Wild Card: Whose Story Tells It Best?

STORYTELLERS

If you follow me on Snapchat (@yesxmimi) you know that I spend all of 12-24 hours posting pictures and videos of my daily ventures. When media is uploaded, it begins a collection of media pieces called a “Story”. Your “Story” is then accessible to either your selected amount friends or the public, depending on your personal privacy settings, for no more than 24 hours upon upload. This form of connection to the outside world is one of many features that have been adapted into other top-tier media hosts: Instagram and Facebook. The popularity of this format of sharing has created direct competition between the 3 applications, but recently only one particular host has shown superior in 2019 according to elite opinions The Young Entrepreneur Council.

CLOSE AND PERSONAL

Since their debut on August 2, 2016, Instagram stories has gained an attractive amount of traffic over the last few years. Instagram itself has proven to be a hove of marketing and quick access to brands and businesses all over the world. You can follow your favorite accounts without waiting on a follow/add back and support people with admiration from afar! Instagram stories, however, is a huge transition for Instagram users. Just like Snapchat, stories give the user the option to get personal. It is very hard to make an endorsement deal seem legit in a simple picture or organized video. By welcoming your followers into your home and keeping them engaged into a product’s influence, you can evoke a visual and emotional attachment. Joey Kercher from Air Fresh Marketing explained that “Instagram stories are an opportunity to share your company’s more human side and allow for customers to build a sense of loyalty to your company while amplifying your brand awareness.” And that they are! Stories have tools that will help translate your knowledge and love for the brands you display which helps give them more value. On the stories you can create polls, design posts with hashtags and stickers, asks even questions! This is great way build onsite reviews to help with the way you advertise your products. “Go after those answers. People love to give their opinions. Also, use Stories consistently, so that you continually appear in their feed.” Advised Patrick Barnhill from Specialist ID. If you are always at the top of someone’s feed your account is more likely to be clicked on. It’s a natural algorithm formed through familiarity and convenience.

SPOTLIGHT MARKETING

Instagram stories offers a new way to create a persona specifically for the brand. Most people who Highlights”. On Instagram, your can pick and choose the posts you would like from your story and title the highlight accordingly for accuracy. The “Highlights” can be used to give quick access to information right under your bio. A simple but effective example would be Kim Kardashian West’s Instagram account. She showcases several aspects of her life/lifestyle on her page, but overall, she is a business owner. In her highlights she adds several eloquent documents of her products and swatches from her KKW Beauty makeup brand just as a reminder. Ryan Wilson, a marketing agent from FiveFifty, says “social media “story” features are designed to offer a peek into the action, so to speak. Therefore, it’s important to actually showcase something fun! Stories that capture a special or exciting experience provide real insight into what your company or brand is about from the point of view of an employee or customer. That’s the kind of information other formats just can’t communicate as directly.”
market for companies often use their own personal accounts to display content. Others try to separate business from pleasure. By utilizing Instagram stories, you can quickly differentiate your information with a feature called “

UNIQUE COMMUNICATIONS

Now you probably want to know what makes Instagram stories any different from just posting an awesome picture or video? One thing that some may notice is that, unlike regular posts, “there are no likes or public comments.” This keeps any negativity exclusively with the account owner which could be seen as a neutral advantage. On one end, people can’t trash talk your business for everyone to see. Opinions can be contagious, and this is a great way to decrease bias thinking or influence. On the other end, comments have the equivalence of reviews. People can actively express their product or brand experiences as well as their feelings which could easily make or break a reputation. Let brand loyalty come to the rescue by showing the excitement of those who fell in love with your brand! Aaron Schwartz, co-founder and President at Passport, expressed that “there’s nothing more powerful than fans sharing authentic love for your brand and referring in others. You can schedule a “fan takeover” for a day at a time, where curated fans get to tell their story and why they love your business. While risky as you give up control, the ephemeral nature of Instagram Stories limits the actual risk you bear. And the upside of authentic fan engagement is immense.” Neither Facebook nor, the pioneer or stories, Snapchat has this ability and limits users to distributing reviews second hand.

Instagram is truly something for new age entrepreneurs to marvel. Aside from the addition of stories, Instagram incorporates almost every feature from Snapchat and Facebook into one conventional app; not to say that the other two are meaningless. I have all three. But in a marketing aspect, Instagram dominates as a way of effectively advertising something over an extended period of time. It incorporates enough intimacy to gather an emotional fan-base, but it’s fast-pace feel and organized overview keeps it professional.