Marketing Your Small Business: Instagram Stories

If you are a bar or restaurant looking to compete in today’s increasingly competitive business environment, it is vital to develop your online presence into a valuable asset. One way you can accomplish this is through Instagram’s Story feature.

Did You Know?:

• Over 2 billion people use Instagram per month
• 59% of U.S. adults use Instagram daily
• 50% of users have used Instagram to discover new brands
• 58% of Instagram users say that they’re more interested in a brand after seeing it in a Story

These statistics point to the importance of Instagram and its Story feature as major avenues for companies to broaden their brand recognition and reach new audiences. With that in mind, here is a brief overview of Instagram Stories and how they can help gain your bar or restaurant a competitive advantage.

What Are Instagram Stories?

Instagram Stories are pieces of content shown on a user’s profile for 24 hours. The key separator between an Instagram post and story is the time aspect, as a post will be on your page indefinitely while a story disappears after one full day.

Instagram Stories are a great way to show off your brand’s unique personality while increasing customer engagement. Here are a few ways you can accomplish this for yourself!

Polls

One of the easiest ways that businesses use the Instagram Story feature to boost customer engagement is through the use of Poll Stickers. Through the use of polls, you can make business decisions with access to real feedback from your patrons. For example, if you were to ask your followers which of your venue’s drink specials they prefer, you could then schedule your patrons’ favorite specials on your busier nights, which would in turn increase revenue.

Question Stickers

Question Stickers allow you to host an open forum of sorts with your followers where any questions they may have can be answered. This is a great way to engage with your patrons while also showing them some support. Hopefully, this should also cut down on the amount of frequently asked questions you and your staff receive such as business hours and specials.

Keep Posts Timely & Relevant

Instagram Stories are a great way to show off current events happening in your establishment. They can also broadcast your daily drink specials, food promotions, events, giveaways, and other information to your audience to keep them informed about the day-to-day operations of your business. It is also important to keep your Instagram stories relevant to your patrons and potential new customers in order to keep them engaged with your brand. Thankfully, Instagram provides a wide variety of features designed to help you do just that.

When you post you can make use of the hashtag and location features within Instagram Stories. They are a great way to increase organic traffic to your business’s page.

• Hashtags: Add hashtags to your post in order to increase the number of potential views your story can receive. These hashtags should be relevant to your business in order to best match your target audience’s preferences.
• Location: Adding a location to your story is another way to increase views on your Instagram Story post. This way, as people search through a location on Instagram such as a certain town, they will then see your venue’s story in their feed as they scroll.

In an increasingly saturated market, business owners need every competitive advantage they can. Instagram Stories are a great way to accomplish that. Whether you want to reach new customers, improve customer engagement, grow your social media presence, or strengthen your existing patrons’ brand loyalty, Instagram Stories can make a difference for your business.

Interested in improving how you promote your restaurant or bar? Visit accelentertainment.com or email hello@accelentertainment.com to learn more or how Accel can help you!