So recently Instagram decided to essentially steal Snapchat’s… well… entire product. Out of nowhere on August 2nd Instagram released Instagram Stories, a tool that lets users post 10 second photo and video content which perishes in 24 hours (cough Snapchat). Needless to say it sent the social media world into a spin. A quick check in with twitter and the impact of snapchat stories was quite clear.
What do you think of the new #InstagramStories ? pic.twitter.com/8tyDLdXgKn
— Digital Trends (@DigitalTrends) August 4, 2016
IG adding #InstagramStories like pic.twitter.com/jSLa0doDQZ
— theCHIVE (@theCHIVE) August 2, 2016
#InstagramStories this is how Instram had the idea to creat a story???? pic.twitter.com/YsbiTfhQNr
— Tv réalité (@realitetv_news) August 3, 2016
My favorite meme from yesterday… #InstagramStories pic.twitter.com/8uVn8z7UPg
— Matthew James Morgan (@MattMO2Go) August 3, 2016
[cta id=”2091″ vid=”0″]
Then the experts weighed in and the theme of the discussion continued to shape itself around the idea of a potential winner and loser in the Snapchat vs Instagram battle. Here are a few of the more qualified experts and what they had to say:
Jay Bauer, Convince & Convert President – Jay seemed to think that the dedication of Snapchat users would push them away from Instagram stories and commit them further to the Snapchat cause.
“Instagram Stories provides Snapchat with the opportunity to pull off a rare feat: a smaller—yet more valuable—social network.”
Gary Vee, Vanyer Media CEO – Gary sees room for both players. Arguing that Snapchat and Instagram were both moving in a very natural direction. Instagram going from “museum” into “not so serious” and Snapchat is moving in the opposite direction.
“Anybody who thinks this is going to kill Snapchat is completely out of their mind”
Marisa Thomas, Head of Social at Organic UK – Marisa viewed the change as Instagram answering critics after their “failed” algorithm update.
“Instant storytelling has now been made easier, and the order of content on Stories means Instagram has found a solution to its doomed algorithm update”
Whether you’re a Snapchat or Instagram supporter in this clash of the social media titans, for me only one thing is certain in a time of change – OPPORTUNITY. Forget the battle of Snapchat vs Instagram, save that discussion for the bloggers and twitter friends. The thinking marketers and entrepreneurs need to be doing right now is how they can leverage a new tool that no one has figured out yet. If social media history, albeit brief, has taught us anything it’s that early adopters of quality new platforms see the biggest results.
With this in mind here are what I think are the biggest opportunities for marketers using Instagram Stories at this stage:
Strengthen CTA:
Conversion currently on Instagram requires a much more delicate approach compared to other platforms. Running competitions or trying to drive clicks away from Instagram can be hard at the best of times and often seems heavy handed to hardcore instagram users who have a content first view of the platform. Enter Instagram Stories.
Stories sets up a very powerful as (Gary Vee would put it) Jab-Hook combination. I see serious potential for marketers to use this direct line of audience communication to compliment their more subtle conversion efforts used in regular content.
Extend the life of top performing content:
When a particular post performs well we want to leverage that engagement as much as possible. Use the audience intimacy of Stories to take your audience behind the scenes of a photo that performed particularly well.
If you’re an e-commerce store selling bags take your audience behind the scenes to meet the model of your top performing post. People love to see behind the lens and Stories can provide that intimate look that Instagram’s regular content doesn’t quite cater to.
Watch what others are doing then do it better:
Other people will be jumping all over this…. BUT it’s early days people will still be making lots of mistakes. So sit back watch what others are doing and do it better.
Some of the best ideas in life come from looking at what someone else has done and doing it a little bit better… kinda like a certain photo sharing platform owned by Facebook!
[cta id=”2091″ vid=”0″]
