Now popular on Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin, Stories are a vital part of any 2020 marketing strategy. But, what creative ideas work best and which brands are showcasing their best work using Stories? For this article, our team is looking at the three main channels and sharing our best picks and top Stories tips.

#1 INSTAGRAM

Instagram Stories Marketing Stats

· 500 million people use Stories every day, with over one-third of the most viewed stories being posted by businesses

· 15%–25% of people swipe up on a link in branded Stories

59% of brands link Instagram Stories to a shoppable page
Instagram Stories accounts for 34% of Instagram’s sponsored content

· Agencies report 2-3X more engagement with Instagram Stories posts than regular posts

· 62% of people say they have become more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in Stories

Our Top Instagram Pick - Jamie Oliver

Cool Brit chef Jamie Oliver has us hooked with his Instagram Stories. With a timely and relevant selection of cooking tips, recipes and quizzes, Jamie keeps us alert and entertained. Of course, he also does a nice job of promoting his product ranges, tv shows and books. That’s the whole point right?

So, what does Jamie get right with Instagram stories? First, it’s important to note that Jamie’s channel is on fleek! His Instagram Story Highlights (the little circles with thumbnail images that display on your Instagram profile) are neatly categorised. Each feature different titles like BBQing, Easter recipes, Quiz, Gravy and Veg. These Story Highlights mean users can easily tune into the Stories they care about.

So, Stories marketing 101, if you have an Instagram Story that’s live (posted within the last 24 hours), you can save it as a Highlight by tapping the “Highlight” icon. This will open a window where you create a new Highlight or to save to an existing Highlight collection. You can also save old Stories as Highlights too, if they’re archived! Doing this means your video and photo stories can become evergreen. And evergreen is good!

Jamie is great at highlighting upcoming tv shows with an advertised time and date. He also puts countdown timers on these Stories to create a bit of FOMO and to remind users to tune in.

During UK lockdown, Jamie really tapped into the nation’s mood. Bored, fed up and hungry, his Stories were the perfect antidote. We love this multi round, food based quiz on his Stories. Great for encouraging interaction and engagement, quizzes can easily be tailored to your brand. Add animated elements, timers and multiple-choice answers for added fun.

And talking of being timely, Stories require you to be relevant and in tune with trending topics or dates. As the UK started hotting up in May 2020, Jamie launched a series of BBQ stories. Colourful, inspiring and easy to follow, these recipes were sure to have every Brit in the garden, turning pink in the sun and donning a chef’s hat! We love how Jamie is inclusive in his recipes providing plenty of vegetarian and vegan offerings, even in the BBQ section.

Neatly titled and labelled, these images and videos make for enjoyable scrolling later on.

In Jamie’s “kitchen buddies” Story series, he features videos of kids around the world cooking with their parents. Encouraging users to tag #kitchenbuddies Jamie rewards them by featuring their Stories on his page. This is awesome for many reasons. Firstly, it’s engagement gold with fans tagging and sharing videos. Second, it showcases the diversity of brand Jamie. We see kids from around the world making pancakes, spaghetti bolognese and lasagne. The photos are fun, colourful and endorsed with gifs, stickers and comments.

Instagram Stories Marketing Tips

· 40% of your audience will watch your Instagram Stories in silent mode so be sure to annotate with onscreen text like Jamie does above.

· 60% of businesses on Instagram Stories use an interactive element in their organic story, a hashtag, @mention or poll sticker. The polling sticker increases three-second video views in 90% of beta campaigns. We love this one from DunkinDonuts…

Engaging features such as the Questions Sticker and creative touches like Music will make your Stories stand out.

- And while we’re on Dunkin, encourage users to download your app using Stories (bonus points for incentivising them with a free donut!)

· Brand Stories have an 85% completion rate This may be because brands are using shorter Stories now. However, longer Stories have greater reach. That means the ideal length of a Story depends on your specific goal.

· Run a contest or competition. In this ad by Maille, the brand clearly communicates their contest with a beautiful photo. Users can swipe up for more info and contest terms. (Yes, you need contest terms.)

· Go behind the scenes. Fans love sneak peaks, backstage passes and insider information. Getting to see red carpet fashions before everyone else is a perk of being a Vogue Magazine Insta fan.

· You can also reward fans with privileged information like Vogue did with its “Guide to the Most Instagram Worthy Places in London”. Bang on trend for the Vogue Insta audience and one to swipe up on.

· Samsung understands how to use Instagram Stories to engage and educate at the same time. This tutorial Story provides a guide on how to take the perfect photo using a Galaxy phone.

Make it easy for people to shop like Athleta. Athleta regularly makes use of “Shoppable Posts” in their Stories, which allows users to see a product tag, click it, and be taken right to the product’s page online for purchase. Notice how beautifully the clothes are laid out and labelled in the image below. They make it very tempting for fans to purchase multiple items together.

· Stories stickers enhance video performance 83% of the time However, for photo Stories, using two stickers actually reduces performance. It’s easy to get over excited and add too much but sometimes, less is more!

#2 LINKEDIN

Whilst still relatively new, Linkedin stories are already staking a claim in the creative minds of marketers. The network is still rolling out Stories to different regions, however, we’ve already got some great ideas on how they can be used. LinkedIn Stories display in full-screen mode, similar to Instagram and also include messaging to make quick conversations easier.

LinkedIn’s pivot to stories is indicative of just how far social media has evolved. It also emphasises the trend towards short video and Live as opposed to structured posts. Indeed, influencers are now posting to their feeds 33% less than they did in 2016.

