“Am I leveraging social media to the best of my ability?” is a question that many business owners ask themselves. According to Digital Media in Business, “88% of consumers expect businesses to integrate digital assistants as part of the shopping experience, to help them make better decisions.” As businesses use technology as the ultimate digital assistance to reach existing and new customers, social media has become a low-cost channel at optimizing business marketing and one of the newest channels is Instagram.
What’s the difference between Instagram Stories and IGTV?
Reaching up to 112.5 million U.S. users in 2020, Instagram is undoubtably one of the best social media platforms to market your business.
- Instagram stories are images or short videos that disappear after 24-hours of posting.
- Instagram TV (IGTV) resemble that of YouTube videos. These videos can be as short as one-minute and as long as 60 minutes. 60-minute videos must be uploaded from a computer but videos with up to 15 minutes of content can be uploaded from your mobile device. IGTV videos remain available for your followers as long as you have an active account.
Although different both options provide value to the users and account owners. Here are tips on how to best use each in growing your business.
IG Stories
Promotions
- Flash Promotions and limited time information are ideal for marketing on your stories. These are communications that you want to share for a short time but desire an immediate response. Individuals who take an active interest in staying connected to your brand can be marked for more targeted messaging
Follower Feedback
- Use the ‘Ask me a question” feature to communicate with followers. By encouraging your followers to ask questions you can get testimonials, feedback, and even suggestions that you can incorporate into your product or service.
IGTV
Demos
- Use IGTV to conduct demonstrations of your product or service to create an increased trust for your business. It also allows followers see the ins and outs of what you’re offering, while building content for future. Edit the demo for short videos that can be used for a future commercial, campaigns and even webinar!
Events
- People want to feel connected to your brand. Giving followers access to things such as live interviews and events help create a sense of connection at the convenience of your follower.
IGTV and Instagram Stories In Action
When it comes to putting these tips into action, here are a few companies that have done it well mixing product promotion with their corporate philosophies.
With 25.8 million followers across the globe, Adidas’s Instagram account has leveraged marketing new product releases, brand ambassadors, campaign’s, and sponsored events. They’ve tracked anywhere from 135,000 to 1.1million views along with follower engagement such as comments and shares.
Honda Motor Company utilizes Instagram to drive their 4.2million followers to exclusive tours of one of the largest private Honda collections in the U.S. and even test drive a car.
Even Proctor & Gamble has built a following of 145K to tackle everything from social justice, to product sustainability tips, and even intimate Q&A sessions with employees and celebrities.
There are two key benefits to both features offered through this platform:
One, it’s an easy 1-step process for followers to repost your content, becoming free marketers for your business, and who doesn’t love free marketing?
Secondly, Instagram notifies the account owner how the activity was received by followers which can be used to drive your next marketing tactics. Hello, free feedback and focus group!
All-in-all, Instagram stories and IGTV create a simple way to do a lot in one platform for your business.
