Social media giants are always looking out for new ways to increase the amount of time that users spend on their platforms. One way that their tech gurus have discovered is to include the option of adding stories to your account. However, as a business, should you be using social media stories?
What are stories on social media?
First things first, we should define what actually constitutes a social media story and how these are different to, say, a live broadcast or a regular video post.
Stories are generally considered to be a post that is separate from the standard newsfeed of the social media platform. For example, stories on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube display horizontally on the user’s device, as opposed to showing in the vertical feed.
Another element that separates a story from a video post is that stories eventually expire; usually after 24 hours. This creates a sense of urgency to watch the story before it disappears.
Finally, stories also have the element of interaction. Users can ‘swipe up’ to access linked content, reply to the story, or otherwise respond to the stickers embedded within the post, which boosts engagement.
Some stats on social media stories
Stories are a fantastic way for you to distribute content to your followers in a creative, more personal way. This is especially true if the content would look unappealing or cluttered on your regular feed. Many businesses use stories to showcase the daily happenings of the workplace, product launches, or to remind their followers of certain events.
Here are some interesting stats about social media stories from a Facebook survey:
- 68% of people use stories on at least 3 different apps each week
- 62% of users were more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in a story
- 50% of users said they make more online purchases as a result of stories
As you can see, there is real value for businesses that can learn to use social media stories to their advantage.
Our findings
Over the Christmas period, we experimented with many different styles of stories (both organic and boosted). Here’s what we found with one of our clients:
- 86% of Facebook traffic came from stories
- 35% of Instagram traffic came from stories
- Bounce rate was 24% lower from story referrals
- Users visited 1.81 more site pages when arriving from stories
- Average session duration was 18 seconds longer for story referrals
So, even though story traffic made up a smaller amount of the overall traffic, you can see that the users were actually more engaged when they arrived on the site through a story post. This is all great news for businesses looking to dip their toes into stories.
Need help with creating social media stories?
If you want to try out stories for yourself but have no idea where to start, we can help! Our team of social media marketing pros can devise a story strategy that will draw more clients to your website, and our graphic design team can create stunning visuals to boot.
Get in touch by phone on 01244 347 545, or send us an email at [email protected] and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
