Learn 14 Ways to Increase Instagram Story Engagement

The Story feature on Instagram is one of the most popular tools on this social network, which has over 400 million active users daily.

Internet businesses use the Story feature to increase their user interaction & introduce their services & products to users.

Stories are temporary Posts that are only available to users for a period of 24 hours, so users only have 24 hours to view your story & then the Story will be added to the list of Story archives.

But it’s interesting to know that in this very 24 hours, many of your active followers are going to see it.

That’s exactly why you can’t succeed in developing your business without using the Story feature.

Many users are aiming to increase user engagement in the Instagram Story section so that they can increase the number of their audiences & business sales.

Do you think there is a way to increase the amount of user engagement in the Instagram Story section?

In this article, we are going to look at ways in way of increasing the amount of user engagement in the Instagram Story section so you will be able to enhance the rate of your users’ engagement in the Story section.

engagement in the Story

Increasing User Engagement in the Instagram Story Section

Are you one of those users who use the Instagram story feature frequently? So you must know ways to increase the amount of user engagement in Stories!

It is interesting to know that on Instagram, users first view the Stories & after seeing them, if they are not tired that is, they also take a look at the Posts.

So the Instagram Story section is one of the most important parts of this platform that you should make use of in your business strategy.

There are several ways to increase the amount of user engagement for Instagram Stories, and we’ll cover all of them in this section:

  1. Using the Possibility of Putting a Link in the Story (Swipe Up)

We congratulate you if you are managing a business page! To run a business, you need to analyze your Instagram page, and by means of a Business Page, you can get accurate statistics on the activities of your users in the Story section, Posts & the entire page.

Also, if your Business Page has over 10K followers, congratulations again!

You have a great feature available in the Instagram Story section; which is the possibility of inserting a Link in a Story or Swipe Up helps you to transfer users to your website.

Story (Swipe Up)

Transferring users to the website page greatly increases the chances of users becoming actual customers.

In an Instagram Story section, users are generally not given much information, and the information provided to them is very brief.

Now, if your page has over 10K followers, you can invite them for more information along with the brief information that you provide in the story section to visit the inserted Link!

For instance, if you have a product like a camera, you can provide an image of the camera along with its name & special features and ask users to refer to the inserted Link in order to view the full specifications or purchase the camera.

  1. Make Use of the Polls, Questions & Swipe Meter Tools in Stories!

The Instagram Story feature provides you with many different tools, and some of these tools have a great impact on increasing users’ interaction.

The Polls tool helps you to make two options available to users of which to select, for instance, you can ask a question from users & provide two answers for the users to pick from.

The Questions tool is yet another professional & functional tool that enables you to ask users questions and they can provide you with a full answer.

Furthermore, using the Swipe Meter tool, which is a tool that allows users to show their interest in the content of your Story, enables you to measure the amount of interest that users have in your Story.

With the help of these tools, users will participate in Instagram Stories, and the rate of users’ interaction on your page will increase.

Use-Instagram-Questions

  1. Share Instagram Posts via the Story Section

If you share posts in your Instagram feed, but the number of Likes they get is much less than the number of views for your Stories, share your posts in the Instagram Story section.

Once you’ve shared your Post, a send to others icon will be displayed next to it. The first option here is sharing the Post as a Story!

Once you share your Post in the Story section of your page, users will be able to simply click on that Post in order to be directed to the original page of that Post on Instagram & Like the Post or write Comments.

You can also use other tools in your Story to increase users’ interaction, as well as sharing a Post, for instance, you can identify the interest rate of users in your new Post using the Swipe Meter.

share-to-story

  1. Share Stories on a Daily Basis!

As we mentioned earlier in the article, the lifespan of Stories on Instagram is only 24 hours!

This means that after 24 hours since the Story has been shared, users won’t be able to see it, & only you will be able to see it in the archive section of Stories.
When you share a Story, a red bar will appear around your profile photo that attracts users’ attention.

With daily scheduled Story shares, users will see your Stories, which helps increase the page’s interaction rate.

Of course, note that your Stories should not be repetitive or boring; if you are going to share a Story every day, they should be completely different & appealing for you to receive excellent positive feedback.

