You probably already know this, but it is crucial to keep up with the latest social media trends and features that come out. After all, the new features are there for a reason.
They sometimes take a while to catch on. Once they do, like with Facebook Stories, you want to ensure you know how to use the feature well and reap all the benefits possible. For example, did you know that using Facebook Stories could boost your engagement rates? Well, it can!
Let’s find out how.
Why Your Business Should Be Using Facebook Stories
Facebook is a very popular social media platform for daily users and marketers. It’s probably no surprise that a survey found that nearly 96% of marketing experts believe that this platform generates the highest return on investment (ROI).
With 500 million of Facebook’s daily active users using Stories, you definitely don’t want to miss out!
You may also have noticed how little organic traffic you get to your Facebook business page. The great news with Facebook Stories is that they have a much higher reach. So, you have another way of reaching your fans.
Facebook Stories has three main benefits for your company. It helps you:
- Increase your brand awareness
- Build your relationship with your audience
- Boost user engagement
How do stories do this? Quite easily, to be honest.
Just look at where it is located when you open the Facebook app, whether on your phone or desktop. There… right at the very top, before your feed even starts. This ensures it catches everyone’s attention.
What also works in your favor is that not every company and marketer has adopted Facebook Stories. Don’t get us wrong, this feature’s popularity is growing, but you can still stand out amongst your competitors. And to save you some trouble, you can also cross-post any stories you posted on Instagram Stories to Facebook.
7 Different Ways to Use Facebook Stories to Boost Engagement
How can you optimize your Facebook Stories content to increase how many people engage with your stories and brand? Here are the top 7 strategies:
Make Sure Your Facebook Stories Align With Your Brand
When you create your Facebook Stories or right before you click “post,” you have the option to choose between quite a number of effects and filters. The purpose of these is to make your content visually appealing and engaging.
Before you go crazy with these creative options, ensure you pick ones that align with your brand. This means the themes, filters, colors, and fonts you use should match that of your brand. The benefit of this is that your audience will recognize that your stories belong to your company.
Do More Than Promotion
While one of the key aspects of marketing is brand promotion, you can create content for Facebook Stories that goes beyond this.
Think outside the box. Showcase your services and products. Offer discounts. Share sneak peeks, product launches, company milestones, and achievements. Create behind-the-scenes content so your audience feels like they are really getting to know you.
This all helps you connect with your potential leads and existing customers.
Be Memorable
Boost customer retention and loyalty by creating an epic experience for your audience. One way you can do this – and be memorable – is to use videos.
Videos, when used well, help your audience better connect with your brand, which leaves a lasting impression. It also enhances your customers’ experience – for the better.
How can you use videos? Announce an event. Do a product launch snippet or even a teaser.
Be Unique
While Facebook allows you to cross-post your Instagram Stories, it is also important to not always use the same stories. Create unique content for each social media platform to cater to the different audiences.
Moreover, while some audience members may only be on one platform, there are likely some that follow you on both Facebook and Instagram. When you share the same story, they will think you are lazy and that you don’t want to create content that is unique for your social media profiles.
Thus, create a customized social media marketing approach that is suitable for the platform(s) you are posting on. Use the platform’s unique characteristics as well as your target audience for that platform to create the best content you can.
Add Urgency To Your Facebook Stories
Facebook Stories are only available for 24 hours. Some marketers may question the value of Stories when it is so short-lived; however, this is part of the appeal.
Leverage your Stories and create a sense of urgency. One way to do this is to play on people’s fear of missing out or #FOMO. Your followers follow you because they want to know what’s happening at your company when it happens.
If you have time-sensitive content, posting content on Stories helps you further engage your audience.
Stack Your Content
To stack your content means you create a Facebook Story based on a post you’ve created for your Facebook page. You can’t share the whole post in a story, but you can create curiosity.
If your story looks interesting enough, you can pique your followers’ curiosity. They will want to click on the story to learn more. And the next step for them is to find your post and engage with it.
Learn When to Post
The key to most social media marketing strategies is to post your content when your audience is most active. The timeline of Facebook news feeds, for example, is very sensitive and changes so frequently; thus, it is easy for your audience to miss a post.
The same isn’t true for Facebook Stories. You can post your story content, and since stories are available for 24 hours, your followers will see your story when they log into their Facebook app. This might be a reason why your posts get less engagement than your stories.
Summing It Up
Some of the main goals of marketing are to increase user engagement and continue raising awareness of your company brand. Thus, it is vital to keep up to date with the latest digital marketing trends.
Facebook Stories is but one of the “newest” features that you can leverage to boost your organic traffic on Facebook as well as engage more with your fans.
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