How businesses can take advantage of Instagram Stories

If you want to drive traffic to your website, Instagram is the perfect tool to use. Thankfully, Instagram Stories provided a new way for brands to get clicks and page views from their Instagram audiences. The inability to add a clickable link to Instagram posts and captions has frustrated the users for years. With only one hyperlink to work with - that of your Instagram biography, you have been forced to continuously exchange links, use an affordable Instagram feed, or remind people to visit your profile at #linkinbio.

For this reason, Instagram has often been seen as a challenging tool for driving traffic. But thanks to Instagram Stories, everything has changed. Instagram Stories provide a simpler and more effective way to drive traffic to your website or blog, and brands quickly adopted this feature as part of their Instagram marketing strategy.

Here are five fantastic ways of how businesses can take advantage of Instagram Stories

If you want to leverage the Instagram stories, follow the below tips.

1: Add Links to Drive Traffic with Instagram Stories

It has been easier to drive more traffic for those who have verified accounts or having 10k followers. In 2017, Instagram introduced a new feature that allows you to add links to Instagram stories that users can visit simply by "swiping up" on the screen. Adding links to your Instagram Stories is good because it allows you to use photos, visual images, videos, and designs - to arouse interest in your link. Your images can also serve as a teaser or a preview of what they might expect on your website, online store, or landing page.

2: Tag Your Profile to Drive Traffic with Instagram Stories

Unfortunately, if you have less than 10,000 followers, Instagram won't allow you to add links to Instagram Stories directly, and you're still limited to just the link in your biography. But there is a trick to get around this. Regardless of how many Instagram followers you have, you can still tag users in stories, including yourself!

To do this, just click on the capital "A" in the upper right part of the app while recording or publishing a story and type "@" followed by your username.

Instagram will automatically link that username to your profile in the story, creating a clickable link to your profile that your followers can use.

You could also simply indicate the clickable username in the upper right part of a story, but that area is more difficult for people to click on.

How does it help you drive traffic?

In your Instagram stories, you can see a product, article, downloadable or anything else, and follow it with a story that says something like "Visit the link in our profile for more information!" You will probably find followers much more eager to visit your profile when they are tickled by your story and are just a click away from that link.

3: Use Highlights to Drive Traffic with Instagram Stories Constantly

Use Instagram Stories Highlights feature to drive more traffic.

Instagram Stories Highlights is not only a great way to express your creative side and showcase your products, but they are also great for driving traffic. Before the update, users found your story in the Instagram Stories queue at the top of their feed or had to visit your profile and tap on your viewing image. But now you can group the stories you have shared and highlight them permanently on your Instagram profile. They appear directly below your biography and above your Instagram account feed and will play as a standalone story when someone touches it, so this feature is literally in the foreground of your profile.

So how does this help your web traffic? Well, if you publish content on a blog or website, you can use the highlighting feature to draw attention to your latest posts. If you are a fashion or lifestyle brand, you can also use Stories Highlights to drive traffic to your new arrivals of seasonal products or collections.

In essence, Instagram Stories Highlights makes it easy to connect followers with the landing pages you are trying to send them to, be they blog posts or product pages.

4: Make an Acquisition or Work with Influencer to Drive Traffic with Instagram Stories

A great way to increase Instagram followers and increase traffic with Instagram Stories is to tap into the networks of other Instagram users.

Instagram acquisitions have now expanded to Instagram Stories, so look for "capture" or "guest post" opportunities on someone else's story.

Ideally, choose someone with over 10,000 followers so you can use the "scroll up" feature! You can also exchange Instagram stories so that you can take advantage of reaching a brand-new audience and driving new visitors to your website.

Instagram influencer marketing has expanded with the introduction of Instagram Stories, and it is now common to pay Instagram-sponsored Instagram stories to Instagram influencers as well. You can collaborate with Instagram influencers to make them present your product, mention you in their history and add a hyperlink that suggests to their followers to scroll.

If you don't have the budget to partner with a great influencer for a sponsored Instagram story, try finding a micro-influencer in a relevant industry and ask if he would be willing to exchange content or exchange products for promotion or buy Instagram followers for immediate effect. Be creative and make sure you choose a user whose audience matches your website or blog's target audience.

5: Drive Traffic with Instagram Stories

When you run out of organic options, there is always advertising on Instagram. In March 2017, Instagram published Instagram Stories articles for all companies. When creating ads for Instagram stories, be sure to select "Traffic" as the goal and "Website or Messenger" for your goal parameters. And then, when it asks you to "Modify placements," select Instagram Stories. You can also define your call to action. Now when someone sees your Instagram Stories ads, they can swipe up to visit the website you linked.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes.