It’s a no-brainer that social media stories marketing is one of the best selling tools. Facebook’s Chief Product Officer, Chris Cox, wasn’t kidding last year when he said that in 2019, social media stories will be the primary sharing format for all users.
The question is no longer ‘whether your business can’, it is, ‘how your business can’ benefit from social media stories marketing.
There are over a billion users across social media platforms that use the stories format. Gen Zs and Millenials, known for their short attention span, embraced the stories feature so well that businesses now fall short with regard to engagement if they don’t update their stories as a business practice.
As a business owner, you must remember that your future market consists of Gen Zs and Millenials. It’s a must that you cater to this crowd if you want to see your business thrive in the years to come.
So how can your business benefit from social media stories marketing? Keep reading to find out.
Provide more digestible content to boost your familiarity
As you know, the social media stories format is short-lived in the sense that all pictures and videos within each story are visible for a few seconds at most. You can post as many stories as you wish but the content cycles through quickly.
The idea behind this is to provide more digestible content. This gives your audience members the ability to consume your story sequence without having to scroll, tap, or swipe through your posts excessively.
This fast-paced imagery affords your followers a more seamless experience of your content and a more efficient way of familiarising them with your business.
Social media stories marketing increases consumer engagement
Social media stories help you maintain customer engagement. This is one of the biggest selling points of this format.
Since stories are treated as a separate channel from your main feed, you can continuously share stories with your followers throughout the day without clogging your timeline or feed.
This continuation will attract more traffic to your business profile, creating more engagement and boosting the visibility of your business.
Transparency can lead to better connections with your audience
Nowadays, audiences expect transparency from brands on social media. People on social media want to feel like they are part of one big, happy family.
Giving them a snapshot view of the folks behind the scenes or the magic that happens behind the screen will enhance the connection between your business and your audience.
Enhancing the visibility and exposure of your company’s culture via social media stories garners more trust and intimacy from your audience. This is likely to create loyal customers who will also refer you to others with complete confidence.
Stories help you post relevant content right away
As I mentioned earlier, audiences are now more impulsive and responsive. Social media stories enable users to be up-to-date on all the conversations that are most important to them.
Evergreen content is important but short-lived content should not be ignored. Social media stories marketing lets your brand release trending information and important updates immediately, helping you stay relevant.
Encourages immediate purchasing from users
Did you know that 1 in 4 Millennials and Gen Zs look for stories of the products and services they want to buy?
Since stories encourage more immediate participation, they even help users make quick purchase decisions. Given that most young users consume more content created by others rather than creating content themselves, stories are a great way to encourage immediate participation.
Did you know that 25% of Millenials and Gen Z users browse social media stories for the products and services they consider buying? So, social media stories marketing is a powerful selling tool for businesses to encourage purchasing from users.
Are you on-board the social media stories revolution?
Social media stories marketing is here to stay. Let’s start generating more stories to increase user engagement and encourage greater purchase behaviour.