If your Stories are repetitive & dull and users don’t have a good feeling about them, their interaction & engagement becomes less.

instagram-grow-iconPages that share many Stories will have a number of similar stories in their archive after a while! These pages can place these Stories in a certain category & share them again. These pages can also use the Highlights section to provide users with similar Stories all at once.

  1. Using Hashtags in a Story

If you search for a Hashtag on Instagram & go to its relevant page, you can be able to see the Stories that feature that certain Hashtag at the top of this section!

If you use popular Hashtags, that Story will be seen by many users. The difference between using Hashtags in a Post & a Story is that in Posts, in order to get a good rating, you should use related Hashtags, but in Stories, you can use the most popular Hashtags.

Of course, if your page is related to a business, you should only be looking for your own potential customers!

powerofthehashtagFor instance, if users interested in food are directed to a clothing sales page, the chances of them purchasing an item are low.

So if your page is related to a business, use the Hashtags associated with that business, but if you are only after increasing the number of visits to your Stories or increasing the interaction rate with your page, use the most popular Hashtags in the Instagram Story section.

If you own a Business Page, all you need to do is use Hashtags for a while and analyze the Story visits via Hashtags!

You will observe the significant influence of using Hashtags on the number of Story visits.

  1. Be Creative!

Using new tools has a significant impact on increasing the amount of user engagement! Why go far?

The Instagram Story feature is nothing new & in the past, Snapchat has also used Stories!

All that being said, the Instagram Story feature has also been able to work very well; the reason behind this is the presence of many practical tools for users.

You can be creative, use exciting fonts, pictures, icons, & other attractive elements to attract different users to your Stories.

The font is one of the most significant elements on the rate of user interaction!

Several professional fonts are introduced worldwide every month, and using them has a substantial impact on users’ interaction.

instagram creative story

  1. Mentioning Brands & People in Stories

If you have referred to other people or brands in your Story, mention them. Mentioning other brands will significantly help increase your interaction with users.

Furthermore, when you say another page, they can re-share your Story alongside your brand name in their Story section.

All of this helps your business to be able to make your brand name more popular with different users.

For instance, if you have been invited to a gathering where the host is another brand, make sure that you mention that particular brand’s Business Page in your Stories about that gathering.

If you aren’t sure about the impact of this method, I suggest you try this method for a short while; because many Internet businesses have enhanced their branding & increased the number of their business audience by implementing this method!

Don’t you also think about branding, growing your audiences & thus, increasing your Internet business sales rates?

Mentioning Brands & People in Stories

  1. Inviting Users to See Further Information in the Next Story

Businesses that are active on Instagram usually use Stories to introduce new products or services.

They may also want to provide the descriptions & details in multiple Stories; if your Followers aren’t aware that the following Stories don’t follow your first Story, they may skip them & move on to the next person’s Story.

So you can tell them to see the next Story next to read the full context through a short note.

When users are aware of the next Story, they are not mere viewers & understand the subject thoroughly.

Your text can be as follows:

 instagram-stories-engagement-tactics-example-

Doing so has 4 advantages:

  • You give your users a sense of them being in the controller; when they know that by going to the next Story, they can see the remainder of this Story, they will have a sense of being in control. In this case, they are not merely viewers, and they will read & take it in completely.
  • You can bring about a sense of curiosity in users; when you tell them that they have to go to the next Story to read the rest of the content, they will feel excited and will want to know what content has been provided in the next Story! In this case, users will see your next Story instead of going on to the next user’s Story.
  • You can convert normal users to active users on your page; some page users will go on to see the next person’s Story after they see your first Story! This being the case, you will lose the chance of having an active user. By inviting them to see your next Story, the chance of you having active Followers increases.
  • You can convert users to actual customers; if your continuous Stories are able to create a sense of trust in your users, they will purchase your products or services more easily and the number of your customers will increase.

These 4 items will help you increase your Instagram page users’ interaction rate & turn your Instagram users into your actual business customers.

You can also use an emoji instead of using text to invite users to see the next Story.

One way to share the relevant & continuous Stories is the use of the Question Sticker in which you ask a question that users must answer.