You can share and display Stories for 24 hours and include photos, videos, stickers and text. Both people and brands will be able to share Stories, the individual posts can last up to 20 seconds, and users can see who has viewed their Stories or delete Stories from their feed if they want to.

Linkedin Stories Marketing Tips

Use Linkedin Stories for Quick AMAs (Ask Me Anything)

We’re all about insightful thought leadership here at Moondust. LinkedIn is a huge platform for professional thought leadership, and this new “snackable” format is a great way to showcase your knowledge in a fun way. Our founder Marie-Helene features AMAs on Linkedin, but imagine how great these will be on Stories!

Give HR Tips and Tricks

Get your HR team to provide quick interview tips, ideas for CVs or tricks for getting your CV noticed. This is very much on point for the Linkedin audience.

Interview Your Team

Say hi to Mike in accounts, find out what Sarah is working on in product development. Your audience is sure to love this authentic snapshot of your brand. You can also get your team to answer fan questions. We love this one from Hubspot because it was interactive which is always a win for engagement.

Share Company Events

Perhaps you have an expo booth, your Director is speaking at an event or you’re hosting a product launch. Whatever the occasion, Linkedin Stories will be a great way to provide interesting footage for fans.

Share Real Stories

Millennials and Gen Z are particularly influenced by testimonials and customer stories. In fact, a whopping 90% of Millennials say brand authenticity is important, proving that younger consumers prefer 'real and organic' over 'perfect and polished (AKA fake). Share a real customer story that shows how you solved a problem, delighted a consumer or helped your community.

Provide Product Demos

Tech companies will love using the Linkedin Stories feature to provide demos. How to use a new product, how to fix a problem or how to get the best results from your tech. This will be an engaging way to showcase this.

#3 FACEBOOK

Facebook Stories has 300 million active users daily so this is definitely an area marketers should be focusing on. While Instagram Stories is more popular, Facebook Stories proves to grow, especially with an older audience. Facebook Story content lasts only 24 hours. Stories are full-screen, short-form, ephemeral and offer customisable overlays. Change the text, add stickers and polls or tag other businesses.

Benefits of Facebook Stories

· Wake Up Your Audience – Engagement on Facebook pages is notoriously low. An engagement rate of above 1% is good, 0.5% to 0.99% is average. This is one of the reasons many content creators have switched to other platforms. But before you ditch Facebook entirely, try waking your existing audience up with a Story.

· Humanise Your Business - Stories on Facebook help fans get to know your business better. On Facebook you can show a different side, like employee interviews, behind the scenes or product launch.

· Reach People Consistently - If your audience miss a post, they'll see your story at the top of their News Feed. This will allow you to see how many people watched your story in highlights.

· Recycle Content- If you have a business profile on Instagram, you can also push your Instagram Stories to Facebook Stories. Access your settings in the Instagram app, select ‘Story Settings’ and turn on ‘Share Your Story to Facebook.’

Facebook Stories Marketing Tips

· Users watch 85% of Facebook videos without sound so make sure your Story videos are annotated, captioned and clear for the silent majority.

· You can share a regular page status and choose to also share it to Stories. Animate and style the story version to see which gets more engagement.

· Create a Boomerang in Instagram Stories, save it as a video, and then upload it to your Facebook Story. You can do the same with TikTok videos but make sure your captions are fairly centred, so they don’t get cut off!

· Share new products like Ben & Jerrys – make sure your photos are branded, captivating and clickable.

· Take votes and let your friends and fans weigh in with customisable polls.

· Always tag other users and creators, even if they’re on other channels. Buzzfeed exhibits perfect social media etiquette below:

· Facebook provides various filters and effects for your stories. Experiment with these to engage your audience and to keep the Stories on brand for your company.

· Facebook’s Collaborative Stories allow multiple creators to pitch in with videos, clips and images. A great use case was the multiple artists who performed at the music festival Tomorrowland. The artists were given access to the feature, including the band The Chainsmokers who saw 92% of their Story views coming from Facebook users who do not follow the band on the platform.

· We love Sephora for Facebook Stories. The brand, which ticks all the boxes for fun, fresh and engaging social media; offers tutorials and product demonstrations across its feeds. And a special mention to Sephora who stepped up their game with lockdown beauty tips. We see you!

Winning Stories Tips

Whatever channel you’re on, these 3 Stories tips will help you get higher engagement, more click throughs and better visibility.

1. Always use that Swipe Up feature - The Swipe Up feature is available to accounts with 10,000 followers or more, so make use of it if you have it. Swipe Up allows you to add a link directly to the Story itself, which is a powerful advantage. If you are promoting online sales, then link directly to the relevant page. Don’t expect fans to hunt for the product on your site. They won’t.

2. Use strong CTAs – Sounds obvious but many brand fail to include a clear call to action in their stories. Whether it’s “download our eBook” or “Shop our summer range”, it’s important to be clear. Otherwise, your Story is just a beautiful video that’s gone and forgotten without the user ever acting.

3. Leverage urgency – FOMO works, so feature limited time discounts, flash sales, limited stock supplies and “offer for the first 100” style posts. Don’t be afraid to let the offer expire and tell users that it has. This will ensure they are quicker next time!

Did you enjoy reading Marketing With Stories? The team at Moondust in Belgium loves to get creative on social media and we work with leading brands in the tech, retail and food and beverage space. Talk to our team now.

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