When Instagram Stories was launched in the year 2016, it felt like a duplicate of Snapchat. But later when Instagram kept innovating and updating new features to keep the users engaged, it opened doors for businesses to outshine their product/services to their followers and a catalyst for the growth of business. This indeed left the Snapchat popularity behind.
Instagram stories are a disappearing content feature, where you can share pictures and videos for 15-seconds in a slideshow format, which appears on the top of the follower’s feed-in colorful ring format.
These updated statistics help you understand the importance of Instagram stories in your marketing strategy, 62% of people say they have become more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in Stories, 500 million people use Instagram Stories every day, while 200 million Instagram users visit at least one business profile daily. Brands post an average of 2.5 Stories per week.
Let’s understand the benefits of Instagram stories in your Instagram marketing strategy
Boomerang – This feature allows you to showcase your content as a super shot/fast video which is played in a back and forth mini-video format.
Live Videos – This Instagram story feature is a real-time feature letting you have conversations with your followers. There are many ways you can use this feature to connect with a larger base of audience.
Story Highlights – Brands can pin down their important stories into different categories which act as a digital brochure of your brand.
Polls – If your brands need the opinion of their followers/customers then this Instagram marketing feature allows you to connect and converse with them.
Questions – This feature allows brands to let their customers ask questions related to the brand, which helps to maintain the transparency between the customers and brand.
Reaction Slider – This is a fun and attractive way of Instagram marketing as it lets your customer respond about how much they like your offering.
Mention/Repost – Brands can repost the post they got mentioned in their stories.
Location – This Instagram marketing feature geo-target the users.
Links – This feature is accessible for accounts with more than 10k or more followers. They can add a Swipe-Up alert that can land to a website, product, book today and order now page.

These Instagram marketing features allow brands to present their message in a unique manner and keep them engaged and the best way for announcing new products, live events, any details, sneak peek of activities.
We hope that this post helped you with learning more about the benefits of Instagram stories for businesses. Contact us for more information about our Instagram social marketing services and how it can benefit your business.