This is Part 4 of our series:
“How to use Instagram Stories for your Business”.
Today, let’s talk about how to get more Instagram Story views.
If your views have gone down, let’s recover them.
I’m going to share exactly what I do to go from this… to this:
I call it the “Break Strategy”.
Let’s talk about:
- Step #1. Stop posting to your Stories
- Step #2. Choose one of these Instagram Story routines
- Step #3. Morning question boost
- Step #4. Optimal number of Instagram Stories per day
- Step #5. High quality Instagram Story ideas
- Step #6. What to post after your break
- Step #7. Posting frequency
- Step #8. Instagram Story Highlight strategy
- Bonus: How to plan and pre-watch your Stories
Ready?
Let’s start.
Step #1. Stop posting to your Stories
Yes. You read right.
Stop posting in your Stories.
It’s time to reset your Instagram.
You have 2 choices:
- Take a 1 day break from Stories, or
- Take a few days break (I like this option because you can come back with a bigger bang. Instagram will desperately want you back and give you views for you to stay. Plus, you can take your time to absorb the information in this blog post – like choosing your routine in Step 2)
Why is a break good?
I have noticed that every single time I have a big break (more than 2 days), Instagram will boost my Stories and give me more views.
They usually do one or both of these:
- They push your Stories in front of the Insta Story line on people’s home feeds, and / or
- They send a notification to your followers to tell them that you have posted your first Story in a long time. Naturally, people will be curious and check what you’ve just posted.
See, these are the notifications I receive when someone posts in their Stories for the first time in a while (and I don’t even have the notifications turned on for these people):
Instagram is desperate for you to come back.
And when you come back, they want you to have more views than usual. So they will send these notifications to some of your followers.
Therefore?
Have a break!
Then, let’s make sure that when you come back, your Stories are captivating. This way, people will want to come back again and again, days after you’ve come back.
More about this a bit later.
First, let’s choose your Instagram Story routine.
Step #2. Choose one of these Instagram Story routines
In Part 3, we talked about Instagram Story strategies for your business.
Strategies = routines.
A routine is useful for 2 reasons:
- It makes it easier for you to show up consistently, and
- It trains your followers to come back to your account for more (you become best buddies).
As you saw in this blog post, there are 5 routines you can try.
Choose one.
Step #3. Morning question boost
This is crucial.
Use the Instagram Story Stickers to boost your engagement. The more engagement you get, the more views.
Use the “Poll” Sticker in your first Story of the day.
Make it related to:
- What you’re going to do today
- Ask people a question related to your product / service
- Ask a question about them (how are they going today)
- Let people vote
- Play a game (see Insta Story Game ideas here)
This will start your Stories on a good note, with more engagement than if you had not added a Sticker.
Remember:
More engagement = more views.
Step #4. Optimal number of Instagram Stories per day
When you come back after your break, try not to post too many Stories.
The more Stories you post, the less people will watch all the Stories until the end.
Which means, your engagement rate will drop.
Which means, your views will drop.
No bueno.
You want to keep your engagement rate as stable as possible.
This means, post 5 to 10 Instagram Stories max when you come back.
Note:
Of course, there are cases when it’s completely fine to post a lot of Stories when you come back.
For example, you might have had a personal situation happening and you feel like you really want to share it with your followers.
You will still get views, because people care.
They want to know what happened and they want to support you.
For example, you could say you took a break because you wanted to re-evaluate what to post in your Stories, you wanted to feel inspired again. And you can share how good to feel now and how excited you are for the next Stories. This will get your followers excited to come back tomorrow to watch more.
Let’s say you took a break because you burnt out. You have no idea how many people will relate to you. Being open about it will actually make people feel good and be happy that they are not alone.
Or maybe you want to share how it felt taking a break from your Stories and how refreshed you feel. This will also inspire others to do the same, if they feel like they need a break.
Your story can inspire people. They can bring them closer to you. So if you feel like you want to post longer Stories go ahead. Just know that in the future, if your views drop, you can always come back to this tip: post 5 – 10 Stories max.
When you are on a mission to recover your Instagram Story views: Post 5 – 10 Stories max.
Make these Stories count.
These Stories need to be captivating, so that the majority of people want to watch all 5.
The more Stories you have, the more your views will drop.
So the less Stories you have, and the higher quality they are, the more people will watch. This increases your engagement.
This increase in engagement will signal to the Instagram algorithm that your content is valuable. And it will want to show your content to more people.
Therefore, it will start pushing your Story circle to the beginning of the line.
So, what is “high quality” Stories?
Step #5. High quality Instagram Story ideas
High quality = interactive Instagram Stories.
“Interactive” means something different for different accounts, in different industries.
For a personal brand, interactive can be as simple as doing a Q&A or sharing your day-to-day life. For a shop, it can be a “Would You Rather” game.
See the next step for more ideas.
But basically:
More interactions = more views.
I’ve noticed that the more interactive my Stories are, the more views I get.
Use the interactive tools Instagram gives you:
The Instagram Story Stickers.
Step #6. What to post after your break
Use the Stickers to interact with your followers, by posting Stories like:
- This and That games
- Would you rather
- 2 truths and a lie
- Guessing games
- Have you ever _
- Q&A
- Give maximum value (with tutorials, tips, hacks) that will leave your followers checking your Stories again the next day to get more amazing tips from you
See more Instagram Story ideas for business here.
Step #7. Posting frequency
Post one or twice a day.
I always say:
“Make Instagram fit your life, not your life fit Instagram”.
I find that it is the key to avoiding burnout.
Here are examples:
- Post in the morning – and you’re done for the day. Or,
- Post in the morning – then in the afternoon or evening.
Both options work.
In the morning, make your Stories count. Use those Stickers!
If you post twice a day, you could get more Instagram Story views because your Stories will be pushed to the beginning of the Story feed, twice (once in the morning, and once in the afternoon). Which means more engagement. Which means more views.
Step #8. Instagram Story Highlight strategy
This step is to get more views for your core, essential Instagram Stories.
As you know, Instagram Stories disappear after 24 hours.
All your hard work or amazing Stories don’t have to go to waste.
Keep strategic Instagram Stories in your Highlights, under your bio.
As more new customers or clients find your account, they will discover your Highlights.
Which means, you will get more Instagram Story views – for these key Stories. Amazing!
BONUS: How to plan and pre-watch your Instagram Stories
As a business owner, there are key Instagram Stories you can schedule.
Like:
- Product promotions
- Product launches
- Product sneak peeks
- Games
- Sales
- Reviews
- FAQs
- Q&A
- Best Sellers
- Partnerships
You can plan these Stories with Preview App, on your phone and computer:
You can even watch your Instagram Stories BEFORE you post them on Instagram.
This is so useful to confirm your designs and the flow of your Stories.
Your turn!
I hope you found this blog post helpful.
Your turn to use the “Break” Strategy.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to leave a comment below.
Otherwise, enjoy your break and planning your next Instagram Stories!