Then, share user responses in separate Stories & increase the interaction rate of your page users by completing their responses in Stories; we are going to examine this method thoroughly in note number 10 later on.

  1. Sharing Valuable Images and Users Taking Screenshots

Many people have taken screenshots of the Stories on various pages to save them on their cell phones.

Why shouldn’t your page feature attractive & valuable Stories that users will want to take screenshots of?

Try to provide beautiful, functional & unique pictures in your Stories that would attract the attention of any user.

Using motivational texts is also possible! Many users are looking for motivational images that they can put on their social networking profiles & your Stories can be a profile reference for such users.

However, it would help if you kept in mind that your Stories should be relevant to the subject of your business page so that users won’t complain about seeing irrelevant Stories.

Here are 2 great suggestions for doing so:

– Using GIFs (moving pictures)! Have you ever seen GIFs that include multiple images? Start sharing such GIFs in your Stories & tell users to take a screenshot of them! When a user takes a screenshot, only one of the dozens of images in the GIF is stored which is exciting for many users.

– Make a list for users! Usually, the lists that are provided are attractive & useful for users; for instance, if you want to teach users how to record, edit & share a video on Instagram, make a list of the apps or software that they will require. When you share this list, users will take a screenshot of it and refer to it later. Through these 2 approaches, you can easily increase the number of users who take a screenshot of your Story.

  1. Getting Feedback Through Contacting Customers

Users’ feedback is of great importance for the future of your Instagram page; in fact, it is the users who can bring about the development or failure of your business!

If they are satisfied with you as the administrator of a personal page or the products of a Business Page on Instagram, a bright future lies ahead of you, but if they are not happy with you, you will fail unless you change your strategies.

instagram-grow-iconUsing Question Stickers in Instagram Stories helps you get good feedback from users! For personal pages, you can share a picture of yourself & publish it using a Question Sticker.

Users will click on this sticker & reply to your question; their answers may include a comment about you, which is very valuable. Asking users to comment on you means that you value your users greatly.

Using this method on Business Pages will also help you learn what users think about your products or services.

You can also identify their expectations of your business products and plan an appropriate strategy for the future of your business based on their viewpoints & opinions.

Don’t know what questions you need to ask to get feedback from users?

Questions can be asked as follows:

  • Ask Me Whatever You Want!
    Your followers may have thousands of questions about you that they have not asked yet; why don’t you invite them to ask their questions to get your answer? Share a photo of yourself tight now accompanied with a Question Sticker and wait for the user’s questions.
  • What is Your Opinion About X?
    Specify a certain topic & get user comments. For instance, you can ask the users about their opinion regarding the Odd/Even Car License Plate Number Plan and get interesting answers from them!
  • What Do You Think of Nature Day?
    Different days of the year are related to a particular occasion. For instance, the last Wednesday of the year is referred to as a special day so it can be an excellent challenge for users in the last days of the year. If you are the administrator of an Instagram page, you ask users about their opinions on the last Wednesday of the year.
  • What Shall the Next Post Be About?
    If you’re a blogger or an expert or own a business or anything else, ask the users about their opinion on what your next Post shall be about! As somebody who is active on Instagram, you may sometimes not know what Posts are to be shared. Making use of the users’ opinions will give you great ideas & you can increase the popularity of your page & its interaction rate.
  • As a Social Networking Expert, I Will Answer Your Questions!
    Are you an expert in a certain field? Answer users’ questions. Many of your Followers have questions about the specialized field that you are active in. These questions will bring about some useful feedback & you can also challenge yourself.

Poll Questions on Instagram

  1. Ask Users to Send You Direct Messages!

Instagram is an excellent social networking platform for communicating with different users. Why don’t you want your users to message you using the Direct Messaging feature on Instagram? Usually, users who want to send you a direct message for the first time may be a little problematic, but if you are able to convince them to send you a direct message, your relationship with them will start. Encourage your users to send you direct messages!

Don’t know how to encourage them?

