Aug 18, 2019
Using Instagram Stories for e-commerce should become a part of your marketing strategy if you are running a business on this social media platform. You see, around 500 million Instagram users interact with Stories daily and this amount must be significant for you. However, beside the huge number of users, there are also many other reasons for incorporating Insta Stories to your marketing. Particularly which, we shall reveal right now on the blog of one of the most reputable Instagram and IGTV providers InstaBF! Ready? Let’s get it started!
- Stories are located at the top of all users’ screens on Instagram. In case your brand uses Stories frequently, it has big chances to appear in the attention of your followers. The same can’t be said about regular posts which get buried down in the feed.
- With Stories, you can share customer content and keep your Instagram feed’s aesthetic on top. Having faithful customers who love your products/services so much that they share their experience on their account is great! And it’s even better when you can re-share their Stories thus letting other followers know how happy you can make people with your production. But if you have dedicated much time and funds on creating a mind-blowing Instagram aesthetic, you needn’t post shared content on your account. Stories become the perfect spot for that! You share UGC without disrupting your feed’s aesthetic.
- In 2019 people have started to value authentic content more than those polished photo-shopped images celebrities post. Despite this, no brand or influencer would like to appear unprofessional on Instagram and post unfiltered content on their feed. Right for this, you can use Stories. The latter is an excellent venue to share that less polished content your followers may expect. This can be behind-the-scene videos/photos, live updates of an event organized by your brand or which your team attended, etc.
- Stories bring the sense of urgency you can make use of. As every Instagram Story is actual only for twenty-four hours, any promotion you share here will be layered on the spot! There’s absolutely no need to remind about the urgency of the content you share as your followers will feel the urgency to act on their own.
Using Instagram Stories for E-commerce
Instagram Stories have several mini-features each of which can give you the advantage to take for your e-commerce brand. These are:
Using Story Highlights to save and categorize Stories
Story highlights allow brands to organize their content better. This way you can create a Highlight for new product launches or another one for frequently asked questions.
Using the Swipe Up feature to take your viewers right to the product page
The Swipe Up feature, which is available for Instagram users having more than 10k followers, eliminates the necessity for customer to exit Instagram to find your product on your brand’s website later. Once buying products becomes convenient, both you and your customers will benefit.
Using Stories Polls to get thoroughly free insights into your clients’ opinions.
Instagram Stories Polls give e-commerce brands a fantastic opportunity to get feedback from customers entirely free of charge! Besides, making your fans more engaged means making them more likely buyers.
Aug 15, 2019
Instagram is a powerful marketing tool that gives modern marketer plenty of stuff to take advantage of. With new concepts emerging constantly it becomes hard to have this social media under control. For instance, with their appearance, Instagram Story Highlights feature changed the rules of a game making strategists think twice about what they are doing. Beyond any doubts, this feature is immensely beneficial for brands, yet far not all of them have incorporated highlights into their marketing strategies. If you are one of them, InstaBF, a leading IG and IGTV provider, is going to present everything important about the feature and state why you should already be using it.
Instagram Story Highlights: What Are They?
Instagram Stories became a real hit once they appeared on the platform. Many users love the feature of Stories to disappear twenty-four hours after posting it. Yet, when you invest much effort, time and funds, you feel somewhat disappointed. In response to numerous “disappointed” users, Instagram brought forward the Instagram Stories Highlights feature. Now any Story you make is automatically archived allowing users to share the most beloved Stories in self-curated collections called highlights. They can be found right under bios. It’s up to you what to store, showcase or delete as a highlighted Story. Highlights can be modified only through the Instagram application on a smartphone while the web version only displays them.
If you wonder how many highlight “groups” you can create, be calm. The number is endless! Anyway, every group must have no more than one hundred Stories. If you upload more than that Instagram will delete the oldest Stories replacing them with the new ones.
Original Ways of Using Instagram Stories Highlights
Beyond any words, the content you save in the highlights is very important since they are created to represent your brand from the best angle. Make sure every highlight you share delivers the right sort of message to your audience. These are like a synopsis – a quick look at what the company is and how it can satisfy you as a client.
