Instagram Stories that Convert to Sales

Instagram Stories that Convert to Sales

As you know, we’re bullish on video. The 3 major social media platforms we use (Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest) all prioritize video in their algorithms. But if you haven’t done much with video, it can be hard to know where to start and what kind of content to develop. In today’s article we’ll give you some tips on what mix of content you should be creating, along with some pitfalls to avoid!

Content Mix

As you develop your content, think about what you are sharing as falling into three broad categories: personal, product, & promotion.

  • Personal – This is content that shares with your customers who you are. How did you start your brand? What is your culture? What are your values? As you develop this kind of content, think about including your customer in a shared experience. 
  • Product – This is content that shares what you do and why it matters. Here you can share insider tips and tricks, how the product is made or behind the scenes footage. Let your customers see why your product solves their problems or makes their lives better.
  • Promotional – This is content that directly sells to your customer. How can they buy your product? Keep it simple with a clear call to action. Experiment adding a bit of urgency with a time limited offer.

So what do Instagram Stories that fit into these categories look like?

Personal: We love Nike’s Birthplace of Dreams series. These are interviews with successful athletes who realized their dream. Although the content has nothing to do with specific products that Nike sells, the content aims to motivate athletes who might want to emulate other successful people in the sporting industry (and even purchase Nike products in the process!).

 

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A post shared by Nike (@nike)

Product: Check out this Allbirds creative video on how their wool shoes are made, starting with the sheep! Note: you don’t have to shoot live video, but you could string together a series of still photos that tell the same story.

 

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A post shared by Allbirds (@allbirds)

Promotional: Check out how SHEIN, a women’s fashion brand, uses their Stories ad to flip through a series of new swimsuit prints and apply something like this to your new seasonal samples or your newest yarn in stock. Note the excellent (but sparse) use of text showing the Logo, the sale information and the call to “Shop Now.”

At Stitchcraft we promote generosity marketing and you should take this into account as you develop your content. You want to be sharing educational content most of the time; your personal and product content should be about 80-90% of what you’re producing. The actual promotional selling should comprise only 10-20% of your content, but if you make it targeted, specific, and enticing to your customer avatar (and don’t forget adding direct calls to actions/links to make conversion easy) you’re more likely to have success.

Pitfalls to Avoid

These are the most common pitfalls we see in Instagram Stories.

  • Content without purpose. Every piece of content you design should have a purpose. What do you want your customers to get out of the content? What do you want them to do with the content? 
  • Content that is perfect but not valuable. Instagram Stories require story-telling. Don’t stress over every last detail, but fail to create a compelling story that includes your customer. What are you sharing that will be valuable to your customer? It’s not about you or your product; it’s about what you can provide that solves a problem your customer is having.
  • Creating incomplete stories. Stories must have an arc. That means your story has to have a beginning, a middle and an end. Establish context at the start of your video, share the content that’s valuable to your customers, and add a call to action you want customers to take at the end. Don’t leave your customers hanging and make it hard from them to convert to sales!

Now that you’ve got some ideas on how to structure your content and know what pitfalls to avoid, be sure you check out our free Live Video training guide for more tips and tricks on how to produce great content!

If you’d like help creating Instagram Stories that convert to sales, contact us today to get started crafting a better business!

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