Instagram Feed vs Instagram Stories: Which Is Better for Your Brand?

Instagram Feed vs Instagram Stories: Which Is Better for Your Brand?

In August 2018 Instagram celebrated the second anniversary of perhaps the most beloved feature for its users – the Story! In only two years, this feature attracted as many as 400 million daily active users, thus making the number of monthly Instagram active users cross the barrier of 1 billion! And Gram Stories feature is sure to stay long with us, perhaps as long as Instagram exists, i.e. forever (at least we hope so)!

Today nearly all brands implement Stories in their Instagram marketing strategies. And if you plan to do the same, you must clearly understand that users perceive and use Stories and Feed posts in thoroughly different ways. Moreover, they are driven to both formats for different reasons, as well. Today InstaBF, a credible Instagram and IGTV provider, will reveal which is better for your brand.

 

 

Insta Feed vs Insta Stories: The Experiment Setup

 

To find out whether Instagram Stories are more beneficial for a social media brand or the Insta feed, first of all, you need to set up an experiment. As Gram Story, it’s possible to post a set of images, or 5-15-seconds-long videos with the best 9:16 portrait ratio. For a brand, it’s better to opt for the video format, as the Gram Stories feature allows no text or headline addition to the visuals. Videos are perhaps better at conveying information. And then you need to create two Instagram ordinary posts – one with ad text and one without it. Once all these are set, start tracking the number of leads, as well as the cost per lead that each type of your experiment methods brings. This is the major goal for any Instagram campaign, isn’t it?

 

 

Insta Feed vs Insta Stories: The Hypothesis

 

Depending on your Instagram business type, you may have a certain hypothesis even prior to setting up the experiment. In some cases, you might expect poor conversion rates for Stories (if you have a B2B Insta business, for instance). In other cases, you could be certain Stories would work the best (i.e. for ordinary consumer offers). But don’t hurry with the conclusions until you have facts.

Once you have certain results, you can compare them and determine which is more beneficial for particularly your business.

 

 

Insta Feed vs Insta Stories: General Takeaways

 

After you have carried out your experiment and found out particularly what works for you the best, most probably you will come to the following conclusions:

  • Instagram feed posts accompanied by ad text will outperform Stories for pest per conversion. But if you use the same post yet without the ad text, the CPA of the Story will be higher.

 

  • Instagram Stories bring higher CTR, yet lower CPC thus sending more traffic to a website. Perhaps the reason is that one can’t convey enough information in the Story ad.

 

  • The choice between the Gram News Feed and the Stories mostly depends on the type of your offer. Simpler offers such as sales are better delivered through Insta Stories.

 

Don’t be afraid to test new things. If you haven’t yet used Gram Stories to promote your products, you risk getting caught out once this feature starts overtaking the newsfeed for organic posts. Devote at least 10% of your advertising budget to Stories and find out, what a profit it may bring to you. Just remember that this feature demands more creative resources, a unique approach to the task, as you have only up to 15 seconds to attract your audience through such a powerful tool as Instagram Story!

5 Whys Your Instagram Feed Might Be So Boring

5 Whys Your Instagram Feed Might Be So Boring

Do you keep your Instagram account purely for sharing your best moments with friends or you want to enjoy the internet fame that only Instagram can provide? In the case of the latter, you won’t find it insulting if we clarify why your Gram account might appear boring in users’ eyes. With the help of this post by InstaBF, one of the leading Instagram and IGTV providers in the industry, you will learn from your mistakes and make your account more attractive!

 

 

Too Much Narcissism

Do you really think Instagram users are fond of staring at your face several times a day? Well, this could be possible if you were a super-famous Instagram influencer or a celebrity, which we doubt you aren’t. Anyway, we have nothing against selfies, they are OK, but sometimes Insta users become too narcissistic and this definitely irritates other users. The golden middle of selfies for an average Gram account is only 20% of the whole feed. Surely this doesn’t refer to beauty gurus who just ought to share multiple selfies of not themselves, but their makeup art! And if you are a makeup artist, don’t forget to occasionally change your face expression, the angle of shooting, the background, and the lighting. 

 

 

Poor Quality

In the game called Instagram, you can never make the absence of a professional equipment an excuse for posting low-quality images, don’t forget this ever! If you have installed the Instagram application, then you must be owning a smartphone. With the help of the latter, it’s possible to take if not superb, but at least good quality visual content. For this, make certain you are attentive toward the following aspects:

  • Good lighting. This is the key toward taking great shots! The best variant is, of course, natural light. Hence, try to take the majority of your photos outdoors.

 

  • The best composition. A photo doesn’t have to be filled with much stuff to be effective. Find the beauty in minimalism.

 

  • Take your photos with your back camera. Front cameras usually have worse parameters than back ones. Hence, you’d better avoid making selfies, giving your preference to portrait images instead.

 

 

 

Messy Feeds

Another repulsive feature your account may have is the messy feed. Forget about all those collage-making apps that make an Instagram feed look like an attic with too much old stuff! Instead, opt for minimal and simple images and believe, they look much more eye-catching. If you are to shoot something bright, use a simple, background, while more complex and interesting backgrounds are to be left for simpler images.

 

 

Absence of a Theme

The themes for running an effective Instagram account are numerous ranging from grid layouts to color themes, from object themes to minimalistic themes, etc. By posting your pictures, you are telling different stories to your followers and the absence of a specific theme you are faithful to (you can also mix and match them), you are risking to have a certain image get lost among others or even worse – spoil the whole feed!

 

 

 

Inconsistent Posting

There two possible mistakes you can do with the frequency of posting on Instagram:

  1. You post too often and people can’t already stand seeing you in their Gram so much!
  2. You make an interesting post, attract new followers, and… make them wait for another post for too long. In fact, so long that they already feel disappointed and even angry!

So, making a post per day is the best variant to neither bore nor make people wait long!