How to increase your Instagram Story Views

Instagram stories are one of the most straightforward and effective ways to engage prospective customers and build a loyal online following. Therefore, many small business owners in the UK want to know how to boost their Instagram story views and gain all-important online visibility.

Creating great marketing material for Instagram stories isn’t rocket science, and you can learn how to leverage this tool to maximum advantage pretty quickly. In this article, we’ll explain some tricks for how to increase your Instagram story views that any small business owner can use.

1. Publish on a Consistent Schedule

Before you start marketing via Instagram stories, the first step is to schedule regular times to publish your content. A predictable schedule makes your brand look more professional and user-friendly because your followers know when to look forward to new content.

It’s also worth selecting the days and times for your Instagram stories carefully. One of the main advantages of social media marketing is that users can access your content anytime, anywhere from their smartphones. So, publishing at times when you expect your followers to be scrolling through social media is a clever move. As a rule, lunchtimes and evenings before 9 pm are the slots when people are most likely to have their downtime, so scheduling content around this schedule should yield maximum exposure.

2. Mix Up Your Content

When you’re setting your publishing schedule, you also need to consider what kind of content to use. When you’re first getting started with building an Instagram following, it makes sense to experiment with several content types, such as photos, videos, and boomerangs. You can also share your regular Instagram content as part of a story. Not only does mixing up your content keep things fresh and exciting for your followers, but it also allows you to use Instagram’s analytical tools to figure out what your audience prefers.

Instagram has an integrated Instagram Insights tool that lets you see crucial information about how people engage with your content. This data includes how many people replied to your story, clicked on an embedded link, re-watched sections, and exited the story. Most importantly, it can also tell you how many people viewed each story overall. These insights make it far easier to figure out the type of content your followers want to see- and publish more of it!

3. Utilize Stickers

Stickers can make your Instagram posts more engaging and are a great way to increase your Instagram story views. Even better, you can use them to gather important metrics about your prospective customers. Types of Instagram stickers include:

Polls…

You can use polls to gather quick information about your audience and encourage them to engage with your stories. This type of content shows your users that you value your opinion, and you can use it to gather insights to help you make crucial product and business decisions.

Questions…

The questions sticker allows your followers to ask you questions about your products and services, making it an excellent way to build interaction and get more views. They also provide you with a ready-made opportunity for new content because you can use your answers as part of a new story. It’s a good idea to tag the person you answered. This increases the likelihood of them reposting and boosting your exposure further.

Emoji Sliders…

Emoji sliders are a fun, simple way to get users interacting with your Instagram stories and work a bit like polls. Your users can move an emoji on a slider to indicate how much they agree or disagree with a statement or like or dislike something.

Countdowns…

Countdown stickers are a great way to build engagement during time-sensitive promotions like product launches, competitions, or online sales. They provide a quick visual reminder to engage with your content or check out what your business has to offer.

4. Publish Timed Offers

Everyone loves getting a good deal, and people are more likely to view your Instagram stories regularly if they know that you publish amazing offers. Using your Instagram stories to promote sales, offer money off for a limited time, or run giveaways is a great way to keep people hooked on your content and build a loyal following. Running your promotion for a limited time only with a countdown sticker can help create a buzz and encourage users to engage quickly before they miss out.

5. Include Hashtags

Hashtags are as important on Instagram as they are on any other social media platform because they help your content reach a relevant audience that is likely to find your products interesting and useful. It’s worth doing some research to find out which hashtags are the most common for your business area, and you may wish to consider creating a hashtag unique to your company.

However, it’s important to use hashtags relatively sparingly as you have to lay them over your content. This means that you can’t add lots of hashtags (like you might on Twitter) because they will cover too much of your material. So, it’s best to carefully select a couple of the most relevant hashtags for each story.

6. Use Stories as Adverts

Instagram has a huge user base, so it makes sense to use it as a method for advertising your small business. Ads can help build your Instagram story views because they help new audiences discover your business and attract followers far quicker than regular Instagram stories. However, you’ll need the budget available to invest in an Instagram ad campaign.

The crucial thing to remember about Instagram ads is that they are more engaging if they blend with the rest of the content in users’ feeds. Otherwise, they can seem spammy, which won’t help build your Instagram story views long-term. You only have 10 seconds to make an impression with an Instagram ad, so focus on appealing images, concise text, and a clear takeaway message. An Instagram ad is the ideal opportunity to promote a countdown offer or sale.

The Bottom Line…

While promoting your business using Instagram stories can seem daunting, it doesn’t have to be. Hopefully, you now know how to increase your Instagram story views using a few simple tricks. A regular and varied publishing schedule, strategic hashtags, and stickers can all make your content more engaging and help your small business thrive online.