Story Prompts to Amplify Your Instagram Engagement

The holiday shopping season is among us! Your business may be busier than normal, which may mean that as a business owner (or even as a marketing manager), you’re busier than normal too! The holiday season is a great time to leverage Instagram stories to make the most of your social media presence. Five hundred million accounts use Instagram stories daily. And one in four millennials and Gen Z-ers utilize stories when they’re searching for products and services to buy.

Why Use Instagram for Your Business

When it comes to Instagram stories, the most important thing is to keep them fun and engaging. This is your opportunity to allow your audience to see the behind the scenes and to get to hear from you personally. If you have daily specials or have a special sneak peek you want to give your audience, Instagram Stories give you that ability to showcase them.

One pro-tip: try not to push sales, sales, and more sales through every story every day. Talk to your following as if they were sitting across the table from you or as if they walked into your store. Showing off your company culture and giving people the opportunity to engage is key. Below, we’ve listed a series of prompts to inspire you this season. Some of which work great for all businesses, and others a little more specific to different industries. We hope you find these helpful.

Great Prompts for Everyone

  • Behind the scenes – show off some employee shenanigans and your process for getting ready for the day

  • Tips and tricks

  • What’s happening today?

  • What’s happening this week?

  • This or that – use a poll sticker

  • Ask Us Anything – use a question sticker

  • Share about your company culture

  • Highlight/introduce a staff member

  • Give a tour of your office/store/facility

  • Share a customer testimonial

  • Share stories your company is tagged in

  • Happy Holidays – show off your holiday spirit

  • Holiday Specials – any good deals going on?

Retail Sales Story Prompts

  • Product of the day

  • What’s on sale?

  • Limited quantities of a hot product? Tell us!

  • Unboxing new items? Show us!

  • Show them off

  • Product demonstrations

  • Product recommendations

  • Staff picks

Service Industry Prompts

  • Weekly availability

  • Last-minute cancellations

  • Service package specials

  • Time-lapse of service being performed

  • Education about services offered

  • FAQ about services offered

Restaurant Prompts

  • Gift cards

  • Holiday parties

  • Daily specials

  • Drink specials

  • Most popular meals

  • Poll your followers – which is your favorite?

Stories can also include:

  • Hashtag Stickers

  • Location Stickers

  • Tag your coworkers/employees who appear in stories

  • Use GIFS

  • Use Polls

  • Use Questions

  • Use Music

  • Use Countdowns

  • Use Reaction Sliders

  • Use Quizzes

When using the various “extras” that Instagram provides for us (the stickers, GIFs, and ability to change fonts and colors), it’s important to remain within your brand standards. Don’t go crazy with the GIFs and emoji’s, unless it’s on-brand. We recommend using consistent fonts, colors, and filters to help your stories be more recognizable with your brand. Keeping them clean and easy to engage with will help increase your reach.

From all of us at Elevate Marketing Co., we wish you a happy Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday (and any other Hallmark holiday we forgot!)

 

Sources for statistics: https://99firms.com/blog/instagram-stories-statistics/#gref

Guest User