Instagram Brings Boost Function in the Stories

Boost organic contributions quickly and increase the range. The Facebook-known ad format will soon be available on Instagram.

Make the organic stories available to a much wider audience with little effort – to Promote Instagram followers makes the dream come true. The feature is known by Facebook, where organic posts in the feed can be promoted with one click. The feature sounds nice and picks up the increasing number of advertisers on the platform, but has known pitfalls.

Promote: Boost feature for Instagram Stories

To Promote Instagram profile, you can choose between different targeting options to direct users to either a website or the profile. In this way, users who are similar to their own real Instagram followers or who are in a specific location can be addressed. However, the admin can also combine multiple audiences to maximize the reach of the story.

There are already two million advertisers on Instagram (compared to Facebook has six million advertisers), but not everyone has the budgets to make professional videos or footage for stories and make them available to a large audience as paid ads. With Promote everyone could soon provide his stories with a higher reach.

Instagram told TechCrunch that Promotion of Instagram can be understood as a counterpart to the boost feature on Facebook. However, it is known from this that a careful use is advantageous. For organic posts on Facebook, which are boosted and played as a display to a broad audience, the targeting is only too happy to fail. For this reason, Facebook marketers often recommend setting up a correct ad. Facebook, however, may have worked on the known disadvantages and introduce a much-improved product on Instagram with Promote.

Advanced analytics and new revenue streams

In the same breath as Promote, Facebook last week launched Instagram Analytics Beta as part of Facebook Analytics. In addition to the analysis options already available on Instagram, companies can now track lifetime value and length of stay, create segments and analyze overlaps of followers across platforms. Sophisticated analytics make it easier to understand the conversion funnel and create more targeted content.

Quite by no means, the development comes: Firstly, the founders of the image platform, the Instagram have always saved from too much influence of Facebook and according to its comprehensive advertising features, leave the company and therefore no longer act as a gatekeeper. On the other hand, Facebook is gradually running out of users and, as a result, advertising revenues as well. The sinking revenue of the mothership is to catch the daughter now. Promote is a good target for Facebook, as Instagram has largely been spared by scandals so far and continues to enjoy healthy growth. If startups and SMEs have left little budget on the platform, this could change quickly with the introduction of the ad format.

The changes are a clear indication that Facebook is expanding its potential revenue streams. However, it is hard to resist the impression that Facebook is not only expanding here but is also extending its sensors to new shores against the backdrop of ongoing scandals, declining revenues and dwindling user numbers.

Proven methods to grow Instagram account reach 

Create incentives with freebies

You know what your audience likes. You can use this knowledge to come up with various creative marketing campaigns. Organize, for example, a raffle or a raffle. For example, either you can buy real Instagram followers or you can win something by tagging a friend under a post, reposting something, or posting a story with your company’s mention or branding. Nevertheless, you should be careful that the gifts are still relevant to the target group. Otherwise, you run the risk that users subscribe to your profile, but jump off after the end of the raffle. Therefore, the profits should continue to represent a thematic context to your service.

Post stories and make sure you are in the pole position

This Instagram feature has been available on the platform since 2016. Adapted by Snapchat, this feature is a real gift for marketers. Although posting videos and pictures in the feed is still the main function of the social network, stories are becoming increasingly important and should be used by you. This feature actually generates the highest engagement and has many viewers. Above all (still) small accounts can gain an enormous reach by concentrating on the features of Instagram Stories.

On the one hand, stories that are visible for 24 hours and then expire are the first thing they see when the app is opened. So you see the profile picture of the account surrounded by a reddish, Instagram-colored circle. In the meantime, the most recent stories are always displayed to subscribers on the first top left. This means for you that regular story updates almost ensure you the pole position in the user’s app.

Within the story feature itself, there are other features that increase the reach of your story. Since Instagram, like its parent Facebook, is used by users to search for brands, shops, and other professional accounts and to discover new relevant channels, you should use the available features within your story. This increases your reach and is likely to reach Instagrammer who have not yet noticed your account. This includes:

Geotagging and hashtags:  Use the sticker on the top right to add hashtags and local tags to your story and increase your reach. As already mentioned: Search for tags and do not overload the story with too many stickers. The size and position you can customize with pulling movements of your fingers individually to the picture or video. Or hide the hashtags behind an emoji. With a successful use of hashtags in your story, you may end up in the associated hashtag story and make your content accessible to a much larger audience.

Swipe up! Linking products and information:  Stories are a real stage for marketers, companies and any kind of promotion. If you’re promoting a product or something else in your story by video or photo, you can link to its website. So when users look at the story, users can swipe up and go straight to the product. So swipe up!

Question stickers:  follower questions can be asked using the recently unfolded question stickers. The default question format is “Ask me a question”. Of course, you can modify and specify this. Of course, you can also take advantage of this option, turn it around, and ask a question to your subscribers. The commitment is guaranteed.

Story Highlights:  Did you like a story so much that your followers should be able to see it more often and in the long term? No problem, because since last year you can archive your stories and post them as highlights. These will then be visible on your account above your feed. You can capture as many highlights as you like. Especially for recent advertising campaigns or stories that have a link and certain hashtags, the feature works well.