Here are several ways of using Instagram Stories Highlights creatively:
Highlight a Product/Service
Stories highlights can first be used to showcase a whole collection or a separate product/service. You can create a countdown to the launch of your new product line and make an arrival Story saying “It’s finally here”. Follow all this with a separate Storytelling the benefits of the new products and proof by a satisfied client.
Add Clickable Links/Swipe Ups to Highlight to Grow Your Traffic
Once an Instagram account has more than 10k followers he has access to the “Swipe Up” feature. If you don’t have such a huge following, you can still benefit by using the @mention sticker and a #linkinbio to direct traffic to your brand’s URL.
Create How-To, Tutorial, FAQ Highlights
Regardless of the type of the industry or the field of operation, a brand must have Tutorial, FAQ, and How-To Highlights collections. They make the most-visited Stories highlights type. So, you’d better spend enough time to create a comprehensive list of Frequently Asked Questions with accurate answers to them to get the most from this feature. When creating them, remember that every clip is limited to 15 seconds. Hence, keep them short and divide your explanations to several sections to deliver your message thoroughly.
Jul 12, 2019
Instagram has recently introduced the golden ticket to creating an engaged Instagram community – the Stories Chat Sticker. With the help of the latter, you can start real conversations with exceptionally real Instagram users – no bots are allowed! These human group chats will help you gain more followers and boost your brand awareness. Additionally, giving you the power to choose who joins your chat or what the chat should be about, Instagram makes it easier to convert viewers to engaged followers and then customers. So that you start using this amazing new feature, we have picked up four most strategic ways for your business! Keep up with InstaBF to learn even more about benefiting from Instagram!
Invite Local Customers to IRL Events
If you are going to have a special in-store event or a conference, it’s easy to bring the community together with Instagram Stories chat sticker. If there are any burning questions related to the event, you can answer them beforehand right during the chat. Using this new feature on this purpose is highly beneficial, as you bring those people together who not only enjoy your brand but who also share the same location. So, you build up a mini-community without even pushing your service of product around a specific location.
And do not forget to introduce yourself in the chat as people should know they are dealing with a real human behind the brand’s chat.
Get Customer Feedback and Insights
Another wonderful means of using Instagram Stories chat sticker is hosting a group for sincere customer feedback. Here you have a chance to choose up to 31 people who can join the chat. If you want to keep it small, pick up only half a dozen followers and get their insights about your brand. By the way, this way you may crowdsource ideas which might be highly useful for brand’s promotion.
If you want to reach out to only a specific group of followers, give specific topics for questions and conversation. Check their profiles before adding them to the group chat to get ensured they fit your chat topic.
Share Exclusive Info or a Promo Code
Every marketer’s purpose is to convert their followers into shoppers. And if you have such an aim, too, use Instagram Stories chat sticker. Invite followers to participate in your exclusive chat where you will make a striking brand announcement or share special shopping promo code. This way you will create a sense of exclusivity and give back to your most engaged users. Still, you can set some limits on the promo code (within a certain time frame, once per customer, etc.). To make this work, add a time limit on joining the chat and mention that you’ll be sharing a promo code to give the stories a shade of urgency and make your followers act promptly.
Target an Ultra-Niche Group of Users
By inviting only some of your followers to take part in your Stories chat, you can share some peculiar posts you don’t want many people to see. For this, create a Close Friends list and share an Instagram story with a chat sticker inviting them. For instance, if there are Instagram influencers following your brand, create a Stories chat to invite them to be a part of your ambassador program. Here you can chat with all of them on your conditions without ordinary users learning about it.
Jul 11, 2019
Can you imagine your day without checking your friends’ Instagram Stories? Personally, we can’t. A modern man starts his day with a cup of coffee while checking into Instagram to see what’s new among his friends. A unique attractive Instagram Story is able to not only set good mood among your followers but also make them remember you. This is a feature that every Instagram brand should always keep in mind. Stories are the ideal marketing tool to use for selling your brand story quicker and in a far more creative way. And if you find you need some help to fulfill your Story ideas, this post is just for you. InstaBF is a popular provider of Instagram and IGTV likes, comments, followers and views you can trust whenever you want to raise your engagement rate on Gram. The service offers several affordable packages to suit any client’s needs. But besides this, we are engaged in delivering some useful and interesting content to our clients. We have already referred to creating Instagram Stories here on InstaBF’s blog, and now we have picked up three applications you can use to create exclusive Stories! So, let’s get down to work:
MADE
Collages have been on trend since they were first introduced to social media users. And if you want to get creative with particularly collages, this application is a perfect choice! The app has a wide stock of free and paid templates to choose from. You can add them to both photos and videos and post via Instagram Stories. The content can still be filtered (the intensity adjusted), text added and a background edited. There is also a block of pre-selected colors, patterns, and gradients in the MADE application. But if you wish something picky, have a look at the color picker. Once everything is to your heart’s content, share the result directly on Instagram or save to your camera roll.
