Don’t let the name fool you—the Stories feature in Instagram is not just for posting pictures. It’s a powerful tool for reaching new audiences and selling products and services.

Instagram Stories are short videos that are only meant to be viewed for 24 hours. But unlike a photo, which can only be seen by the person who posted it, Instagram Stories can be viewed by anyone who follows either the person who posted it or any of their friends who have also shared their own Story. That means you can reach people who aren’t already following you!

What is an IG story Feature?

Instagram Stories is a feature that lets you share videos and photos that disappear after 24 hours. Each slide is 15 secs long so if you upload a video that is greater than 15 secs, the video is cut into 15 secs pieces that are played one after the other.

Instagram Stories sets itself apart from other IG features by allowing users to create stories and share them with their followers. You can also follow other users’ stories, which makes it easy to see what they’re up to while you’re away.

Stories are great for sharing highlights of your day, giving followers a glimpse into what you’re up to, or just letting them know what’s going on in your life, that is, if you are comfortable sharing with them your personal life. Else there are various other content ideas that you can try using on IG story- such as behind the scenes and transformations.

 

What sets Instagram Stories apart from other IG features?

IG stories are simple to use- slideshows: no lengthy captions needed; just one photo or video per Story for 15 secs per slide.

The main difference between Instagram stories and other features on Instagram is that your story will disappear after 24 hours. You can choose to make your story public, so anyone can watch it, or you can make it private so only approved followers can see it.

You can add text, emoji and stickers to the pictures or videos you share in them. You can also add music or silence to your story.

When users send a message or comment on each other’s stories, they will receive a notification on their phones.

They show the personal side of a business or brand and these allow you to connect with your audience in real time by sharing behind-the-scenes footage or answering questions directly from them (or even asking them questions yourself).

These are visual- they encourage users to post more photos and videos than text updates so they’re perfect for showing off what your business does in an entertaining way.

You can save IG stories as highlights to keep them forever! ( see the image above where highlights appear). Obviously, you may need to segment your stories under different categories for new users to locate your content easily and find relevant highlight names and cover for them.

Now, moving on to the next section of this post which is – How to sell your services on IG stories.

Sell your services on IG Stories using these tips!

A week ago, I asked my audience on Instagram Stories what topic would they want me to blog about. I gave them two topic options – and there was a tie! Later that day, I received DMs on my IG that a few of them were really interested in learning how to sell and optimize their stories in a proper way so that they can connect with their audiences and make sales!

To get straight to the topic here, I will be discussing some tips to try out for a service based businesses first.

If you are in the service based business, and are convinced that IG stories is an important feature that can change the way that you have been selling your services on Insta, then these tips will help you get started on the content creation on stories. Let’s go-

Tip #1 : Show your audience the human side of your brand or business.

I am sure that you may have read this a million times on the Internet- “show the human side of your brand.” This doesn’t necessarily mean show all your vulnerabilities, but try to dig into topics that makes you more relatable to your audience. Yes, this means you need to understand what motivates your ideal clients or what can you add in your content for them to watch so that they feel connected to you in some way!

One great example that I can think of is to create multiple stories about your business, the so called “Founder’s Stories”. Different types of stories will appeal to different audiences depending on what kind of information they’re looking for at any given time—so don’t feel like you have to stick with just one type of story!

Try using Stories as an opportunity to teach something new or share tips and tricks for success in your industry or even better- your learnings as a small business owner. You can also share behind-the-scenes looks into what goes on in your day-to-day life as a consultant or coach—like showing off some new office decor or talking about the best places for tacos around town (or whatever else you love doing).

You can use a combination of videos, photos, texts and other graphics to convey your story to your audience.

In the example below ( screenshots taken from 2021 during my first launch) I used photos and text to explain about my free giveaway for clarity call when I first launched my 1-1 strategy call on Instagram. Notice the sequence in which I am also narrating my business story.

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Tip #2: Create polls or questions to bring your audience into the conversation.

You know what’s fun? Getting to chat with your audience! Polls and questions are a great way to get feedback from your audience. They’ll also help you identify common themes and concerns, which can help you better serve your audience’s needs.

Use questions like-

• Ask me anything about my services?
• I want to know what your thoughts are on my new post!
• What’s your favorite part of my 1-1 Free Masterclass session?
• Help me pick the next blog post?
• Help me choose the next topic for my IG live etc

These are a great list of questions that make your audience feel involved when they watch your stories and in my experience, most of your loyal fans would love to answer this for you. This not only helps them, feel involved with you, but also help you get your engagement high on stories, which is a good recipe for success!

In the example below, I am using IG stories to ask polls for this blog post topic.

 

Tip #3: Place Call-To-Actions for interactions on every slide!

This might sound like an- “Oh no!” moment, but take a look at it from your audience’s point of view.

