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