Social media is an important part of modern business, but when and what to post on a business’ social media platform can be confusing. Instagram and Facebook stories are yet another feature of social media. Stories are short video clips and images that appear at the top of an app’s newsfeed and are only available for 24 hours. How can a business apply these new features of social media to further their businesses?

Stories are seen as a way to grow business and engage clients. Embed Social, a company that works to optimize social media use, presents interesting statistics on how the use of social media stories are impactful. Current stories are seen by more than 500 million users, which help to quantify how users are adapting to these new features of the social networking sites. The trend does not seem to be short lived; it is projected to grow in the coming years.

The use of Instagram and Facebook stories also poses a positive trend for data collection. Stories allow for questions, polls, and quizzes to easily be sent out directly to consumers. The specificity of stories allows organizations to see who watched their stories and how they reacted. For example, social media enables the company to address how their customers swipe through and share the business’ stories, which is helpful as a business tracks engagement.

Adding a bit of fun and whimsy to a company’s Instagram or Facebook story is helpful in customer brand relationships. A more personal touch may be unplanned but can further the brand of an organization.

It should still be within the realm of the business’ values. For example, when the Oil City Warehouse Mall posts a story about their vendors it strengthens the brand with extra information and personality about the organization.

Using Instagram and Facebook stories to further a business is an increasingly important part of any company, using the insights and branding tools that Instagram and Facebook stories facilitate are a great way to do this. Join us on January 17th at 8 a.m. for our next Tech Talk on “Interacting Online.”

This article was published in the Venango Chamber’s January 2020 VenangoWorks! Newsletter.