IE 97: How to get more Instagram Story Views

If you think that you need a million followers on Instagram in order to get the attention of brands, you are wrong. In today’s episode, we are going to talk about how to get the attention of your dream brands, even if your following is on the smaller side by getting more Instagram Story Views.

IE 97: How to get more Instagram Story Views

If you have been procrastinating on Instagram, I want you to get started. It is the hottest new player on the social media block and brands want you there engaging with your audience. If you think that IG is all about showing your perfect pictures and how together you are, think again.

The beautiful thing about Instagram is all the different features available. Yes, your regular feed needs to be more curated but Stories is where you have the opportunity to be yourself. Stories give you the opportunity to share more of who you are and it gives your audience the opportunity to get to know you better and to decide whether they like you or not.

Wait, Jenny…don’t I want everyone to like me?

No! Listen to the episode I did with Phil Pallen on what is branding to hear why you definitely want to repel some people while attracting others. Yes, you actually want to repel some people. I know that may feel weird to think about but once you think it through, it will all make sense, I promise.

How to Put Your Personality into Your Instagram Stories

I actually have people, when I mention putting their personality into their stories, tell me that they don’t want to because they’re boring. But I know these people have friends who enjoy being with them in their real, everyday life.

One of the best ways to put your personality in is to include the normal parts of your day in your Stories. For example, I begin nearly every day with a run. If you go to my Instagram, you will see that I almost always post a photo that has to do with my run every morning. Sometimes, I share how I froze my behind off running in the freezing cold and sometimes, I ask my followers a question about running in order to increase that engagement.

Ask yourself, what are you into? What do you like to do? What do you do every day or nearly every day without fail?

Connect a Story to the Photo to get more Instagram Story Views

If you are going to share a photo, tell the story behind it because if there is no story, your audience won’t have anything to connect with.

Again, I will give you an example of how I do this…or rather sometimes don’t do it.

Almost every morning after my run, I make a smoothie. Now, I often do share a photo of either me making the smoothie or the finished product. What I haven’t shared is the story behind the smoothie. See, I am edging ever so slightly closer to 40 and I know that I need to be putting more good food into my body. So I drink the smoothies in order to be healthier and to treat my body well as I get older.

I haven’t been great though about telling that story on my IG. I share the photos of the smoothies but not the why. I need to share what makes me, me. What I do and why I do it.

Consistency Is Key to get more Instagram Story Views

I feel like a broken record because I keep saying this but it is truly the most important piece of the whole thing.

You do not want to have lapses of time between your sharing. Now that doesn’t mean that you have to be posting all day, every day. Nobody has time to do that and build their business. What I mean is, you have to post on a regular basis. So maybe post in the morning, again at noon, and then in the evening.

You decide how many times per day you are going to post based on what your day is like. I try to post around 5 times per day but that’s because I am aware of how my day runs and I’ve made it part of what I do.

Educate Your Tribe to get more Instagram Story Views

You can post all day long every single day but if you have no interaction, you are wasting your time. It is crucial to teach your audience how to interact with you in your Stories. The more they interact with you, the more they will like you and feel like they know you. The deeper their connection with you will be.

Stories aren’t like the regular feed where people can just comment. To interact with Stories, people have to either use the direct message feature, or you can do things like take a poll, ask a question for them to answer, or have them ask you questions. Make it easy for them by using Instagram’s built-in features to increase engagement.

The people who engage with you on things like questions and polls are the same people who want to have conversations with you in your direct messages. Encourage those conversations, water them, and help them grow. Because those are the people who will be there to buy your first or next product when you release it.

You also need to teach your followers to tag you in their own Instagram stories. If you are a food blogger, tell them to tag you when they make one of your recipes. If you are a DIY or craft blogger, ask them to tag you when they make one of your creations. Whatever your niche, have your tribe tag you when they are creating something from you or using some advice you gave them. I have people tag me when they share a photo of them listening to my podcast.

Attracting Your Dream Brands to get more Instagram Story Views

The purpose of all this posting, consistency, and authenticity is so that you can attract the brands you want to work with.

Brands are paying close attention to IG Stories. They are looking to see who’s using them, how bloggers and influencers are using their Stories to engage their audience, and how the audience is interacting with the bloggers. And the ones who are getting that interaction are the ones the brands want to work with. Why?

Because they are the ones with influence!

You can use Stories to interact with brands exactly like you use it to interact with your audience. Let’s say there’s a certain food brand you want to work with and so you go to the grocery store and you purchase a new product they have out.

Go home, and when you start to use the product, do an IG Story of you using the product and tag them in the story. They will get a notification in their DM’s that you tagged them. They will most likely DM you back to say thank you and when they do, you can then ask for the name and email address of the person in their company who works on blogger or influencer campaigns.

At this point, you are going to use my Pitch Perfect Cheat Sheet to send your initial pitch to this person. This guide teaches you exactly what to send in your initial pitch.

Remember, authenticity is the key to your IG Stories and getting those brands to notice you. Grab the Pitch Perfect Cheat today and start thinking about how you can use IG as part of your proposals.

Action Steps:

• If you liked this episode of Influencer Entrepreneurs,  please subscribe and leave a fabulous review!
• Mark your calendar for the weekly free trainings every Tuesday at 11am EST over on Jenny’s Facebook page.
• Join the conversation on Instagram by using the hashtag #WWJMD and tagging Jenny when you’re listening to the podcast.  She’ll send you a personal message whenever you tag her.