HYPE TYPE
Static images are good but they sometimes become boring, don’t you agree with it? To add some movement to them and post as Instagram Stories, InstaBF suggests considering the HYPE TYPE application. This is a real world of animated text graphics. If you have your own text, fill in. If not, the application will offer random quotes. The variety of animated test types that’s available already with a series of pre-selected color palettes flatters the eye. Add thematic music, resize the image and post on Instagram as a Story.
IMPRESSO
Are you fond of videos and video Stories in particular? If yes, then Impresso is definitely the best choice for you. The application has grouped over a hundred videos by size and category so that you can find the best one for you easily. There are paid and free videos, both of which can be filtered and edited (background, text, etc.). The background is chosen from either your camera roll or Unsplash, Pixabay, and Pexels stock images. It gives you a unique chance to add music and animations to get truly awesome and original results in the end. You can resize your video to post on almost any social media platform including Instagram.
May 23, 2019
Would you like to make your Instagram Stories more creative and unique? Sure you would. Making use of AR effects is a wonderful idea. For this, you need to follow creative artists on Gram to get access to their AR effects. Although Spark AR Studio was launched only a year ago, it has got great popularity among artists and designers who have amazing filters to offer to other users. These artists have really pushed the boundaries of this technology and have therefore grown large and engaged audiences on Gram. So, InstaBF, a prominent provider in the market of Instagram and IGTV likes, comments, views, and followers, is going to help you entertain your followers and entice new ones through some really awesome AR effects. Let’s get down to work right now!
@fcvkrender Suggests Getting Crystallized
This Instagram account belongs to a Montreal-based digital artist Frederic Duquette. Although Frederic is a self-taught artist, all the beaming future landscapes, sharp architectural geometry and dazzling crystalline arrangements that he offers on this account look mesmerizing. Such artists as Katy Perry, 88GLAM, ILoveMakonnen and others are Frederic’s fans. Duquette offers around a dozen effects on Instagram all of which represent his unique brilliant style with crystals, chains, snakes …
@itscovl Suggests Getting Groovy
Would you like some colorful and bold AR effects for your Instagram Stories? Is yes, then those created by a South Florida designer D’ana Nunez are great for you! One of Nunez’s latest filters is the “Groovy, baby” in the style of the psychedelic aesthetic of the ’70s. The filters perfectly infuse the fun and vibrant style of the account with Palm Springs aesthetic. Follow this amazing designer and get an opportunity to entertain your followers with bright and fun filters.
@tokyyto Offers Colorful Cartoons
Another range of unique and funny filters for Instagram Stories is offered by Tomas Posse. The range includes multi-colored and bizarre-styled cartoons. The first filter by this artist was “TK2”. This AR filter was inspired by the works of Argentinian artists Lolo Amrdz and others. It offers a selection of various bright colors.
@felipepantone Offers Geometric Fantasies
You might have heard about Felipe Pantone, an Argentinian-Spanish artist who has decorated the walls of the Palais de Tokyo in Paris and Mesa Contemporary Arts Center with the 80s- and 90s-inspired frescoes. However, once this artist introduced his AR effects for Insta Stories, his reputation rose even higher. These filters include a wonderful mixture of neon gradients, graffiti, geometric abstractions. Today there are six various AR effects on Instagram Stories the most impressive of which are Ultra, Optimchrome, Chromodynamics.
@liamo.studio Suggests Entering the Future
Liam O’Neill is a talented graphic designer and menswear from London. He has introduced a whole collection of futuristic effects in cyborg-esque style. Today thousands of Instagram users from the whole world are attracted by these filters.
All five AR effects are amazing. Try each of them to find yours!
