Ep. 12: Ask me anything, Instagram Stories edition
LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS | LISTEN ON STITCHER | LISTEN ON SPOTIFY | RSS FEED
This is our first time recording an ‘ask me anything’ episode, in which we take frequently asked questions from clients, along with listener questions, and answer them here. Brittni, my marketing manager, joined me today with a question from a client about Instagram Stories.
Today’s question comes from Colleen, who owns an eco-friendly boutique hotel in Belize. Colleen says, “I've been wondering about ‘Stories’ on Instagram. Is there any benefit in doing these, or not really? I haven't bothered with them up to now, because I didn't understand their point. Can share some insights?”
Yes, let’s talk about Instagram Stories and how it can work for hotels.
Instagram Stories are an alternative way to consume content on the Instagram platform, and they’re often referred to as “Stories”. Stories are pretty compelling because as opposed to posts, they only last for 24 hours and then they come down. On the one hand, a post feels more substantial because it has a longer shelf life, but on the other hand, Stories have more of a draw precisely because they’re only around for a limited time, they feel less polished and posed, and they’re also easier to find in your feed.
Instagram shared some data recently that 500 million users watch Instagram Stories every day, and 1/3 of those views are of Stories created by businesses.
Using Instagram Stories can help you show up in users feeds more often, allow you reach a broader audience, increase engagement on your posts, and allow you to give prospective travelers behind the scenes access to your property and destination. Finally, you can use Instagram Stories in your “Highlights” to not just tell the story of your property, but also show it, through video. I’m going to walk through each of these ideas.
Use Instagram Stories To Show Up More
First of all, let’s talk about showing up more often. Here’s the thing. Instagram knows how to dangle carrots, and one of the carrots they’ve decided to dangle are Instagram Stories. When you hop into the app and onto your feed, the first thing you’ll see across the top is a row of circles. These are Instagram Stories, and they’re getting top billing. Kind of like that coveted first spot on Google that’s now dominated by ads, right? Instagram is using this space for Stories from people you follow or have recently engaged with.
Let’s say you’re more of an old school user and you don’t click on Stories immediately, and you start to move down through your feed. After a few swipes, Instagram puts another row of Stories across your feed—sometimes it’s even stories that you’ve recently viewed, where new content’s just been added. You can see how these placements are like carrots, dangle in front of users, and are part of the reason why 500 million users are watching Instagram Stories each day.
Whereas your post from two hours earlier? It’s been buried by all of the other posts since then, and it’s becoming tougher and tougher to have your post be seen in your Instagram feed.
Use Instagram Stories To Improve Your Reach
Next, let’s talk about how to reach a broader audience using Instagram Stories. So you’ve filmed a little video for your Instagram Stories, or your uploading a photo—before you hit share, use the stickers and other resources you’ll find along the top end of your Stories screen to not just make your Stories cuter, but also get it in front of more eyes.
Instagram is constantly rolling out new features, and when you use these features, your content will get served more often, this is the platform’s way of incentivizing you to be an early adopter. For example, you can use the Poll features, the questions feature, and stickers to have your content served more often. You can also use hashtags and a location tag, to have your Stories shown to a broader audience, not just those who are following you.
When it comes to hashtags in Instagram Stories, you can use up to 10, whereas in your Instagram posts, you can use up to 30. One thing I’ve found is that niche hotel hashtags seem to perform better in Instagram posts, while the more general hashtags can actually work well in Instagram Stories because fewer people are aware that you can use hashtags in your Stories to expand your reach. We’ve also got a little hotel hashtags resource we’re going to share with you at the end of this episode.
So when it comes to using up to 10 hashtags in your Instagram Stories, I’ve got some tips. After you’ve added the hashtags in you can shrink them down to make them smaller and less noticeable, you don’t have to stick with the default font size, just use your fingers over the text to squeeze it down to a smaller size. You also can keep things neat and tidy by layering a sticker or .gif over your hashtags to hide them from view. Rest assured, they’ll still work.