There are 2 simple approaches:

Instagram desktop direct message

  1. A) Ask for the Users’ Opinions: Create a question & ask users to tell you their opinions; try to make your survey attractive for users! By answering your question, they have now been led to your Private Message Directory which can be the start of an effective relationship with users.
  2. B) Ask Them to Direct Message You in Order to Receive a Gift: If you are managing a business & want to lead users to your message directory, you can ask them to refer to your message directory in return for a gift. By doing so, many users will receive gifts from you, and there is also the possibility of establishing effective communication with them. You can also ask them for their e-mail address & subscribe them to your e-mail newsletter list. Thus, you’ll be able to participate in your e-mail campaign! Previous gifts can also help to transform them into actual customers.
  3. Creating Images That Will Make Users Want to Stay Longer on Your Story!

You must know that if you hold your finger on a Story, it stops and you won’t go to the next Story!

The more you can encourage users to stay on your Stories, the more user interaction your page will have.

Ask users to keep their finger on the screen in order to be able to read the entire content of the Story.

Choose an image or a 15 second long video clip for your Story

We are going to propose 3 recommended approaches:

  • A) Create a long text for users; creating a long text will help you keep users more on your Story. Keep in mind that the beginning of the Story content should be appealing & exciting in order to encourage users to continue reading! If the beginning of your content is not attractive & users feel as if their time is being wasted, not only will they NOT stop the Story, but will also skip your next Stories!
  • B) Sharing 2 images in 1 Story in order to find the differences between them; share 2 similar images in one Story and ask users to find their differences! Of course, you must bear in mind that the image should not be too complicated because you only have a few seconds & then the user will skip your Story.
  • Share an intelligence challenge: have you seen any intelligence challenges? Challenges that are not too difficult and are merely entertaining and only for fun, but create a good sense in users. These challenges can also have a great impact on users’ interaction rate; because users will stop your Story for a short period of time & think about the challenge.

By applying these 3 approaches, you can encourage users to subconsciously hold your Stories.

  1. Using the Sound On Sticker to Ask Users to Increase the Audio Volume

Many people view Stories without sound, as they usually watch them in public places in order to fill their spare time!

But sometimes, people can see a Story with sound, but their cell phone’s volume is low. This sticker means that there is a sound, such as a piece of music, in your Story & users should increase the volume.

As long as users haven’t noticed this sticker, they will continue watching your Story without sound, but as soon as they see this sticker, they’ll view the Story once more with sound.

You must however keep in mind that you are asking users to listen to what you have shared, so your sound content should be worth taking the users’ time so that they won’t be dissatisfied.

Adding Music to Instagram Story

  1. Create 2-Choice Surveys!

In the previous notes, we have discussed the importance of creating surveys & you know how important they are!

Two-choice surveys are also of great importance, and they can be used to know the positive or negative opinions of users.

For instance, if you are intending to produce an educational product & want to acquire users’ opinions regarding the choice of its cover or packaging, you can share 2 images in one story & make a better decision by using the survey tool to know about your users’ opinions.

Try to use more creative answers other than Yes and No answers in order to encourage users to choose an option.

Reviews show that usually, the percentage of users who react to surveys with creative choices is higher than those who react to Yes and No choices.

Conclusion

Communicating with users & gaining their trust is very difficult, but it is achievable by using some interactions & micro-interactions.

On the other hand, in order to develop a business & an Instagram page, you need to establish a relationship with your users!

To communicate with users, is there a better tool other than content? Certainly NOT!

Content means anything that’s worthwhile for users; so Instagram content can be a Post, Story, Poll, Video, Question tool, etc.

Try to establish a decent interaction with users using the tools that Instagram offers you.

The more you interact & communicate with users, the more they will trust you, and ultimately, the more sales rates your business will experience.

400 million users are currently active in Instagram’s Story section and businesses are growing as well.

You should try to interact more with users so that you can overtake your rivals.

Now You Tell Us!

If the information presented in this article has been helpful, please answer our question.

If you are the manager of an Instagram business, what approaches do you implement in order to increase users’ interaction rate?

Let us know about them in the comments section so that we can make this article even more comprehensive.

Aloman
Hi, I'm Alomen; an Instagram and digital marketing expert. This Website shows tutorials, tips, and tricks on how to use Instagram. If you have any questions or problems with Instagram, you can call me with the hashtag #Alomen and I will answer in now time. Sign up for our email newsletter to stay in touch with our Team.
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