22% of Irish people have an Instagram account with 48% using it every day according to Bubble. This number is expected to increase as users engage with Instagram’s most recent feature, Instagram Stories, which allows you to add videos and photos that disappear after 24 hours.

With 70% of users following brands and businesses on social media (emarkable), this provides a huge platform for brand development.

At Springboard PR, we help our clients to tell meaningful stories about their brand that will engage consumers. These  stories are carefully crafted around key messages that are tailored to different audiences and target segments across a variety of platforms. We believe that communicating brand stories and crafting a brand are essential to your strategic growth and development, so we’ve put together a few handy tips to point you in the right direction as you embark on your brand story on Instagram.

Behind the scenes on Instagram Stories

Instagram’s unique selling point in comparison to Snapchat is that it provides a public viewable profile for your main content, so that you have the added advantage of arousing interest for your daily story. You can capture users’ interest with one key post and have them tune in when you have an important narrative for them. For example Daniel Wellington  recently had social media influencer Dean Cothill (who has 37.3k followers) take over their feed for the day. He did a live bungee jump, which was preceded by the following image to increase viewership:

You can do this by posting an engaging and interesting “final” image on your feed and supplementing it with behind the scenes images in your Instagram Story.

Drive traffic to your website on Instagram Stories

Instagram’s visual content should be used to drive content to other platforms.

For example Vogue Magazine uses one image post to intrigue viewers and they provide the link in their bio to drive traffic to their website:

National geographic (natgeo) has utilised the above strategies on their Instagram Story. They add a striking visual to their feed which directs viewers to their Instagram story. The Instagram Story provides short video clips of interesting people, places and other content, which peaks interest and culminates in a call to action.

They also provide links to relevant content in their bio, to increase traffic to their website. You can use this strategy to promote weekly blogs, new products or upcoming events.

Find more tips from Springboard PR for creating interesting visual content HERE.

Be innovative with Instagram Stories

There are hundreds of ways to be creative on Instagram. Gary Vaynerchuk (garyvee) uses Instagram stories to provide audiences with wallpapers that they can screenshot and use as their screensavers. You may also consider the following content for your Instagram stories to intrigue and engage consumers:

• Ask questions – Use your ready-made audience as a focus group
• Feature partners and customers to highlight unique or interesting relationships
• Use it to promote your company’s hashtag which you should use across platforms.
• Take short videos at staff days out, training sessions and more to promote company culture and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)
• Share announcements and company news on Instagram Stories.

Post by Susie Horgan

Susie founded Springboard in 2011, and has developed the business into a leading, director-led communications agency. She has worked for over 20 years in senior marketing and public relations roles.