Use Instagram stories to grow an captivated audience for your business
Understanding, and then conveying your point of difference, is a powerful tool when it comes to marketing your business
But as a small business, how can you compete with the big guys and their big budgets?
It’s actually quite easy
Be you
It’s something no other business has, and believe it or not, as a small business you are your biggest selling point
In fact, it’s often the difference between someone choosing you and someone else
Have a think about why you buy from the people and businesses you do?
I know for me it is certainly true – in that I am drawn to those who are not afraid to stand out and show me who they are
If what they ‘say and do’ resonates with me, I’m definitely more likely to buy from them
And the one place I tend to find ‘my people’ is on Instagram
I love watching Instagram stories – you can learn so much about a business from them – and this is where I like to build a connection with others
Instagram’s vast array of video options
I’ll admit, Instagram is going through a bit of an identity crisis at the moment (aren’t we all?) as it tries to compete with TikTok with its newish reels feature
And just to confuse us even further, they also have many other forms of videos – Live, IGTV, short videos for the feed, 24 hour stories and reels – which the Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri said they will be looking to refine over the next 12 months
But essentially, Instagram no longer wants to be seen as just the ‘square photo sharing app’ – so videos in some form or another, will be here to stay
And for that I am thankful, as it allows for so many opportunities to connect with our audience in depth
So anyway, on the topic of Instagram videos, the ‘story’ option is a great place for small businesses to start to engage with followers, because it is designed to disappear after twenty-four hours (or there is an option to save it to stay on your main bio page
It’s perfect for those who may be a little apprehensive about trying the video format, as not a lot of people will see them and as you improve (which you will!) there is no permanent record of where you started
There’s also the added feature of a caption option, which is reasonably accurate, and allows captions to be automatically added so that people can watch without having to have the sound up
Just find the caption ‘sticker’ and add it to your video, and your words will be transcribed within seconds