How to Use Instagram Stories: 9 Ways to Grow Your Personal Brand

Instagram is one of the best platforms you can use to enhance your personal brand. Whether you’re consciously building it or not, everyone has a personal brand these days, so it’s important to think about how you want to portray yourself. Growing your personal brand on Instagram is fun and allows your creative juices to flow, but it does take a lot of time and effort. That’s why one of the most effective Instagram strategies looks at how to use Instagram stories to grow your personal brand.

It’s no secret that video surpasses almost everything when it comes to online marketing in the digital age. My 16-year-old cousin doesn’t even use Facebook or Instagram, her and her friends opt for Snapchat only. I don’t think Snapchat is the best way to grow your personal brand, but I do think that says a lot about the future of marketing yourself. When Instagram launched the ‘Stories’ feature I was so excited! Instead of using both Snapchat and Instagram, now you could do everything in one place.

Another reason I love Instagram Stories is that it keeps you active on the platform even if you don’t have a photo to post. I try my best to post a photo a day, but sometimes it’s two or three days before I post a new one. But I always, always post at least one story each day. Stories are a lot quicker to do and they don’t have to be as picture perfect, which takes the pressure off. At the same time, it shows your followers you’re still there and engaging with them on a daily basis.

Want to grow your influence on Instagram? Here are 9 ways to use Instagram Stories to grow your personal brand!

Related Post: How to Theme Your Instagram

Authenticity

I love perfectly curated Instagram feeds, but I also love to watch the not-so-perfect Instagram stories of my favourite ‘grammers. It gives them a realness and authenticity that I love to connect with, and I try to do the same through mine.

Giving your followers a look into your day-to-day life (no make-up, messy hair and all) makes them think of you more as a real person, as someone they can relate to. People are increasingly influenced by realness and authenticity these days, so make sure it shines through in your Stories.

Use Storytelling to Your Advantage

Storytelling is an essential aspect for any brand, especially your own. Telling stories creates trust and relationship with your followers, which is important, especially if you ever want to sell anything. Make sure your Stories make sense for your brand and communicate a clear message.

Consciously Curate

Although your Stories don’t have to be as perfectly put together as your feed, you should still brand them as much as possible. Use the same filters, colours and stickers consistently when you post. This will contribute to your brand’s overall vibe. If you’re constantly posting bright, airy, colorful photos, I would stay away from posting dark, grainy Stories using a totally different colour palette. The great thing about Stories is that they don’t have to be perfectly branded every single time, but it’s fun to make them look pretty and intriguing.

Go Behind-the-Scenes

With Stories you can be a bit more fun and go behind-the-scenes of what a day in the life is like for you. People are inherently nosy so they love to see where you eat your meals, what your home décor looks like, and where you spend your time with friends. It sounds a little stalker-ish, but we all know it’s true! Give them a peak into your home office or any projects you’re working on. You can even give them an inside look to what it’s like taking photos for your feed, so they know what really goes into it!

Share a Step-by-Step

Similar to behind-the-scenes, a people love to watch step-by-step tutorials on Instagram Stories. Whether it’s a delicious cocktail recipe you’re whipping up for a potluck, or your nighttime beauty routine, a step-by-step is a great way to grow your personal brand while getting people hooked on your content. When there’s a multi-step process, people are more likely to follow through until the end because they want to see the result.

PRO TIP: I like to record and save the videos, then post them one after another at the same time. In case there’s any distractions or you need to re-do a step, saving and then posting ensures your step-by-step Stories brand you in the right way.

Ask Questions

Engagement is so key on social media, especially on Instagram. You want your followers to engage with you as much as possible and asking questions on your Instagram Stories is a great way to do this. You can ask them anything from what content they want to see more of on your feed, to their recommendations for a certain city you’re traveling to, to something as simple as what they did this weekend. They’ll love giving you their feedback and you’ll build tons of relationships this way.

Use the Location Tag

Always use the location tag in your Instagram Stories. This makes your stories available to anyone who searches that location, which extends your views outside of your followers. If you’re looking to collaborate more or be seen as an expert in your city, the location tag can help you grow your influence.

Check Out How Your Stories are Performing

Did you know you can see who’s viewed your Stories? Open up your story, swipe up the screen and it will display a list of people who have watched your story. If you post a number of Stories in a row, you can check how many views your first one got compared to the last one, AKA how many people actually followed along or got bored after one or two. When you use the location tag, you’ll notice the number of views significantly increases since your extending your reach to non-followers (who could become followers because of it!).

Lead Them to Your Feed

With the changes in Instagram’s algorithms, all your followers might not see your photos as often. Use your Stories to direct them to your feed when you post a new photo. You can take a screenshot of your feed, upload it to your Story and colour out your new photo, telling people to check your profile to see your new content. This creates intrigue and more engagement with your feed photos you work so hard on.

There you have it! 9 ways to use Instagram Stories to grow your personal brand. Do you love Instagram Stories as much as I do? Any extra tips you have that can help others grow their brand? Let us know in the comments below!

And if you loved this post, please share the image below on Pinterest, so others can grow their personal brand using Instagram Stories too!

For more social media tips make sure to say hi and follow along on Pinterest | Instagram | Twitter