4 Instagram Story Features You Should Know

The popularity of Instagram has encouraged more and more merchants to establish their own IG Shops and boost sales online. Aside from the original post function, the more recent story function has been widely used by account holders. Eye-catching full-screen content can be easily created by utilising a variety of the Instagram Stories features, including GIFs, Boomerang, engaging stickers and other creative filters. What are the most important features we should know and use for operating an IG shop account, and how can they assist online merchants to boost sales?

See below a summary of the 4 most important IG Story features that'll help you boost your IG shop!

Compared to the earliest feature of regular posts, which remain on your profile forever (unless you decide to delete or archive them), Instagram Stories play for 15 seconds and will disappear after 24 hours from being posted. Although users may feel constrained due to the limited time and space, they still can make a good use of the different features, including brushes, creative fonts, stickers, and other attractive effects to tell their own stories. Stories will be shown as a slideshow, encouraging users to publish more attractive narrative content.

Besides from regular GIFs, Instagram Story offers a variety of interactive material that allows followers to respond to merchant posts with a simple tap. The most well-used functions of online merchants include: - Location: merchants can tag the location related to the promotional content and viewers can tap the tag to view location details. - Mention: merchants can tag IG accounts related to content, such as the account of brand partners, KOLs participating in the promotion, etc. Users that are mentioned can also repost it to their own personal IG Stories to boost exposure. - It's your turn: merchants can add special themes to their Instagram story, such as "the best takeaway restaurant you have ever tried", "desserts you think are the most worthy to try in Hong Kong", and more. Users who are watching the story can tap "add your content" to post their take on the theme, and have interesting engagements, and relationship building. - Question: merchants can set up question boxes that allow followers to give feedback or submit questions to brands. Merchants can choose to respond by messaging privately, or share the responses to reply publicly. - Emoji Slider: merchants allow viewers to rate, or share their preferences by dragging the slider. For example, many merchants analyse the audience's likelihood of their preferred promotional activities with the "heart" symbol. - Voting Poll: merchants can set up a simple poll with a question and include 1-4 options for the audience to vote. When all of these features are utilised correctly, merchants can effectively interact and engage with their followers, and in a fun way too! It's a fantastic chance to gather brand feedback for improvement and to build customer loyalty in the long run.

In addition to posting Instagram stories and short videos, some merchants also prefer to hold live events, which allows them to communicate with their followers in real-time, and also promote products or services. Many merchants will invite influential KOLs from the relevant industry to cooperate, which helps to effectively promote the content of products, and also gain attention from the KOLs' followers. Potential customers can be driven in a short period through the traffic, therefore improving brand awareness and marketing efficiency.

While Instagram Stories are available for just 24 hours, merchants can choose to save the stories to featured content, which will remain permanently on the merchant's Instagram account profile page for followers and visitors to view at any time. For example, some merchants will group the brand discounts, customer return pictures, offline activities, and other related promotional content into a collection of featured stories — all of which represent the brand image. All new and existing customers can understand the past of the brand by checking the series of the featured content.

The 4 Instagram Story features mentioned above are crucial to merchants who wish to have a strong online presence. Should they utilise the functions to publish creative and engaging content, the potential customer attention can be successfully driven and enhance the customer stickiness to the brand. If a brand strives for success, not only should the brand make good use of social platforms for online marketing, they should also put effort into offline services. It is important to find a reliable and affordable delivery company, to ensure quality delivery that will strengthen the brand's online image, and stand out from competitors. Pickupp has delivered to more than 24,000 businesses, including Instagram shops such as Twinkie Cookies and Low Carbs Bakery. Pickupp's prompt, high transparency, and real-time logistics service solves the problem of offline distribution so that brands can focus on their core business and establish an online brand image, and provide high-quality products to customers at ease! Register now as a Pickupp merchant and increase your business efficiency!