essential resource to consider when designing your marketing strategy. Not convinced? See below. Huge Active Daily User Count – Every single day, more than 500 million people interact with Instagram Stories, which means a lot of eyes on your advertised influencer content.
Young People Love It – 1 in 4 Millennials and Gen Z-ers look at Instagram Stories to discover products and services they might like. 60% of Millennials watch and post photos and videos onto IG Stories. Everyone is Using It – Nearly 1.7 billion accounts use Instagram Stories daily. Everyone is Swiping – Up to 25% of users swipe up on links in branded Instagram Stories. Always Posting – The average weekly posting frequency for influencers is almost 3 posts a week.
Benefits of Instagram Stories in Influencer marketing
Undoubtedly, Instagram Stories are a vital component of any effective influencer marketing strategy. A story that’s well-positioned can have an unbelievable impact — especially if it goes viral (every marketer’s dream).
Some additional benefits include but are not limited to:
More digestible content
Short-form video content and a slideshow presentation style make IG Stories a highly consumable form of content for customers to engage with. IG Stories have a more casual and less-curated feel, making them more relatable to users, which fosters authenticity.
Cost-effective
Although in-feed IG posts have the benefit of permanence, they can be quite costly, sometimes soaring past hundreds and thousands of dollars per post (grade-A influencers). Stories are often much cheaper than their static counterparts.
Swipe Up Call to Action
For in-feed posts, the call to action typically occurs in the description, which is inherently secondary to the photo itself. In IG Stories, the call to action is on the post itself, as a “swipe up” feature that allows viewers to literally swipe up to learn more about your business.
No likes, no worries
A recent update on Instagram has stirred quite a commotion within the industry; a new version of the app no longer allows users to see likes on posts of the people they follow. Now, digital marketers can no longer observe engagement and impressions on static posts—making it difficult to create visibility around their impact.
Tips on Influencer marketing with IG Stories
Sure, IG Stories can be a surefire way to drive website visits, sales, and brand awareness, but they’re only going to be successful if your influencer communicates your message well. In order to effectively gain user trust and drive interaction, influencer posts should fulfill the following criteria, detailed in the CPC Strategy’s Influencer Marketing Report:
- The influencer is transparent that their post is paid content
- The influencer can effectively answer their followers’ questions about the product
- The influencer has to show knowledge in the field
- The post should explicitly show that the influencer personally uses the product
- Over the past few years, more and more social media users are turning to “micro-influencers” for recommendations on products and services to try out. As a recap:
- Mega Influencers: Celebrities with followings above 1M.
- Macro Influencers: Professional content creators with a following between 10K and 999K.
Micro-Influencers: “Regular people” with a following of 10K and under who have a strong relationship with their fanbase. By far, these influencers have the most untapped potential—with 30.5% of consumers valuing trustworthiness over follower count, their niche appeal is ideal for targeted brand deals