What Are ‘Stories’ On Social Media And How Can My Business Use Them?

If you’ve been active on social media in the last few months, you’ll have probably heard the phrase ‘stories’ and possibly wondered what they are and what it means.

‘Stories’ are a relatively new feature that has been introduced over various platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, as well as still being available where it all started on Snapchat (having been born all the way back in October 2013).

‘Stories’ lets you share all the moments of your day as well as the ones you might not want to keep on your profile. As you share multiple photos and videos, they appear together in a slideshow format: this is called ‘your story’.

If video isn’t part of your marketing strategy then put simply, you’re missing out. Video is highly effective in this medium.

You don’t have to worry about over-posting with ‘stories’. Instead, you can share as much as you want at any time of the day and bring your images and videos to life in new ways with text and drawing tools. The photos and videos will disappear after 24 hours and won’t appear on your profile or in the feed.

There are a lot of reasons why ‘stories’ have such high-engagement, but how and why are ‘stories’ useful for brands? ‘Stories’ are used for sharing real-time updates on a daily basis, with little effort. It can be a picture of you opening the shop, a teaser of an upcoming newsletter or some new stock just being delivered. It can be a great option for people and businesses to add a human touch to their brand and build their brand personality all while connecting with your audience by providing them that ‘inside view’ of your business – all things that help increase brand awareness and loyalty.

There are some great ideas out there for your ‘stories’ no matter what business you are in. Use the platform that best suits you and your followers and build your brand awareness.