Would you rather have them consume your content and interact with it or have them ignore your stories and move on? From asking questions, to ratings bars, polls, or even inserting captions, having some sort of interactions on every slide makes your viewer want to consume your content on your IG stories.

And this goes without saying that in some slides it is okay to skip interaction stickers if it doesn’t suit the content of the IG story slide.

Now, Instagram has numerous bunch of stickers to help you keep them engaged on your stories. Your goal is to make them stay on your stories longer for them to have felt more connected with you!

Further, make sure they stand out in each slides so that your viewers can easily find them. From pointing them towards your website link or directing them to your DMs, plan your content intentionally and use your stickers on each slide to increase interactivity.

 

Tip #4: Use relevant hashtags and location sticker!

Hashtags and location stickers are crucial to being seen on Instagram Stories. If you’re not using them, you’re missing out on traffic that’s looking specifically for what you have to offer.

Hashtags help people find your business or products based on their interests, while location stickers let users know where they can find your business in real life. Both are important for getting people interested in what you’re selling!

So don’t forget them!

It’s important to use the right hashtags because they are a great way of gaining exposure, especially if you have a small following. A minimum of 5 is most preferable depending on your content.

Make sure that you also use location stickers as this is an easy way for people to find out where you’re based, and it gives them an idea about what kind of content they can expect from you.

Try adding different types of location stickers too—there might be one that really catches the eye of your target audience!

For example, if you’re posting about a new product launch, try adding a hashtag for it. If you post about the weather in your area, add the location sticker for where you are so people can see what’s happening near them!

Moreover, don’t forget to watch your story analytics! You’ll be able to see how many people have viewed your story as well as how many people have watched all the way through it by tapping on “Viewers” at the top of your story page.

Tip #5: Make sure your stories is in a proper sequence

Your IG story should be fun, engaging, and visually appealing. Don’t just post or share what new is being posted on your feed, rather develop a story sequence towards it or just be intentional about getting your services noticed on IG story- with the help of a background story of course!

Think of IG stories as a trailer to the final movie! Tease your audience first to drive their interest, and create story sequences after to make your content more interesting and easier to digest!

You can check this out in the example above where I have used one of my founder stories along with directing the sequence towards applying for a coaching call with me!

When you share your story on IG stories, it has to be short enough so that people will scroll through it—but long enough so that they get something out of it!

You don’t have to go deep in every detail -what you did and why you did it every single time, but rather build up a story sequence that leads them to a desired action you want them to take such as sign ups in DMs or apply to the link.

Create a series of stories about a single topic or theme, rather than just one story at a time. This will give you space to really dive in deep and cover all the important details—and maybe even come up with solutions!

Don’t forget to include emojis and stickers! These little guys will help your followers feel connected to you as a creator—and they’re also just fun.

Why IG Stories are important for Service based businesses?

IG stories can be a great way to connect with your customers and show them what’s going on behind the scenes of your business.

Think about it: when you’re scrolling through your feed, you’re likely to notice a story more than a post. And if your story looks like it’s from the real world, not just a pretty pic of a digital product or a selfie, then maybe you’ll click on it and see what else is happening in this world.

 

IG stories are an excellent platform for showcasing behind-the-scenes footage and client testimonials, which can be great for helping new customers feel more comfortable with you before they commit to working with you. You can also use them to share videos of interactions with customers, or even just some silly clips from inside the office!

When you’re a service-based business, your customers aren’t always easy to reach! You can’t just call them up—you have to wait for them to call you. But with Instagram stories, you can reach out to them in real time as soon as they need you.

Stories are also great because they help build trust with your customers by showing them how much you care about their experience with your business. When someone sees that you’re actively posting stories about things like diet plans, weight loss stories and new training opportunities, they know that they’re in good hands!

If a potential client is having trouble with their weight, they can open their IG app and search “weight loss” in the search bar. They’ll see your business pop up in the results. When they tap on your story, they’ll see that you’re available right now to help them solve their weight issues!

Recent Testing on IG stories: Are you confused?

Have you heard? Instagram is testing out hiding story slides and only allowing 3 story slides to appear for the user to decide if they still want to continue watching stories of an account.

According to social media expert Matt Navarra, Instagram is testing a new Stories layout that will hide excessive posts. Specifically, Instagram will only show three Stories per user unless viewers tap to “show all.”

Instagram has yet to make an official announcement on the change, so it could eventually disappear for the select users who currently have access. 

As for the tips that I have discussed in this post, these still remain true despite the upcoming changes made to the IG story. My two cents on this update is that you will need to get even more smarter with the first three slides of your stories and make it interesting for viewers to scroll till the end! So yeah, work more on your story telling skills.

Or maybe we just have to wait and watch! Perhaps, I will write another sequel to this post.

So what are your thoughts about using IG stories?