You can also @ mention brands or partners that appear in the content you’re sharing, which again, will help expand your reach. Once you’ve shared your Story, anyone you’ve tagged will receive an alert, and they’ll be able to share your Story to their page, which will get your content in front of their audience.
One last tip on the production side of things, don’t get too hung up on the perfect video or the perfect font or design, when it comes to Instagram Stories, they’re meant to feel less than perfect. By keeping them more “behind the scenes” than what might end up on your website, your content will appear more native—and less like a business trying to sell you something—which is always a good sales technique on social media.
Use Instagram Stories To Increase Post Engagement
So next, I told you Instagram Stories can help you increase engagement on your Instagram posts, and you’ve probably seen influencers and brands doing this next trick. After you’ve added a new post to Instagram, click the paper airplane icon to the right of your post caption, and share your post to your Stories. By doing this, you’ll effectively create a little ad for those who are scrolling Stories instead of their feed (which is a lot of users lately). This way, you reach them in Stories and let them know you have a new post. Instagram’s made it very easy for users to then click through from Stories to view and engage with your post.
We talked a little bit about Instagram Stories being more “behind the scenes” style content for good reason —it will feel more native. But it’s also a chance to show off the people and places that make your hotel and your destination special. Instagram Stories is a place to let your hair down, have some fun. Connect with guests on a level that’s really engaging. If your website is where you tell guests what they can expect, Instagram Stories is a place where you can show them how it all unfolds. Take a walk through the local farmers market and share that on your stories, strap on a go-pro on your next tubing adventure and throw that content up on Stories, or take a moment to record a sunset that’s blown you away. This is content that doesn’t necessarily fit on your website—it’s more spur of the moment—and this is the stuff that can help your property really come to life.
Get Even More Out Of Instagram Stories
Finally, you can use Instagram Stories in your “Highlights” to do exactly that — highlight the content you created that shares your story in a unique and compelling way.
Remember at the beginning of this episode, we talked about the limited shelf life of Instagram Stories, the fact that they expire after 24 hours. Instagram’s Highlights feature solves the problem of disappearing stories, for the ones that are worth repeating! If you have stories that feel important to your messaging or that have received a lot of responses or views, you can create a Story Highlight that pins those Instagram Stories to the top of your profile, and allows viewers to watch them again and again. And while a spectacular sunset might have it’s place in your Story Highlights, I want you to think of your Story Highlights a little like your hotel website’s navigation bar — this is a chance to highlight the many aspects of your hotel for users who are coming to your Instagram profile and wanting to get a feel for what they might expect if they came to visit.
In the case of Colleen’s eco-lodge, because I work with her, I’d recommend a highlight about the Resort. It’s setting in the jungle on the Macal River with an organic farm, an infinity pool, and these great places to dine and lounge in, then I’d do a another highlight with a video of a room tour—the rooms are amazing, they’re cabanas with these canopy beds and rainwater showers…its really eco luxury. Then, I would add a third highlight to focus on eco-adventures, knowing this is a big reason travelers come to Belize, and also that Colleen’s property acts as an adventure concierge to arrange these activities during guests stays. Another highlight might focus on ecotourism.
100 Hotel Hashtags
We’ve also put together a resource of hashtags for hotels that I’ve been meaning to share with you. In our hashtags research for our clients, we found that hotels aren’t really being served by using a lot of common hotel hashtags.
The bigger hashtags like #hotellife and #hotelsandresorts are dominated by big travel bloggers, lifestyle influencers, and photographers, so hotels are better off using niche hashtags.
We’ve got a list of 100 hashtags for hotels, and if you’d like to grab that to take your Instagram game even further with a list of hashtags that you can use in your posts and also your Stories, as you now know. Visit howtosharepodcast.com/hashtags to get access to that guide.
Submit A Question
To submit a question, join our Facebook Group, How To Share, or find us on Instagram @howtosharepodcast, and DM us your questions. In the spirit of this episode, we’ll also stick a question box in our Instagram Stories and Stories Highlights, so you can ask us a question on Instagram Stories, too.
As always keep sharing your stories!
