BEIRUT: Organic reach has been in decline across all social media platforms. However, stories – the social media’s new sensation – have been on the rise. It started with Snapchat then swarmed onto Instagram, Facebook and even Whatsapp. In this blog post, I will tell you how to increase your story views without spending a cent on social media ads.
Let’s start by defining the word “story”; According to dictionnary.com, “a story is a narrative, either true or fictitious, in prose or verse, designed to interest, amuse, or instruct the hearer or reader.” Before you press the share button, ask yourself, is this content interesting? Will my followers like it? Is it providing a new type of information? Remember, if it doesn’t interest you, it will definitely not interest others. Here’s how I increased my Instagram Story views organically and completely for FREE.
The Experiment
My net worth on social media to date is 35.5K followers and counting. I share the calories I eat, the places I visit and some pictures I snap on the way. However, I noticed that my stories are not generating lots of views. So I asked myself: What was I doing wrong? Why would someone with 35,000 followers only reach 380 views per day? Here’s what I figured out, number 5 is the MVP of them all!
The Story Sequence: It is similar to the stories we were taught to write in 6th grade; the ones that included an introduction, body and conclusion. Make sure your story follows a certain flow. Your first story update is the one that counts. It is the one that will grab the attention of your viewers.
Use different content types: Types vary between still photos, videos or boomerangs (one of my favorite; it is short and fun to gaze at). A still photo is usually used for still objects. Videos are used for moving objects or if you want to showcase your entire surroundings. Boomerangs are great for literally everything.
Vary Caption lengths: Ask yourself this question, will I be able to read a caption and concentrate on a video at the same time? Well, no one can. Avoid using long captions in videos. However, write a good and straightforward caption on still images! People don’t like to read but they would love to hear and see. Try to speak your caption instead of writing it only if you have a good voice
Engage on your followers’ stories: Send comments such as admiration and encouragement of their work. It will increase the chances that they check out your own stories. Keep your engagement straight forward and relative to the image or the video you are commenting on.
Post at different times: Here’s the real MVP. Time. I still remember the first sentence my finance teacher wrote on the board on my first day of Finance 101. Time is Money; that’s in finance. In the social media world and especially with stories, Time is More Views! Why?
When it comes to social media, sometimes you need to shake things up, time wise. Use audience insights (the piece of information you find in the insights section if your account is a business profile) to discover when your followers are active. Test different times and evaluate reactions.
Once you discover the best time of the day when your followers are active, that is the right time to update your first story. Should you tell the story in 10 minutes and start evaluating your views? Absolutely NOT. Instead, try to update your story every 30 minutes. How? It takes you 10 minutes of preparation but six hours of processing (if your story is a total of 13 updates). Post your first story and share it. Prepare the second story but save it to your gallery instead and do the same until you reach the last update, the conclusion.
In order to increase viewership, set a reminder on your phone and update your saved stories and push them publicly every 30 minutes. It is a smart way to keep pushing your story to become the first story update on the top of the home-screen. By repeating the process every 30 minutes, you will be pushing your updated story back to the top and more viewers will be watching, hence more numbers and more reach to follow!
In conclusion, increased viewership is more eyes on your content and brand, as well as more opportunities to raise engagement and gain potential new fans and customers. Life is a story, what does yours say?