How to post Stories on Instagram to increase your followers and get new clients (with tricks)

We’re sure you know by now that you need to be on Instagram. The e-commerce world won’t stop talking about the social network.
However, even though you have a profile and post regularly, you can’t seem to gain new followers, not to mention clients.
Do you know what the problem is?
Using stories on Instagram
These stories are the new craze on this social network and are generating the most engagement right now.
So get ready because today we are showing you all the tricks about Instagram Stories to help you boost your number of followers.
Double-tap to like and let’s get started!!

What are Instagram Stories?

The general definition is:

Stories are audiovisual content of a maximum of 15 seconds that is accessible online for just 24 hours.

They are normally a more informal type of content than what gets published in the feed and they can be customized with emoticons, stickers, drawings, and text.

Sound reasons to use Instagram Stories for your e-commerce

If you’re even minimally familiar with social networks, you’ll have heard about Instagram Stories (a huge revolution at the moment).
And they don’t seem to be stopping any time soon!
That’s why this recommendation is almost mandatory: you need to use Stories in your e-commerce Instagram.
If you want some numbers, we’ll give you numbers. Pay attention, you’re going to love it.

✅ Why Instagram Stories are shaking up the social media world

For a few years now, Instagram has been the social network with the most growth in terms of users. We already talked about its potential in this post.
The information from the Ipsos study for Facebook (including Facebook Stories, Instagram Stories, Messenger Stories, and WhatsApp status) is mind-blowing:

• 69% of survey respondents stated that the use of Stories by brands is the best way to show new products.
• 62% confirmed that they were more interested in a brand after having learnt about it through its Stories.
• 31% expect to connect again with their favorite brands by viewing their next stories.

Is that reason enough? Well, more is yet to come:

More than half of respondents said that, after seeing Stories, they went to the brand’s website to learn more about it and checked out the advertised product on an e-commerce platform.

Do you know what that means?
Instagram Stories help you turn followers into buyers with just the touch of the screen.
In case you need proof of their effectiveness, here you have an example from by the social network itself.
The clothing brand Pianno39 sells low-cost shoes for women.

In order to increase their target audience and increase sales, they carried out an Instagram Stories campaign directed at women aged 18-34.
The ads included a picture of the product and a link to buy them on the Pianno39 website.
The results were a huge success:

• They reached 1.4 million women during the 2-month campaign that fit the target audience profile.
• The ads had a conversion rate of 1.64% among women aged 25-34.
• The cost per click was €0.14, which boosted the profitability of the campaign.

On top of that, the success of this campaign allowed Pianno39 to move from selling only on Facebook to having a 50-person staff.
Aren’t you dying to start?

✅ Not everything is great in the Instagram Stories world: some disadvantages

While they do continue to add functions as their number of users grows, Instagram has some important limitations when used as a marketing tool for your business.
But we’ve got a solution for everything! Keep reading. 😉

A. It doesn’t let you add links

This is a half-lie. The truth is that you can add a direct link to an e-commerce shop in your Stories, but only if you meet these two requirements:

• You have a verified Business Instagram account.
• You have more than 10,000 followers on Instagram.

If you don’t have that many followers (yet), it’s a big problem when it comes to sending traffic to your website, which is where sales take place.
So what can you do?

• Use the Instagram bio: you can add the link to your e-commerce shop in your profile description.
• Use external apps: for example, Linktree allows you to add all the content you want from your bio link.
• Tag your own profile: it’s an easy way of getting more followers.
• Work hard at getting more followers: no tricks here – just good content, interaction with users, and time. You should already be doing this!

Now let’s see one that probably sounds familiar.

B. You can’t schedule posts

It’s obvious that you won’t be publishing “live” – that’s completely unproductive for an e-commerce.
But you can use third-party apps such as Hootsuite, which allow you to schedule up to 30 posts on 3 different social networks with its free version.

Instagram Stories tricks for e-commerce

You’ve already seen how essential it is that you start using Instagram Stories, but you probably don’t know where to start.
Right?
If so, write these tricks down.

✅ 1. Tag your products in your Stories

It’s called Instagram Shopping and it’s available in most countries and for almost every e-commerce that sells physical products and meets Facebook requirements.
The steps to be followed are easy and explained on Instagram’s Help page:

• Create an Instagram Business account.
• Connect your Instagram profile to your Facebook Fan Page.
• Create a product catalog on Facebook.

Once Instagram checks that you meet their selling requirements (it takes about a week), they will activate the Instagram Shopping option.
From that moment on, you can start tagging your products in your Instagram Stories.
Of course, the products that can be tagged are those that you uploaded to your Facebook catalog from your Business Manager.
You can tag up to 5 products per image. This is the option used by Stradivarius, for example.

✅ 2. Create relatable and informal content

Stories disappear after 24 hours unless you save them (we’ll explain that in the next section).
This time limit adds a permissive factor to the posts. Users expect less-elaborate content than what gets posted in your normal feed.
Watch out! Less elaborate doesn’t mean careless, improvised, or tacky content.
The goal is to create content that generates engagement and that can humanize your e-commerce.
Here are some ideas for that:

• Show your product being used: forget about complex and overly prepared sets and backgrounds – spontaneity is key for Stories.
• Use your clients’ posts: it encourages conversation and helps clients identify with your brand.
• Use Instagram’s resources: filters, stickers, music, etc.

You have plenty of options to customize your content. Don’t be afraid to try things out.
Users love new stuff and, more than anything, they want to be entertained, so give them a good reason to follow you and visit your shop.
Luckily, you have loads of tools available to make your stories more attractive and dynamic.

• Boomerang: to create videos that play a short clip forward and backward.
• Layout: to quickly and easily create collages in a single image.
• Surveys: use the survey sticker to get a fast answer from followers.

Entertaining your audience isn’t a waste of time: don’t forget that many clients think of shopping as a fun leisure activity. 😉

✅ 3. Save your Stories to make them accessible at all times

Although according to the definition that we gave, Stories are only available for 24 hours, there is a function that allows you to save your Stories so that users can always see them.

• Go to “Settings”.
• Choose the option “Privacy and Security”.
• Click on “Story Settings”.
• Activate the “Save to Camera Roll” and “Save to Archive” buttons.

This way you can start using Stories Highlights on your profile and you can choose the cover picture and the name of each section.
That’s how Adidas does it.

✅ 4. Don’t let new Instagram features slip by you

In March 2019, Instagram announced that a bunch of companies would be able to sell and complete the payment process directly on Instagram.
That is to say, buyers wouldn’t need to leave the app to complete their purchase.
Nowadays, this option is only available to big companies such as Zara, Nike, and H&M, but if this option is successful (and we’re almost positive it will be), it will be made available to more users later on.
Don’t miss it!
You’ll be selling on Instagram sooner rather than later!

Are you ready to start putting these Instagram Stories tricks into practice?

You’ve already seen that Instagram Stories are the perfect channel (and essential at this point) to turn your followers into buyers and to optimize your social media profitability.
And the best part is that you can start applying all these tips right now from your mobile phone!!
Make sure your battery is charged because your Instagram account is going to generate the traffic your e-commerce needs to boost your sales.

We recommend that you read the following article on social commerce for more info 😉