Last year, Instagram introduced the shoppable tags feature which significantly changed how influencers promoted brands through their photos. Out of the 800 million daily users on Instagram, approximately 300 million are viewing and interacting with Instagram Stories, and that number is only expected to increase as the features keep out-doing Snapchat. Case in point: This past June, Instagram rolled out a Stories-specific, clickable shopping bag icon, which allows users to purchase a product directly from the story in which an influencer featured it. The addition of shoppable tags within Stories put Instagram a step ahead of its social media parent company, Facebook, with double the number of daily users. Plus, with Instagram prohibiting clickable links in post descriptions, the shoppable tag is an accessible way for influencers to entice followers to buy a product. When it's clicked, users are seamlessly transitioned to the brand’s website to purchase the item. Put simply: shoppable tags are vital to micro-influencer campaigns. When it comes to new engagement, a recent Facebook survey reported that Instagram users “often watch stories to stay in-the-know with brands they’re interested in, get an insider view of products they like, and find out about new recent products that are relevant to them.” Introducing this tiny button has the potential for creating more thorough and interactive marketing strategies.
Why Use Stories?
Since 2016, the top of the newsfeed has been dedicated to temporary posts, referred to as Instagram Stories. Similar to Snapchat, these pictures and videos are only available to followers for 24 hours, after which, they are removed. Despite the short lifespan, Stories allow for a more creative outlet than posting in your Instagram feed. Influencers can add to their posts to make them stand out, using options such as:
- Customizable stickers: Which includes weather, current time, GIFs, smiley faces, etc.
- Location: This feature makes a story searchable by geographical area.
- Hashtag: These enable searches based on the tagged topic.
- Poll: Adding a survey encourages engagement with followers because they feel that their opinion is valued.
Stories also accept larger photos than an Instagram feed post. A standard post can be as large as 1080 pixels by 1350 pixels. Meanwhile, the dimensions of a story are a full mobile screen, or 1080 pixels by 1920 pixels. The larger area increases the real estate available for additional graphics and space to feature products.
Analyze The Engagement
The Stories feature has become an important aspect of digital marketing. According to Sprout Social, 50% of the businesses advertising on Instagram post products in their Story. In fact, Facebook IQ reports that more than one in three daily Instagrammers has become interested in a brand or product after seeing it on Instagram Stories. Although a post disappears after 24 hours, some metrics measure success beyond followers, impression and reach, engagement rate, and website traffic. You can view the number of:
- Taps forward: How many times viewers skipped your post and went to the next.
- Swipes forward: The number of times the entire story was skipped.
- Taps backward: How many times viewers went back to watch the previous story.
- Exits: The number of times viewers go back to the main feed after seeing your post
- Replies: The number of times a viewer replies to your story.
Understanding how your viewers are reacting to stories can give your brand a good idea of how a product is performing. When there are multiple posts within the story, people can skip ahead, view the previous picture again, leave the story entirely, or reply to it. If a product isn’t performing well, it may be due to a video being too long or a picture being poorly cropped. To make the most of Stories, influencers and agencies alike need to monitor Instagram's analytics to understand what content is performing
How to Showcase Products
While it may seem eerily similar to Snapchat's features, Instagram differentiates Stories by giving influencers the ability to connect to a person, link to a company, and now, use shoppable tags in their stories. The new shoppable tags act as a strong call-to-action that enables potential customers to get more information about items they like. However, even with these new features, high-quality content is still the cornerstone of a successful micro-influencer campaign. Tech Crunch reports that with Instagram’s new algorithm released earlier this year, an average of 90% of content is now being shown to users. Oftentimes the other 10% isn’t easily found because it’s less relevant and/or of a low quality. When people continually post engaging and creative content, they are shown first in the newsfeed. Therefore, it’s essential for micro-influencers to create captivating and authentic endorsements. The most successful posts are created by brand ambassadors who genuinely enjoy the project. To find out what exactly makes sponsored content engaging, Facebook IQ commissioned a study of a creative Instagram Stories ads and found that:
- Relevance matters: Ads that performed well were relevant, eye-catching, easy to understand, and fit the brand.
- Seconds add up: Top-performing ads were shorter in length than the lower-performing posts.
- Fast-pacing pays off: Stories that have multiple scenes keep viewers interested.
- Product demos boost results: Only half of the advertisements actually show the product in use. However, the ones that show it in action drastically outperform the posts that don’t.
- Ads must be mobile-optimized: Build out Stories with a mobile-first mindset.
Get Started Today
ApexDrop’s micro-influencers only showcase products that they love, so brands and followers don’t have to worry about inauthentic content. Our micro-influencers also know how to capitalize on Instagram stories to create engaging content while placing your product in the limelight. Finally, ApexDrop always checks for fake followers, likes, and comments to ensure engagement is genuine. If you are looking to utilize Instagram Stories to showcase your product, then consider reaching out to ApexDrop for a free demo. We’ve connected thousands of businesses with hand-picked micro-influencers who proudly show their followers that they feel passionate about certain brands. For more information, schedule a call with an ApexDrop Influencer Specialist today at https://apexdrop.com/contact
